AUSTIN - Today, during the SXSW EDU event in Austin, Texas, The AI Education Project (aiEDU) announced a historic Call to Action (CTA) to bring AI education to every student in America. The CTA is a rallying cry for schools, nonprofits, universities, companies, and other stakeholders in the education ecosystem to band together behind a single goal: expand access to learning opportunities about artificial intelligence to ensure students are prepared to thrive as workers, consumers, creators, and citizens in the age of artificial intelligence.   

aiEDU is joined by dozens of catalyzing partners, including Milwaukee School of Engineering, who are advancing the national movement for AI education, including:

Funders: The Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, Google, OpenAI, Booz Allen Hamilton, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Intel, AT&T, SAP, CDW, J.M. Smucker Co., Battelle, Colorado Thrives, The Florida High Tech Corridor Council, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Okta, GitHub, HP Enterprise, Akamai Foundation, FGS Global, Brunswick Group  

Nonprofits and Strategic Partners: TIES, Teach For America, Mark Cuban Foundation AI Bootcamps, Boys & Girls Club, AI4K12, The Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA), CSforALL, Data Science for Everyone, The Federation of American Scientists, All4Ed, Future Ready Schools, Outlier.org, Colorado Education Initiative, App Inventor Foundation, Envision Excellence in STEM Education, STEM Learning Ecosystems Community of Practice, National Humanities Center, InnovateEDU, National Science & Technology Medals Foundation, CEO Leadership Alliance of Orange County (CA), OhioX, CS is Elementary, Everyday AI, Upward Bound, Project Joy, Boolean Girl  

Academia: University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, Georgetown CSET, The Bay Area Community College Consortium, University of Tennessee, Ohio University, Miami University, University of South Florida, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Skyline College  

Venture Capital & Startups: GSV Ventures, General Catalyst, Bloomberg Beta, Techstars, Capsule  

K12 School Districts and Educational Service Agencies: Orange County Department of Education (450K students, California), Educational Service Center 13 (420K students, Texas), Wisconsin Cooperative Educational Service Agency - 1 (300K students, Wisconsin), Educational Service Center of Northeast Ohio (250K students, Ohio), Gwinnett County Public Schools (180K students, Georgia), Educational Service District of Spokane (100K students, Washington), Hamilton County Educational Service Center (100K students, Ohio), Grant Wood Area Education Agency (72K students, Iowa), Montgomery County Educational Service Center (70K students, Ohio), Summit Educational Service Center (50K students, Ohio), East Central Ohio Educational Service Center (50K students, Ohio), Hamilton County Schools (44K students, Tennessee), Anaheim Union High School District (30K students, California), Muskingum Valley Educational Service Center (23K students, Ohio), Akron Public Schools (20K students, Ohio), Erie 2-Chautauqua-Cattaraugus BOCES (20K students, New York), San Benito CISD (10K students), School District of New Berlin (4.3K students, Wisconsin), Ridgeville City Schools (4.3K students, Ohio), Midview Local Schools (2.7K students, Ohio), Hudson City Schools (2.5K students, Ohio), Perry Local Schools (1.5K students, Ohio)

“aiEDU has been advocating for foundational AI education since 2019, but the sudden explosion of generative AI tools onto the scene has led to a huge wave of interest from educators and education leaders over the past few months,” said Alex Kotran, co-founder and CEO of aiEDU. “Those who were around for the step change brought on by computers and the internet are experiencing a sense of déjà vu; it feels like we are once again on the cusp of a once-in-a-generation technological revolution, and it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that this is a really, really big deal—especially for students.”   

At the March 7 launch event, aiEDU announced a goal of securing 500 school district commitments for AI education by 2024, and unveiled an initial group of more than 20 district pioneers that together serve more than 1.5 million students. aiEDU and its partners are supporting schools that make commitments through a range of professional learning programs, curriculum implementation, stakeholder engagement, and regional/national convenings of education leaders partially or fully funded by an impressive cohort of foundations, companies, and philanthropies.   

“The world is at the precipice of incredible technological change, and civil society must urgently step up to help reimagine a future that equitably benefits humanity,” said Vilas Dhar, President of The Patrick J. McGovern Foundation. “Education is critical for building a digitally literate citizenry, and aiEDU’s leadership in building a shared movement is inspiring.”  

“As the leading provider of AI to the federal government, Booz Allen has a front row seat to the unique challenges and opportunities that AI unlocks for our people, empowering them to truly change the world for the greater good," said John Larson, EVP for Artificial Intelligence at Booz Allen Hamilton. "Our firm and the Booz Allen Foundation are proud to have supported aiEDU since its inception to help the organization realize its vision of creating equitable pathways for AI education so that students, regardless of background, can benefit from the AI revolution and its impact in our society."  

“We urgently need to help our schools and educators evolve learning strategies for the Age of Artificial Intelligence, and aiEDU has an ambitious plan to help them do just that,” said Tiffany Taylor, Chief People & Impact Officer at GSV Ventures, and aiEDU Board Member. “This might be the single most important challenge in the history of the U.S. education system, and no organization can solve the problem alone. The incredible coalition of partners that aiEDU has assembled validates its commitment to collaboration across the entire ecosystem.”   

“It’s essential that to ensure youth have a foundational understanding of the AI systems that will continue to play a substantial part of their lives,” said Elizabeth Taylor, director of STEM at the We Energies STEM Center at MSOE. “MSOE is committed to equitable experiences for all students, and ensuring AI literacy is reaching every student is essential to enabling this commitment. aiEDU’s approach to ensuring AI is accessible to both computer science and non-computer science courses alike is a game changer to realizing this goal.”

For more information on aiEDU and the AI education movement, please visit aiEDU.org.  

ABOUT THE AI EDUCATION PROJECT
The AI Education Project (aiEDU.org) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that creates equitable learning experiences that excite and empower students with AI literacy. We believe that everyone—especially those who are likely to be disproportionately impacted by AI systems—should have access to the conceptual knowledge and skills they need to thrive as workers, creators, consumers, and citizens. aiEDU was founded in 2019, and has been selected for four leading accelerators, including Techstars, Fast Forward, the Columbia University eLab, and AT&T Aspire.