Gina's going to save us from AI, so she says
News release from RAISE US
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| She's always been a corporatist |
“I believe AI will create new jobs and industries over time, but the transition could be disruptive, and it’s already underway. We shouldn’t fearmonger, but we can’t pretend our training and worker support systems are ready either.”
“America has a technology strategy for leading the global AI competition. It does not yet have a people strategy — and we cannot lead without one,” said Raimondo, who will serve as CEO of RAISE US. “If we build the best AI systems in the world and leave millions of Americans behind, we won’t have won anything; we’ll have automated our own decline. I believe AI will create new jobs and industries over time, but the transition could be disruptive, and it’s already underway. We shouldn’t fearmonger, but we can’t pretend our training and worker support systems are ready either. It’s time for innovative and practical solutions. This moment demands ambition, urgency, and creativity. We've assembled the country's top companies, best economists, and bipartisan governors at a scale rarely seen — all to advance new ideas and incentives, pilot them with governors and business, and scale what works.”
AI is beginning to reshape work across nearly every
industry, region, and level of education, while the country's main tools for
helping workers adapt were built for a bygone economy. The U.S. spends hundreds
of billions of dollars a year on higher education, workforce training, and
unemployment insurance, but too little of that funding is tied to outcomes. Our
postsecondary system remains expensive, built largely for traditional
college-aged students, and is only loosely tied to employer hiring. Corporate incentives,
too, need to change to encourage companies to retrain and redeploy the workers
they already have. Promising local models have shown some success but have yet
to scale nationally, and new models are needed.
“This isn’t red versus blue; it’s an all-hands-on-deck
moment,” said Holcomb. “As governor, I made workforce development the
centerpiece of my administration that helped train Hoosiers in every corner of
the state. I learned this work gets done at the state level, in partnership
with employers. RAISE US gives state leaders a playbook that connects more
Americans with the skills and careers needed in the years ahead.”
Most efforts to help workers focus on singular pieces of the
puzzle: a training program, a policy change, or an employer commitment. RAISE
US is built to move all of them at once, working across government, employers,
and education and training to design new models, pilot them with governors and
employers, measure outcomes, and scale what works. It also puts AI to work
directly, powering teaching, coaching, career navigation, and labor-market
analytics. In doing so, RAISE US will help American workers exposed to
technological disruption navigate transitions, find good jobs, and prosper.
RAISE US will serve as a national hub, backing and
connecting with other efforts underway, rather than duplicating them. The
organization operates across four core areas:
State Partnerships: States largely control
workforce policy and programming — the funding, credentialing, and oversight —
as well as the corporate tax policy and business incentives in their states
that shape whether employers retrain their workers or let them go. That makes
them the right level of government to initiate action. RAISE US partners with
governors to reorient public workforce and education infrastructure for a
shifting labor market. In practice, that means earn-and-learn apprenticeships
and short-term credentials mapped to real employer demand, public funding that
rewards job outcomes rather than enrollment. It also means creating incentives
that give employers a reason to retrain and redeploy workers rather than lay
them off, and providing modern transition supports — from wage insurance to
career navigation — so changing jobs no longer means financial ruin.
RAISE US is launching with initial partnerships in Arkansas,
Connecticut, Maryland, and Utah — states that are out front nationally in
preparing for the AI economy. This bipartisan group of states will serve as the
first proving grounds for outcome-driven pilots. Additional states will join in
the months ahead.
Employer Coalition: The companies deploying AI
are also the ones with the most direct line of sight into where jobs are
changing — and they need a workforce that can move into the new roles that AI
creates. The RAISE US employer coalition asks something specific of its
members: to be vocal public champions for workforce transition and to co-design
the pilots that build a shared understanding of what effective worker
transition looks like in practice. Crucially, the companies building AI sit at
the table alongside the companies adopting it — the first time the technology’s
leading developers have joined an independent effort to design and fund worker
transition.
