Cyber Innovation Center Attends AI Education Taskforce Roundtable at the White House

BOSSIER CITY, La.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Kevin Nolten, president of the Cyber Innovation Center (CIC), attended a special White House roundtable hosted by the First Lady of the United States (FLOTUS) focused on Artificial Intelligence (AI) education Thursday.

Nolten joined senior leaders from executive departments and agencies, including the Secretaries of Agriculture, Education, Energy, and Labor. Other attendees included the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Assistant to the President for Policy, the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, and the Special Advisor for AI & Crypto.

AI is growing in its use for threat detection and prediction, incident response, and more. However, it also poses risks as it’s leveraged to create automated attacks, disinformation, and privacy concerns among others. The AI education taskforce aims to equip students with the knowledge to use AI responsibly and effectively, while also addressing these risks.

The CIC is committed to supporting the FLOTUS’ priorities of infrastructure, national security, and talent through its workforce and academic initiative, CYBER.ORG. By leveraging more than a decade of experience providing cybersecurity education and workforce development resources to K–12 educators, CIC and CYBER.ORG are advancing the goals of the President’s Executive Order on AI.

“The CIC offers age-appropriate, ethical, and educationally relevant curricula that lays an early foundation and helps build the skills needed to pursue continued education in emerging technologies like AI,” said Nolten. “By integrating AI into classrooms in a safe and intentional way, we ensure students understand its potential and its risks. This empowers them to use the technology responsibly, fuels curiosity, and strengthens digital literacy to support the nation’s talent pipeline.”

As the nation faces an urgent need for a highly skilled cybersecurity and AI workforce, federal agencies and their partners must adopt innovative strategies to ensure access to top-tier professionals.

To help meet this challenge, CIC and CYBER.ORG have reached more than 45,000 K–12 educators and 5.6 million students across all 50 states and four U.S. territories. Beyond K–12, CIC collaborates with higher education and industry partners to strengthen the national talent pipeline.

Over the next 12 months, CIC aims to train an additional 6,500 educators, reach 1 million students, and host 250 professional development events nationwide.

The organization’s mission is to prepare the next generation to navigate and secure an increasingly AI-driven digital world by equipping learners with the skills needed to harness AI responsibly.

“The result of our work is a generation of students whose cybersecurity knowledge is guiding them toward careers in cyber and other emerging technology fields,” Nolten said. “Because AI is both a powerful defense tool and a potential weapon, it is an essential component of modern cybersecurity education, and we are proud to support this taskforce.”

ABOUT THE CYBER INNOVATION CENTER

Cyber Innovation Center (CIC), located in Bossier City, Louisiana, is the anchor of the 3,000-acre National Cyber Research Park and serves as the catalyst for the development and expansion of a knowledge-based workforce throughout the region. As a 501c3 not-for-profit corporation, CIC fosters collaboration among its partners and accelerates technology, research, and development. One of its primary missions is to develop a sustainable knowledge-based workforce that can support the growing needs of government, industry, and academic partners. For more information, please visit www.cyberinnovationcenter.org.

ABOUT CYBER.ORG

The Cyber Innovation Center’s workforce and academic initiative, CYBER.ORG seeks to advance cybersecurity education through K–12, higher education, and workforce development. Supported in part through a cooperative agreement with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), CYBER.ORG develops and delivers curriculum, resources, and educator training nationwide. With a focus on building foundational skills in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, computer science, and other emerging technologies, CYBER.ORG has reached more than 45,000 teachers and 5.6 million students across all 50 states. By equipping educators and inspiring learners, CYBER.ORG strengthens America’s future workforce and advances national security. For more information, please visit http://www.cyber.org.