Photo courtesy of Yu Cai Professor Yu Cai, standing right, congratulates Gabe Hjerstedt, standing left, on his and his team’s achievements for winning the state competition for the 2026 Presidential AI Challenge.

HOUGHTON — Houghton High School’s CyberHusky STEM team has had a string of successes recently, including capturing the 2026 Presidential AI Challenge Michigan State Championship.

This competition was created under an executive order from President Trump to bolster research and development of artificial intelligence (AI) through youth programs and initiatives such as the challenge.

Proclamation and backing

Signed last April, the executive order looks at AI and how it is transforming America’s technological landscape. The order stated its goals in introducing AI to school-aged children and how it could radically change the future of this country.

“To achieve this vision, we must also invest in our educators and equip them with the tools and knowledge to not only train students about AI, but also to utilize AI in their classrooms to improve educational outcomes,” Trump stated in his order.

The order created the Artificial Intelligence Education Task Force. It includes the Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of Labor, Secretary of Energy, Secretary of Education, Director of the National Science Foundation, Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, Special Advisor for AI and Crypto, Assistant to the President for Policy as well as other heads of departments and agencies who could be invited if called upon.

The impacts of this order were immediately felt throughout the United States’ educational system. A February research insights article by the Institute of Educational Sciences highlights what states such as New Mexico, Massachusetts and Connecticut are doing in order to keep up with new technological advancements in education.

The Presidential AI Challenge was created in order to uphold the president’s vision, as well as implementing funding grants to bolster AI in education.

Major organizations the White House says are committed to providing AI education resources include: Google, IBM, Pearson Education, HP, Zoom, Nvidia, Dell Technologies, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Adobe, OpenAI, Intel, Roblox, Walmart, McGraw Hill Education, AT&T and Meta, among many others.

The full list of supporters can be found at whitehouse.gov/releases/2025/09/major-organizations-commit-to-supporting-ai-education/.

What critics say

With the financial backing and verbal commitment from some of the largest corporations on the planet, the Trump Administration is geared up to take the lead on global AI development.

Congress could soon see AI backlash on its floors. In late-March, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (I) and New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) introduced a bill aiming to pause the development of AI data centers until federally backed safeguards are put in place.

Some critics of the Trump Administration’s stance on AI especially take issue with its impact on the youth.

The Brookings Institute released a January 2026 report which found, through focus groups, interviews with K-12 students and a literature review, AI’s risks to children overshadow its benefits.

The report goes into detail about how AI negatively impacts children’s cognitive development. Page 56 of the Brookings Institute’s findings warn readers of AI’s impact on how children learn.

“The overuse, and even the routine use, of AI is fundamentally and negatively reshaping how students approach learning,” the report said. “This has profound implications for cognitive engagement, the development of practical skills, and existential questions about human purpose and agency.”

The world of childhood education is identified as having a unique amount of risk when it comes to the world of AI. While AI is a powerful tool, the report states adults who are using these tools have fully developed brains. AI being integrated into education would not have the same effects on adults then it would have on children.

“For students, the situation is fundamentally reversed,” the report states on page 57. “Their brains are developing, undergoing crucial processes of neural pruning and strengthening that depend on repeated cognitive effort and struggle.”

AI in the Keweenaw

Certain groups in the Keweenaw are rallying against AI and its effects, not just on children but in the working world. Northern Michigan Alliance for Responsible Development (NMARD) is organizing the “No AI Data Centers in Michigan” rally in Houghton at 6 p.m.

AI data centers provide the necessary processing power and energy needed for AI to run. According to the Michigan Climate Action Network website, the goal of the rally is to demand a moratorium on AI data centers until public concerns including, energy and transparency, are addressed.

A Houghton County Board of Commissioners work session on Monday saw discussion on a resolution opposing legislation prohibiting local control for data center construction.

According to Monday’s meeting minutes, the resolution’s language will be revised through the county prosecutor before it is presented to townships.