Raimondo and Holcomb launch $500 million AI jobs nonprofit
RAISE US will work with states and major employers on training programs as AI threatens to remake large parts of the U.S. workforce.
By Sofia Marchetti · World Affairs Correspondent
3 min read
Former Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and former Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb are starting a bipartisan nonprofit aimed at preparing U.S. workers for job disruption tied to artificial intelligence. The group, RAISE US, is launching with more than $500 million for education and training efforts, according to The Associated Press.
The nonprofit plans to work first with state governments and large employers rather than rely on federal action. Its early state partners are Arkansas, Connecticut, Maryland and Utah, AP reported.
Raimondo, a Democrat and former Rhode Island governor who helped shape AI policy in the Biden administration, will serve as chief executive. Holcomb, a Republican, is co-founding the group as companies and policymakers debate whether AI will create broad prosperity or accelerate layoffs across offices, factories and transportation.
Training push starts with states and employers
RAISE US intends to test programs that link schools more directly with employers, according to AP. The group is also examining corporate tax changes and other incentives meant to keep workers employed as automation spreads.
Raimondo told AP that AI-related unemployment could threaten the country’s stability and democratic system if policymakers fail to act. Holcomb told AP that expanding economic opportunity can produce better outcomes for workers who have been left behind.
The nonprofit’s anchor partners include Amazon, Microsoft, Anthropic, the OpenAI Foundation and Bank of America, AP reported. Other employers involved include UPS, General Motors, Eli Lilly, Mastercard, AMD, Cisco and IBM.
RAISE US also has an advisory board that includes former House Speaker Paul Ryan, investment manager Stephen Schwarzman, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler and economists David Autor, Erik Brynjolfsson and Raj Chetty, according to AP.
Forecasts point to broad labor disruption
Recent estimates cited by AP show why the group is forming now. An April analysis by Boston Consulting Group estimated that about half of U.S. jobs will be reshaped by AI in the next few years and that as many as 25 million U.S. jobs could disappear over five years.
Goldman Sachs separately estimated in March that AI could automate a quarter of U.S. work hours, according to AP. The technology could affect trucking, manufacturing, office work, law and medicine as companies deploy more automated systems.
President Donald Trump has played down immediate concerns about AI replacing truckers. Asked Tuesday before visiting a Mack Trucks factory in Pennsylvania whether AI could cost truckers their jobs, Trump told a reporter, “Right now, they’re not.”
Trump has emphasized AI data centers and power plants as sources of hiring and growth, AP reported. Bureau of Labor Statistics data cited by AP show manufacturing employment has fallen by 68,000 jobs and the trucking transportation sector has cut 28,300 jobs since the start of Trump’s second term.
Policy gaps remain
Vivienne Ming, a neuroscientist and author of “Robot-Proof: When Machines Have all the Answers, Build Better People,” told AP that AI is affecting several sectors at once faster than institutions can respond. She said the education system and labor policies are not building the kind of human skills needed for AI-era work.
Raimondo told AP she does not expect Congress to take bold action on the issue in the next few years. She said RAISE US will use state-level projects to show what works so federal lawmakers can later adopt proven ideas.
This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.