The AI Continuum: Building a Resilient Talent Pipeline from K-12 to Higher Ed and the Workforce

Recorded live at the 2026 ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego, this session featured Dr. Melissa Gomez de la Fuente, Senior Director of Product Management – AI & Innovation for Teaching & Learning at Covista; Christopher “Topher” Wren, Senior Vice President of Technology at BoysTown; James Frazee, Vice President and Chief Information Officer at San Diego State University; and Adam Deer, Research and Education Executive Lead at Google Public Sector.The speakers explored how AI was evolving at unprecedented speed while a critical skills gap threatened to stall innovation, with many organizations lacking necessary AI expertise and relatively few campuses having formalized AI fluency outcomes. They examined how unlocking AI’s full potential required building a cohesive continuity of learning that spanned the entire student lifecycle.This session brought together K–12, higher education, and workforce leaders to discuss how they were bridging the AI fluency gap for students, faculty, and researchers. Panelists highlighted how competency frameworks, credentialing systems, and the latest AI models and platforms were being leveraged to create stronger pathways for AI readiness across education and employment systems.The conversation focused on building a resilient talent pipeline that connected learning from K–12 through higher education and into the workforce, emphasizing that sustained innovation depended on aligned systems capable of developing AI fluency at scale.