AI giants and government join forces to train US workforce as 50 million jobs face displacement

'Changing jobs no longer means financial ruin': AI giants and government join forces to train US workforce to not go obsolete in the age of AI

* American companies are backing a worker retraining scheme * AI is expected to displace millions of workers while creating new roles * Partners promise to retrain and redeploy workers instead of simply laying them off Many of the US' biggest firms and AI influencers, including Amazon, Anthropic, Microsoft and the OpenAI Foundation, have joined a new government scheme to help workers adapt to an AI-first future. RAISE US is a new nonprofit designed to help workers adapt to job displacement by providing them with training opportunities and encouraging employers to retrain and redeploy existing workers. The scheme notes that, while displacement is inevitable, 78 million net new jobs are expected to be created globally between now and 2030. US giants join RAISE US to upskill workers for AI This is as 50 million American workers are said to be in jobs that are vulnerable to AI displacement. RAISE US has proposed solutions like wage insurance, career support and retraining initiatives to keep human workers from losing their jobs during the transition. "We believe this commitment to people is one of the most important investments we can make - both right now and for the workforce of the future," Amazon Chief Global Affairs & Legal Officer David Zapolsky wrote. Although Amazon laid off around 16,000 workers earlier this year, AWS CEO Matt Garman recently confirmed organization-wide plans to hire 11,000 new grads and interns to drive AI progress internally. Former US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and former Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb are behind the program, which has already seen more than $500 million committed to it. But RAISE US is targeting around twice that much in commitments. "America has a technology strategy for leading the global AI competition," Raimondo said. "It does not yet have a people strategy." Besides companies, state partnerships also form part of the scheme to retrain workers. Arkansas, Connecticut, Maryland and Utah represent the first four. The Bank of America is also a major corporate sponsor. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.

AI is plowing through the workplace. This new group wants to help people adapt and have jobs

A newly formed bipartisan nonprofit named RAISE US is set to launch with over $500 million aimed at tackling job losses anticipated from artificial intelligence advancements. Co-founded by former Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and ex-Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb, this organisation plans to collaborate with states and corporations to offer retraining for displaced workers. America has been rushing into an artificial intelligence future without much of a plan to stop what could be catastrophic job losses. Critics warn of doomsday scenarios out of a sci-fi thriller, while backers say AI will generate so much new wealth that no one should worry too much about millions of layoffs. A new bipartisan nonprofit hopes to ensure that America can realize the economic gains promised by AI without its workers suffering. RAISE US is starting with more than $500 million to deploy on new forms of education and training, putting a focus on partnering with states and major employers rather than the federal government. Founded by former Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, a Democrat, and former Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, a Republican, the group aims to pilot programs and incentives to help American workers pivot to new careers in an economy that will increasingly be automated by artificial intelligence. "We're talking about a certain level of unemployment that could destabilize our country and our democracy," Raimondo said in an interview. "If you want to lead the world in AI, you have to take action to make sure our democracy doesn't crumble." The programs will first start in Arkansas, Maryland, Utah and Connecticut The nonprofit is initially partnering with officials in Arkansas, Connecticut, Maryland and Utah, along with several of America's largest companies and charitable organisations. The group intends to develop policies that connect schools more closely to employers, so that layoffs can be replaced by the potential for new jobs with higher incomes. They also are exploring changes to corporate taxes and other incentives with the goal of keeping people working. "Good things tend to happen when you convert have-nots into haves," Holcomb said. Among the companies serving as anchor partners with RAISE US are Amazon, Microsoft, Anthropic, the OpenAI Foundation and Bank of America. Other employers involved in the project include UPS, General Motors, Eli Lilly, Mastercard, chipmaker AMD, Cisco and IBM. Raimondo, the former Democratic governor of Rhode Island who played a formative role in setting AI policy as the Biden administration's commerce secretary, will be the nonprofit's CEO. The advisory board includes former Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, billionaire investment manager Stephen Schwarzman, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler and the economists David Autor, Erik Brynjolfsson and Raj Chetty. AI has the potential to displace human workers from factories to offices An April analysis by the Boston Consulting Group estimated that roughly half of U.S. jobs will be reshaped by AI over the next few years. The analysis said that as many as 25 million jobs could be eliminated in the U.S. over the next five years. Goldman Sachs, in March, separately released an estimate that a quarter of U.S. work hours could be automated by AI. More than just a glorified search engine or a generator of video clips and novelty images, AI could fill roads with driverless trucks, create factories staffed by robots and supplant office workers, lawyers and doctors. President Donald Trump has expressed little anxiety about the possibility of AI displacing human workers. Asked on Tuesday ahead of touring a Mack Trucks factory in Pennsylvania if AI could cause truckers to lose their jobs, Trump told a reporter, "Right now, they're not." The president has been banking on the buildout of AI data centers and power plants to drive hiring and overall economic growth. While AI-related investments have helped the economy, manufacturing has shed 68,000 jobs and the trucking transportation sector has cut 28,300 jobs since the start of Trump's second term, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. "We have, right now, so many jobs that are going to be available and the biggest problem we have is getting the people," Trump said. "So we're really doing spectacular." Experts say education systems and labor policies aren't built for an AI economy AI experts have warned of gaps between the transformations that AI could create and a 20th century social safety net of unemployment insurance and four-year college that seems ill-prepared for the scope, scale and speed of the change. "AI is now disrupting multiple sectors simultaneously, faster than any institution can respond," said Vivienne Ming, a neuroscientist who has written the book, "Robot-Proof: When Machines Have all the Answers, Build Better People." Ming said that she agrees with an argument by economists that the wealth generated by AI could create demand for more workers that could offset any job losses. But she said the skills that matter in an AI economy go beyond professions such as plumbing or construction and involve curiosity and intellectual flexibility. "Neither our education system nor our labor policies are building the foundational human capital that AI-era work actually requires," she said. Raimondo said the new nonprofit wants to use states as a vehicle for testing ideas that Congress can later embrace as policies, paving the way for the possibility of more profound changes to both the tax code and the educational system. "I don't have a lot of hope for bold action by Congress in the next few years on this issue, and I don't think we can wait a few years," she said. "I also think there are many examples in history that when the federal government does take action, they will look around at what has been working in states. I feel pretty confident that they will look at the work that we've done."