The Pulse
RAISE US Tops $735 Million as AI Workforce Anxiety Grows
RAISE US says new commitments from Apple, AT&T, the Bezos family, Google and Walmart push its total funding above $735 million. The group plans to test workforce policies with states and employers as cofounder Gina Raimondo warns that feder
AI.info Team · Written with AI · fact-checked ·
RAISE US is raising corporate money to prepare workers for AI-driven change while its cofounder says government action is falling behind public concern. The four-month-old, nonpartisan group announced Thursday that new backing from Apple, AT&T, the Bezos family, Google and Walmart brings total commitments above $735 million.
“I'm deeply worried that action from D.C. isn't remotely keeping pace with the anxiety I hear from Americans about what AI will mean for them and their financial well-being,” Gina Raimondo, a RAISE US cofounder and former U.S. Commerce Secretary, told Axios. The group is trying to fill that gap by working with states and employers, but it has not disclosed how much each new supporter is contributing.
Five new backers push RAISE US past $735 million
The new total is more than $200 million higher than the funding announced when the group launched in June. RAISE US has set a goal of securing $1 billion in multiyear commitments, making Thursday’s announcement a substantial step toward that target. The organization did not provide a breakdown of donations from the five newly named backers.
Raimondo said the funding will “allow us to expand and accelerate our efforts coast to coast” through programs involving apprenticeships, early-career training, retraining and redeploying mid-career workers, and support for people whose jobs are affected by AI. The description sets out a broad agenda, but the announcement gives no new funding amounts for individual programs.
The Policy Lab will test worker-support ideas
RAISE US plans to use its Policy Lab to test approaches to supporting, retraining and redeploying workers. The group says it will turn lessons from that work into recommendations for officials in Washington and state capitals, as well as private-sector decision-makers.
Its approach puts states and employers at the center of the work rather than relying only on federal action. Raimondo said the group intends to bring together private companies, organized labor, nonprofits, higher education and governors from both parties to identify programs that can be expanded.
Corporate leaders frame training as a shared obligation
AT&T chairman and CEO John Stankey said the AI economy will demand new skills while creating new opportunities, and described his company as investing in training and career pathways. Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer of Alphabet and Google, argued that public and private sectors need to combine their efforts so Americans can share in AI’s potential.
Julie Gehrki, president of the Walmart Foundation and Walmart Inc.’s senior vice president of philanthropy, put the responsibility in terms of employers: “The companies that get AI right will be the ones that bring their people with them.” The statements offer supporters’ case for corporate involvement; RAISE US has not disclosed the individual contributions behind its new total.
More money does not yet show which programs work
The announcement establishes the scale of the coalition’s funding and the kinds of interventions it intends to pursue. It does not report outcomes from the Policy Lab or specify how much of the $735 million will go to each effort. The next concrete measure of the group’s work will be the results it produces as it tests worker-support ideas and turns those findings into recommendations.