Education and Training: AI is breaking the old
tradeoff between cost and quality in education. RAISE US' education and
training partners are built to seize that moment. RAISE US will deploy flexible
capital to scale AI-enabled, work-based training models that expand access to
affordable, high-quality alternatives to traditional education. It will target
the systemic gaps state and employer partners identify, back proven and
emerging providers, and measure success by real outcomes: employment, earnings,
and advancement.
Policy Lab: RAISE US will design new strategies
that both support workers through career transitions and encourage employers to
retrain and redeploy them. It will test these ideas, study what works, and
promote proven solutions that help workers of all backgrounds succeed. The
Policy Lab turns data-driven insights into actionable recommendations to scale
policy innovations from ideas to national practice. The work of the Policy Lab
will not be funded by any corporate contributions.
On the ground, this work is already underway – in
statehouses, inside companies, and in the field with researchers.
In its first state partnerships, RAISE US is helping
governors stand up concrete programs. In Arkansas, it is supporting an
AI-powered career navigation platform called Arkansas LAUNCH that connects
students and jobseekers to personalized learning and employer-linked career
pathways. In Maryland, the collaboration involves expanding service-year
pathways into sectors such as healthcare and education, launching a competitive
fund for innovative career transition models, and creating an accelerator
program that supports displaced workers to pursue entrepreneurship.
With major American employers, RAISE US is co-designing
workforce transition pilots to test models for reskilling and redeploying
workers within companies, connecting displaced workers to new roles, and
building pathways for workers entering new careers. It is also partnering with
academic researchers to launch real-world pilots that test the potential for
policies, such as short-time compensation and wage insurance, to support
workers and employers through career transitions.
To scale what works, RAISE US is building a national
platform to accelerate apprenticeships and other earn-and-learn pathways into
sectors such as healthcare and advanced manufacturing. By bringing together
employers, educators, workforce organizations, and state leaders, RAISE US will
help create scalable talent pipelines that prepare workers for high-demand
roles while strengthening U.S. competitiveness.
Leading technology companies Amazon, Anthropic, Microsoft,
and the OpenAI Foundation are coming together to help build the workforce
response to AI as RAISE US anchor partners.
Bank of America has also stepped forward as the primary
corporate sponsor of RAISE US’ advanced manufacturing apprenticeship
initiative, bringing extensive reach and leadership into the employer
communities where this work will take place.
In addition, a broad group of leading employers and
philanthropies are joining together to support the RAISE US mission: ADP, AMD,
Arnold Ventures, Autodesk, Blackstone, Blackstone Charitable Foundation, Boston
Consulting Group, Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, Cisco,
Cognizant, Deloitte, Eli Lilly and Company, Emerson Collective, General Motors,
IBM, Infosys, Mastercard, Pivotal, Pritzker Traubert Foundation, The
Rockefeller Foundation, Rockwell Automation, ServiceNow, Stephen A. Schwarzman
Foundation, UPS, and Workday. In all, RAISE US aims to raise $1 billion in
multi-year commitments and has already secured over half.
Gina Raimondo will serve as CEO, with Eric Beane as
President and Chief Operating Officer, and Janet Foutty as President of
Corporate Partnerships. In addition to Raimondo and Holcomb, the RAISE US Board
of Directors will include Kaya Henderson, The Aspen Institute; Julie Mikuta,
Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies; Cassie Motz, CollegeBound
Foundation; and David Sze, Tandem Philanthropies.
The RAISE US Advisory Board includes Joseph Aoun,
Northeastern University; David Autor, MIT; Maria Black, ADP; Dr. Erik
Brynjolfsson, Stanford University; Raj Chetty, Opportunity Insights; Jim
DeMare, Bank of America; John Friedman, Brown University and Opportunity
Insights; Joseph Fuller, Harvard Project on Workforce at Harvard University;
Brian Hooks, Stand Together; Sal Khan, Khan Academy; Ravi Kumar S, Cognizant;
Rich Lesser, Boston Consulting Group; Ken Mehlman, KKR & Co.; Eduardo
Padron, Miami Dade College (former); Samuel Palmisano, IBM (former); Ai-jen
Poo, National Domestic Workers Alliance; Laurene Powell Jobs, Emerson
Collective; Penny Pritzker, PSP Partners; Scott Pulsipher, WGU; Paul Ryan, U.S.
