Tying tech knots: Scouting America launches AI, cybersecurity merit badges for 1M scouts

Scouting America has introduced two new merit badges focused on artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, marking the organization’s latest effort to engage its one million scouts with emerging technologies. The badges represent a strategic push to maintain relevance in an increasingly digital world while addressing critical skills gaps in high-demand tech fields.

What you should know: The new badges challenge scouts to explore AI’s impact on daily life and develop cybersecurity awareness through hands-on learning experiences.

• The AI badge requires scouts to examine how artificial intelligence affects everyday activities, learn about deepfakes (digitally manipulated videos or images that can make people appear to say or do things they never actually did), and complete a project that either incorporates AI technology or explains it to fellow scouts.
• The cybersecurity badge teaches young people essential tools “to stay safe and also keep themselves and their families secure against all of the threats that are out there,” according to Air Force Commander Michael Dunn, who helped develop the program.
• Both badges have been available for approximately one week, with some scouts already earning them.

The big picture: These additions are part of Scouting America’s broader digital transformation strategy, which includes launching an AI chatbot called Scoutly over the summer to answer organizational questions.

• The organization offers hundreds of merit badges spanning topics from fishing to fingerprinting, with the new tech-focused badges joining this diverse portfolio.
• CEO Roger Krone emphasized the importance of creating badges “around topics that the youth today are interested in” to maintain organizational relevance.

Why this matters: The cybersecurity badge specifically addresses a critical workforce shortage, with thousands of unfilled positions due to lack of skilled workers.

• The program introduces scouts to career opportunities in high-demand fields while building foundational knowledge in technologies that increasingly shape daily life.
• Early participants like 13-year-old Charles Hendricks found the cybersecurity badge “more fun than it is work,” sparking his interest in potential career paths.

What they’re saying: Leadership views technology adoption as essential for organizational evolution and effectiveness.

• “To be relevant today, like every other organization out there, we are embracing artificial intelligence and, frankly, all aspects of technology to enable us to do what we do even better,” said Krone.
• Fifteen-year-old Wydell Hendricks, who plans to pursue cybersecurity in the Air Force, noted an additional benefit: “I think this badge also teaches you ethics, which is a good thing to have as a scout.”