From Training to Teaching AI – A Year in Review

Over the last year as AI has transformed business, the economy, and daily life, Booz Allen has continued to be at the forefront of AI education and innovation. As the leading provider of AI services to the federal government, and working in tandem with The Booz Allen Foundation, Booz Allen has deployed our AI expertise, resources, and ability to convene tech, government, and community leaders. The goal: to demystify AI, demonstrate how it works, and show how to ethically integrate it into the classroom, boardroom, and beyond.

Highlights follow from a banner year of activity focused on advocating for and advancing AI education for both future talent (students) and current talent (workers aimed at upskilling themselves) to take advantage of a once-in-a-generation technology.

In late 2022, OpenAI’s ChatGPT surged into the national spotlight, bringing generative AI to every news headline and triggering a gold rush of interest and investment in AI.

To kick off 2023, the Booz Allen Foundation held a historic AI Education Summit at The Helix, its Center for Innovation in Washington, DC. The summit brought together industry partners, government leaders, as well as the nonprofit and education sectors, to begin a dialogue on the transformative effect AI would have on our society and think about a multisector approach to prepare teachers and students for the jobs of the future.

The Helix has since served as a marquee venue for a wide range of AI-themed events. From a panel discussion about the implementation of responsible AI, to a series of AI bootcamps for local DC area high school students and a kickoff summit for Booz Allen’s new Women in AI group, the Helix has been a convening place for AI discourse.

The Center for Innovation also houses the AI Adoption Studio, a space where Booz Allen’s AI experts, clients, and partners come together, walk through demos, and learn about new capabilities.

On the heels of the summit’s success, Booz Allen next teamed up with longtime nonprofit partner, The AI Education Project (aiEDU), on a nationwide effort to prepare the present and future workforce for the AI revolution. Hawaii is a primary geographic focus area because of its urgent need for AI education and workforce development, both to keep up with technological innovation and to grow and retain a local pool of AI talent. The Booz Allen Foundation partnered with aiEDU to host the Hawaii Equitable AI Education Ecosystem Gathering in Honolulu. It brought together more than 100 representatives from industry, nonprofits, and government. They discussed how to create a holistic approach to incorporate responsible AI education into K-12 curricula, what educators need to know in order to integrate AI into the classroom, and the role that government and industry have in ensuring that teachers have the resources and knowledge to effectively teach the skills needed for the future.

“Economic success will depend on talent that can navigate technological evolution,” wrote Ed Barnabas in the Honolulu Civil Beat. As vice president of Booz Allen’s Hawaii and Indo-Pacific East business, Ed sees firsthand that “the demand for the talent pool that has [AI] knowledge far outstrips the supply—highlighting the need for an education system that can build and sustain an AI talent pipeline.”

Booz Allen and the Booz Allen Foundation have joined forces with the Hawaii State Department of Education and the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools to build this pipeline.

“We are partnering with educational systems to show them how technology maps back to curriculums, so their students have a foundation and a clear path into an occupation or career upon graduating from high school or college," adds Ed.

Following the event’s resounding success, the Hawaii Department of Education has engaged aiEDU and Booz Allen to conduct future teacher trainings.

Nearly 5,000 miles away in Maryland, leaders from the Prince George’s County School District are just as eager to learn about AI. They attended Booz Allen’s DC Summit and partnered with the Booz Allen Foundation and aiEDU to host their own training for more than 150 teachers. This has inspired Prince George’s County to work directly with aiEDU to train all 10,000 teachers in the school district, reaching 145,000 students over the next three years.

Teachers who’ve taken the training feel its impact on underserved communities and have welcomed the opportunity to build their knowledge. “I work in a large urban school district where more than 80% of our population is students of color,” says one teacher. “I'm always speaking from a place of equity. We want our students to contribute to the AI space.”

Interest in the AI education summits and events has quickly spread beyond school districts. Nonprofit partners such as the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, the Elementary Institute of Science, and Year Up, have engaged Booz Allen and aiEDU to integrate AI education into their work.

The firm returned to The Helix in fall 2023 when the Mark Cuban Foundation sponsored an AI bootcamp for high school students. For four Saturdays in a row, 30 Booz Allen AI experts volunteered their time to train groups of 25 participants in an “Intro to Artificial Intelligence.”

As Booz Allen drives these partnerships to promote AI readiness for the workforce of tomorrow, the company is doubling down on AI education within its own ranks. “AI is going to leapfrog us in terms of the technology and capabilities,” says Jim Hemgen, director of talent development at Booz Allen. “We can’t just sit back. This is challenging all of us to continuously learn.”

In 2023, Booz Allen unveiled its AI Ready digital badging program, the culmination of more than five years of learning and development (L&D) programming focused on data science and AI education. The program is companywide and modular, developed in collaboration with training companies like Workera to provide Booz Allen employees the knowledge required to help government clients adopt secure, responsible, and mission-driven AI solutions. In a Q&A about AI Ready, Joe Rohner, who oversees the entire program, shared that the goal is “for every Booz Allen employee to be AI-ready and have the technical skills to understand AI, interact with it on a basic level, and grasp how AI fits into the client’s mission.”

Designed to promote AI readiness for every employee, regardless of level or role, the program sits at the heart of Booz Allen’s AI readiness infrastructure, which includes employee-led groups like the AI Technical Experience Group and Women in AI, the Technical Excellence upskilling program, and Booz Allen’s FlexEd stipend for external AI education and certifications.

In less than a year, enrollment in the program has skyrocketed. And there has been a 337% increase in registration for internal AI training offerings over last year. “We want everyone in the organization to be AI conversant, understanding what AI is, and the capabilities we have in this space,” Hemgen says.

One of the things that makes AI such a unique technology is its ability to engage with its users and generate novel content—such as training materials. In 2024, L&D teams will use generative AI to rapidly prototype courses, develop assessment questions, and create videos and images to make AI training courses more engaging.

“Our employees have been preparing and building in this space, and we’re seeing huge success,” Hemgen says.