In 1862, in the midst of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Act and set off an education revolution. The Act established land-grant colleges across the country, democratizing higher education and equipping generations of Americans with the skills to meet the challenges of industrialization. That bold move helped transform the United States into the world’s economic powerhouse.
Today, we face a technological revolution of similar magnitude: Artificial Intelligence. Will we meet this challenge with the same boldness Lincoln displayed in 1862? To do so, we propose passing a Digital-AI Land Grant Act: a federal initiative that builds a nationwide system of universities and colleges equipped to educate and train every region for the age of AI.
