Bridging the Digital Divide in AI Education

By: Jamie Jung

Photo Credit: MIT Technology Review

On April 23, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order Advancing Artificial Intelligence Education for American Youth which establishes a task force responsible for promoting AI literacy and proficiency among young Americans. The task force will oversee providing comprehensive AI training for educators, fostering early exposure to AI concepts and technology and organizing a Presidential Artificial Intelligence Challenge—a competition featuring multiple age categories and topical themes. 

With this early exposure program, the President asserts the future workforce of America will innovate the future of AI technology, ensuring the United States’ position as a global leader in the technological revolution. However, the Executive Order fails to address any curriculum on AI ethics or literacy. With the growing presence of AI, it is just as—if not even more—important to focus on topic such as AI ethics and cybersecurity.

Companies such as Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon have enthusiastically implemented AI tools in their products. Most recently, Google’s Veo 3 allows users to prompt AI generated videos with fluent dialogue, sound effects, and even singing. The endless technological updates make it increasingly difficult for humans to differentiate between reality and an AI generated illusion. A study by the University of Waterloo found only 61 percent of participants could tell the difference between AI generated and real images, far below the 85 percent threshold researchers expected.

The success of future students relies on their foundation of media literacy. 

The ability to examine the integrity of certain sources is critical not only for extensive research required in higher education but also for making independent decisions throughout adulthood. Media literacy is the basis of a healthy relationship with AI that is necessary to cultivating the inventors of tomorrow. 

While coding can be a powerful tool for creation and innovation, its benefits are significantly limited if individuals lack the critical thinking and ethical grounding to use it responsibly. Social media algorithms are designed to exploit human attention and emotion, often promoting polarizing or misleading content for profit. Without the tools to recognize these strategies, people can be influenced to make unhealthy decisions without realizing it. Media literacy empowers individuals to remain autonomous thinkers and informed citizens, which is the bedrock of a functioning democracy.