House of Representatives (former); Stephen A. Schwarzman, Blackstone; Liz
Shuler, AFL-CIO; Matt Sigelman, Burning Glass Institute; and Kristen
Silverberg, Business Roundtable.
To support its research, policy, and employer-engagement
work, RAISE US is building a broad set of partnerships; initial partners
include The Burning Glass Institute, Business Roundtable, Opportunity Insights,
Stand Together, and Watson School of International and Public Affairs at Brown
University. The organization is also grateful for the pro bono support of
Accenture, Boston Consulting Group, and McKinsey, whose research and advisory
contributions have helped shape its approach.
Government Partners
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R-Ark.): “As
artificial intelligence transforms America’s economy, we have one clear
message: technology should empower people, not replace them. By leveraging our
Arkansas LAUNCH initiative, and with the resources and expertise provided by
RAISE US, Arkansas will turn that mission into reality. We want the Natural
State to be a leader on education, workforce training, and up-skilling, and
this new partnership gives us the tools we need to build a model for the entire
nation."
Gov. Ned Lamont (D-Conn.): "AI is going to
reshape how we work, and we are committed to ensuring Connecticut’s workers
will benefit from these breakthroughs. We have already laid the foundation,
working with our labor partners to enshrine worker protections in law with our
CART Act. Through this partnership with RAISE US, we're committing to take
practical next steps to ensure our state has the policies, coalitions, and
resources in place to help workers gain new skills, support families through
periods of change, and connect people to growing careers. I want the workforce
of Connecticut to look at the years ahead and see opportunity, not
uncertainty."
Gov. Wes Moore (D-Md.): “Artificial intelligence
is developing at a pace that demands a broad-based strategy to protect and
prepare our workers. Maryland is moving with urgency to empower and strengthen
our workforce with the skills and resources they need to meet this moment. This
partnership with RAISE US is a continuation of our commitment to driving
pathways to work, wages, and wealth for all.”
Gov. Spencer Cox (R-Utah): "The future of
work will test every state in the country, and we must work to ensure we are
more than passive observers and users of AI – we must be architects of a future
that empowers our workforce. Utah is joining RAISE US because it puts government,
employers, and educators at the same table to actually get something done.
That's how you solve hard problems.”
Founding Partners
Sam Altman, Co-Founder & CEO, OpenAI: “Helping
people through the shifts that AI may bring to the economy is one of the most
important things to start thinking through now, and the OpenAI Foundation is
proud to support RAISE US' work.”
Andrew Anagnost, President & CEO, Autodesk: “AI
is transforming how work gets done and people need help addressing this shift
to close the skills and opportunity gap. At Autodesk, that belief is reflected
in our commitment to expanding access to technology, training, and credentials
that help prepare the workforce for what comes next. RAISE US is focused on the
elements that can make a difference at scale: clearer employer signals,
partnerships built to drive action, and real outcomes for workers who need more
than a conversation about the future. We are proud to join this initiative
because every company with the capacity to contribute has a responsibility to
step forward.”
Laura Arnold, Co-Founder & Co-Chair, Arnold Ventures: "As
AI reshapes the economy, identifying and rigorously testing policy solutions,
grounded in skills and outcomes, will be essential to helping more people
navigate change and succeed in the workforce. RAISE US is bringing together the
right partners to embark on, and succeed in, this endeavor.”
Maria Black, President & CEO, ADP: “As the
leader in workforce innovation serving more than 1.1 million clients globally,
we have incredible data and insights that offer a unique lens into AI’s impact
on the workforce. Our data shows AI is reshaping work at the task level,
creating new job categories even as it changes others. Whether a Fortune 500
company or small local business, this is a critical time for employers to focus
on upskilling today’s workers and preparing their organizations for the future
of work.”
