On October 16, Google announced $15 million in new grants to two nonprofit organizations: The Partnership for Public Service and InnovateUS. The grant is part of Google.org’s $75 million AI Opportunity Fund, which aims to help upskill the U.S. workforce.
The Partnership for Public Service will receive a $10 million grant to open a federal AI center in spring 2025, according to a press release. The center will offer a Federal Artificial Intelligence Leadership Program to help evaluate potential use cases for AI and further educate government officials on how to increase AI literacy.
In addition, the center will offer an internship program that teaches students how to responsibly deploy AI within the federal government, the nonprofit’s website says.
The remaining $5 million will be awarded to InnovateUS, a nonprofit organization that provides free AI courses and workshops to state and local public sector employees. The nonprofit organization plans to use the new funding to double its coverage from 50,000 government employees in 15 states to 100,000 government employees in more than 30 states.
Google also committed in September to invest $25 million in nonprofit organizations focused on training educators and students across the country in AI literacy and generative AI tools.
Google is the latest example of a major technology company pouring money into initiatives aimed at improving the AI literacy of its U.S. workforce. At the same time, these companies are developing their own AI tools.
Adobe, IBM and others are also investing in AI education
Google isn’t the only tech giant looking to close the AI skills gap. Adobe on October 14 announced a global initiative to help 30 million people develop AI, digital marketing, and content creation skills by 2030.
Through the expansion of its Adobe Digital Academy program, the company plans to work with Coursera, universities, and elementary schools to teach students and teachers how to use Adobe’s generative AI tools and how to use AI ethically. I am.
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And in September 2023, IBM announced plans to partner with universities to offer courses on generative AI and AI career readiness, with the goal of educating 2 million people around the world about AI by the end of 2026. did. We will also expand our IBM SkillsBuild offering. We offer free courses across a variety of technical topics.
IBM and Google join companies such as Microsoft, Intel, and Accenture in the AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium, which was created by Cisco to address the potential impact that AI could have on the future technology workforce. are also participating.
“AI represents an unprecedented opportunity for technology to benefit humanity on all fronts, and we must act intentionally to ensure that humanity is not left behind,” founding members of the consortium said in July. stated in a press release.
Lack of AI skills cited as barrier to widespread adoption
It makes sense that the technology companies developing these AI tools would want more employees and businesses to learn how to use them effectively.
A survey of more than 2,500 CEOs from more than 30 countries conducted by IBM and Oracle found that over 60% of CEOs lack knowledge of AI, which prevents them from fully leveraging AI across their organizations. Answered.
Additionally, Microsoft and LinkedIn’s 2024 Work Trend Index found that while nearly 80% of business leaders believe that using AI will help them maintain a competitive edge, approximately 60% do not have a strategy for using AI in their organization. The answer is that they have not formulated a
Many companies are already looking for people with AI knowledge. According to a report from Microsoft and LinkedIn, the majority of business leaders say they would not hire someone without AI skills, and 71% would rather hire someone with AI skills than an experienced candidate with no AI skills. respondents said they would prefer to hire candidates with less experience.
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