Guest Author
I was one of the CEO’s at the White House last week to meet with President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump as part of the AI Task Force on Education.
It was a surreal experience and honor to be included alongside the leading innovators in the AI industry like Sam Altman, Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai, and others to talk to the President, First Lady, and the Secretaries of Education and Energy about what we believe is one of the most critical issues and opportunities facing public education; How to use artificial intelligence to help both students learn and teachers teach.
The potential benefits are obvious and amazing. The concerns are also obvious and require collaboration between the state and federal governments, the AI industry, and educators to ensure that AI augments classroom activities without reducing lessons and learning to computer code.
That’s what the AI Task Force is all about and why we dare not fail.
Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) will instinctively prioritize survival. But survival without empathy is cold — even dangerous. We must shape AI to be almost maternal, like a mom looking after her children: protective yet challenging, nurturing yet firm. After all, the human act we know most is the instinct to protect and support a child.
As the First Lady told us, “As leaders and parents, we must manage AI’s growth responsibly … during this primitive stage, it is our duty to treat AI as we would our own children, empowering, but with watchful guidance.”
As Education Secretary Linda McMahon added, “Our goal is to empower states and schools to begin exploring AI integration in a way that works best for their communities … Let’s embrace it.”
And as Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins cautioned, the availability of AI can’t depend on where you live, or whether your school system has the resources to use it. “Far too often, those living and working in our rural parts of our country … are left behind. We cannot let that happen with AI.”
It’s why Silicon Valley leaders like Alphabet’s CEO are committing hundreds of millions to Code.org, ensuring every child gains AI access and programming.
We’re already doing that in Florida, where I live, and our company, Farm-Ed, is based.
In Florida classrooms, students are running controlled-environment systems, analyzing real-time data, presenting findings, and applying math, coding, and biology in the process. They’re developing problem-solving skills & trade knowledge that will define tomorrow’s workforce.
Florida is leading a national conversation on how AI can be built with maternal-like sensitivities, through classrooms, teachers, & kids who are literally learning to nurture life with technology.
Farm-Ed, our Tampa-based company, is pioneering controlled-environment & precision agriculture in classrooms statewide. Students are dissecting plumbing, electricity, lighting systems, biology, AI, & finance with project-based learning — all while growing plants.
These aren’t “mini-indoor farms” but high-tech learning labs where kids learn wiring, manage water flow, crunch yield data, balance budgets, and literally grow life. Guided by AI experts, teachers, & industry mentors, they’re discovering that the future of education is coding, how technology & people collaborate to nurture growth.
As I often say: “Agriculture is the original STEM — when a student grows food with AI, they’re learning science, responsibility, & how technology must care for humanity.”
We dare not dismiss legitimate concerns about AI. But we also can’t ignore the possibilities. As David Sacks, the Chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, told us, “AGI requires both vision and vigilance.”
The story of AI in America will not be written by code alone. It will be written by us and the spirit and sensibilities we choose to give it.
If we choose wisely, that spirit will resemble the nurturing maternal qualities we always saw at home, carried forward by our students and guided by the leaders who help them grow.
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Garyn Angel is the CEO of FarmEd, a Tampa-based AI company. Garyn has been asked to serve on the White House AI Task Force on Education.
