Google office building in Detroit, Michigan on September 27, 2019.
On Oct. 16, Google announced that it will award $15 million in new grants to two nonprofit organizations: The Partnership for Public Service and InnovateUS. The grants are part of Google.org's $75 million AI Opportunity Fund, an initiative aimed at helping upskill the U.S. workforce.
The Partnership for Public Service will receive a $10 million grant to open the Center for Federal AI in the spring of 2025, according to a press release. The center plans to offer a federal artificial intelligence leadership program to help further educate government workers on how to evaluate potential use cases for AI and increase AI literacy.
Additionally, the center plans to offer an internship program that will teach students how AI can be implemented responsibly within the federal government, according to the nonprofit's website.
The remaining $5 million will be awarded to InnovateUS, a nonprofit that provides no-cost AI courses and workshops to state and local public sector workers. The nonprofit plans to use the new funding to double its reach from 50,000 government workers across 15 states to 100,000 government workers from more than 30 states.
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In September, Google also committed to investing $25 million in nonprofits focused on training educators and students around the U.S. on AI literacy and generative AI tools.
Google is the latest example of a major tech company pouring money into efforts aimed at increasing the American workforce's AI literacy — at the same time these companies are developing their own AI tools.
Adobe, IBM and others have also invested in AI education
Money Report
Google isn't the only tech giant aiming to shrink the AI skills gap. On Oct. 14, Adobe unveiled a global initiative to help 30 million people develop AI, digital marketing and content creation skills by 2030.
Through an expansion of the Adobe Digital Academy program, the company plans to collaborate with Coursera, colleges and grade schools to teach students and teachers how to use Adobe's generative AI tools, as well as how to use AI ethically.
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And in September 2023, IBM announced plans to collaborate with universities to offer courses on generative AI and AI career readiness, with the goal of educating 2 million people worldwide about AI by the end of 2026. It will also expand the offerings on IBM SkillsBuild, which provides free courses across a variety of tech topics.
Both IBM and Google, as well as companies like Microsoft, Intel and Accenture, are also part of the AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium, which was created by Cisco to address the potential impact AI may have on the technology workforce in the future.
"AI represents a never-before-seen opportunity for technology to benefit humankind in every way, and we have to act intentionally to make sure populations don't get left behind," Francine Katsoudas, chief people, policy and purpose officer at Cisco, and founding member of the consortium, said in a July press release.
Lack of AI skills cited as barrier to wider adoption
It makes sense that the tech companies developing these AI tools would want more workers and companies to learn how to use them effectively.
A little over 60% of CEOs say a lack of AI knowledge is preventing them from fully utilizing AI across their organizations, according to an IBM and Oracle survey of more than 2,500 CEOs from over 30 countries.
Plus, although nearly 80% of business leaders believe using AI will help them remain competitive, around 60% say their organizations haven't developed a strategy for using it, according to Microsoft and LinkedIn's 2024 Work Trend Index.
Many companies are already on the lookout for people with AI knowledge. The majority of business leaders say they wouldn't hire a person who didn't have AI skills and 71% say they would rather bring on a less experienced candidate with AI skills than a more experienced candidate who lacked them, per Microsoft and LinkedIn's report.
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