Jack Clark, Co-Founder and Head of Public Benefit,
Anthropic: "AI is going to change the economy in ways that are
hard to anticipate. RAISE US is going to build some of the infrastructure we'll
need to navigate AI's economic impacts, giving us the tools needed to take
advantage of its benefits and see and deal with its potential
disruptions."
Jim DeMare, Co-President, Bank of America: "Bank
of America’s partnership with RAISE US strengthens America’s workforce and the
country’s economic future. As technology and AI reshape jobs, we are continuing
to invest in training, upskilling and apprenticeships — including advanced manufacturing—
to help American workers build skills, compete globally, and drive U.S.
growth."
Andy Jassy, President & CEO, Amazon: “When
Gina shared the idea for RAISE US several months ago, we were excited. She has
a track record of building successful relationships across business and
government to tackle important challenges, AI is going to reshape how nearly
every job works, and this is exactly the kind of effort we need to make sure
American workers have the skills for what’s next - I'm proud for Amazon to be
part of it. For many years, we've helped our own employees build new skills
through programs like Career Choice. And what we've learned is that when you
invest in people at the right moment, they thrive. With RAISE US, we're taking
that work and applying it at a national scale to make sure this AI transition
creates opportunities for everyone.”
Arvind Krishna, Chairman & CEO, IBM: "RAISE
US is helping workers build new skills and take advantage of the opportunities
AI is creating. To realize AI’s promise, we need workforce systems and policies
that act with the same speed and ambition as the technology itself. IBM has helped
businesses and institutions navigate major technology shifts for more than a
century, and we are proud to support this new effort."
Ravi Kumar S, CEO, Cognizant: "Over 90% of
U.S. jobs are already exposed to AI’s impact, and while it will create
significantly more jobs of the future and shift greater value, wages, and
accountability to the frontlines, the defining challenge now is how quickly we
create pathways for workers to transition into future-ready roles. RAISE US
provides a platform to advance our work at Cognizant and co-design and scale
these models with industry and state partners to strengthen workforce
transitions across the U.S."
Michael Miebach, CEO, Mastercard: "AI is
transforming how we innovate, grow and compete. Its full promise will come when
people have the skills, confidence and human insight to put it to work. RAISE
US puts people at the center of AI’s future, with the shared standards and best
practices needed to help them thrive.”
Laurene Powell Jobs, Founder & President, Emerson
Collective: "One of the great strengths of the American economy
is the capacity of people to learn, adapt, and grow alongside technological
change. As artificial intelligence transforms how work is done, workers will
need access to new skills, clearer pathways to opportunity, and support through
periods of transition. RAISE US is helping build the infrastructure that can
make lifelong learning and economic mobility more accessible to everyone.”
David A. Ricks, CEO, Eli Lilly and Company:
"RAISE US is tackling a defining challenge of the AI era: ensuring workers
have the skills they need to succeed in a rapidly changing economy. For 150
years, Lilly has been discovering and making medicines that improve lives. That
work will always depend on people who can apply new technologies, supported by
systems and policies that keep pace. We're proud to be a founding partner of
this initiative."
Chuck Robbins, Chair & CEO, Cisco: “AI is
reshaping industries and how work gets done faster than most education and
training systems can evolve. Cisco is proud to support RAISE US, alongside the
other founding partners, to ensure our workforce has the ability to adapt to
this ever-changing world, as well as the skills and support they need to
succeed.”
Stephen A. Schwarzman, Founder & Chairman, Stephen A.
Schwarzman Foundation: “In the age of AI, investing in workforce
training and retraining is essential to building the capabilities needed for
the future and expanding access to opportunity. I commend Gina Raimondo and
Eric Holcomb’s leadership in advancing this effort, and I’m very pleased to
support it.”
Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, President, The Rockefeller
Foundation: “Our country was born 250 years ago with a promise that
all Americans would be empowered in their pursuit of happiness—and ever since,
good jobs have made that pursuit possible. As the AI economy impacts vulnerable
workers across every sector, we need to adapt and scale the systems that will
ensure quality work is always available for anyone who wants to build a better
life. The Rockefeller Foundation is proud to support RAISE US so that AI opens
doors for America's workers instead of closing them.”
Brad Smith, Vice Chair & President, Microsoft: “The
country needs a broad partnership to ensure AI creates better opportunities for
more people to pursue better jobs. We believe RAISE US brings together the
extensive range of partners, the high ambition, and the non-partisan spirit
needed to ensure AI benefits people across the economy.”
Dr. Lisa Su, Chair & CEO, AMD: “Realizing
the full potential of AI requires investing in people. That means helping
workers build the skills and gain the experience they need to participate in
and benefit from the AI economy. AMD is proud to support RAISE US and its work
to expand opportunity for Americans as AI transforms every industry.”
Advisors & Experts
Liz Schuler, President, AFL-CIO: “Working people
belong in every room where decisions about their jobs and their futures are
being made. That is especially true when it comes to AI and the technology that
is reshaping our economy, our work, and our daily lives. When that technology
is forced on workers without their input and consent, it puts us all at risk.
RAISE US represents a better way forward: where labor, business, politicians,
industry experts, and academics all come together to chart a path forward that
ensures AI works for working people. I applaud RAISE US for embracing this
challenge, and look forward to bringing the voice and leadership of the labor
movement to these important conversations."
Matt Sigelman, The Burning Glass Institute: “At
the Burning Glass Institute, our work starts from a simple premise: AI will not
reshape the labor market in the abstract; it will reshape jobs, skills, tasks,
and career paths. That is why we are excited to serve as a lead partner with
RAISE US, combining our strength in labor market analytics and deep expertise
in AI impact analytics with RAISE US’ ability to bring together and catalyze
industry, education, and government to turn intelligence into action at scale.
The test for the country is whether we can help workers move with this change
rather than be moved by it, and the partnership between the Burning Glass
Institute and RAISE US is built around meeting that test.”
Kristen Silverberg, President & COO, Business
Roundtable: “The transition to an AI-driven economy presents both an
urgent challenge and a generational opportunity. Business Roundtable and RAISE
US share a deep commitment to ensuring that American employers and workers are
equipped to navigate that transition successfully and to building the
employer-led infrastructure needed to do so at scale.”
Sal Khan, Founder and CEO, Khan Academy: “America’s
workforce challenge is not just a skills gap, but a broken bridge between
learning, trusted credentials, and good jobs. We need accessible,
employer-aligned pathways that help people prove what they can do. RAISE US is
one of the few efforts serious about building that bridge at scale.”
David Autor, Daniel and Gail Rubinfeld Professor, MIT: “How
workers fare in an economic transition does not depend on luck or individual
virtue alone. Policies and institutions determine whether rapid labor market
change opens new opportunities or leaves scars. The China Shock taught us that
"get a new job" is not a viable policy; it's a surrender for which we
are still paying an economic and political price. RAISE US asks not whether AI
will reshape work, but how to ensure workers benefit from those changes.”
Brian Hooks, Chairman & CEO, Stand Together: "New
technology creates an extraordinary opportunity to help all people realize
their potential and thrive. But given the pace of change, this will require an
unprecedented society-wide effort to connect people to meaningful work and
community. Stand Together is thrilled to partner with RAISE US to help make
that happen."
For more information, visit raiseus.ai.
About RAISE US
RAISE US is a national nonprofit building America’s people
strategy for the AI economy — the workforce infrastructure the country needs so
workers can train, transition, and thrive. Co-chaired by Gina Raimondo, the
40th U.S. Secretary of Commerce and 75th Governor of Rhode Island, and Eric
Holcomb, the 51st Governor of Indiana, RAISE US partners with states,
employers, and educators to fund and pilot innovative workforce models and
policies, embed with partners to implement and evaluate them, and scale what
works. Learn more at raiseus.ai.
