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A new nonprofit organization dedicated to equipping American workers for the transformative impact of artificial intelligence officially launched on Thursday, backed by major tech companies and philanthropies.
**RAISE US** has secured more than $500 million in commitments from supporters, with ambitions to reach $1 billion in total funding over the coming years. Founding partners include Amazon, Anthropic, Microsoft, OpenAI, and more than two dozen other companies and philanthropic groups.
Former U.S. Commerce Secretary **Gina Raimondo** will serve as CEO, with former Indiana Governor **Eric Holcomb** as co-chair. The initiative is launching with initial partnerships in **Arkansas, Connecticut, Maryland, and Utah**.
"America has a technology strategy for leading the global AI competition. It does not yet have a people strategy — and we cannot lead without one," Raimondo said in a statement.
Focus on Results, Not Just Participation
RAISE US will pursue a comprehensive approach that includes:
- State-level policy reforms
- An employer coalition to co-design training pathways
- Expanded use of AI-powered learning tools
- A philanthropically funded policy lab, insulated from direct corporate influence, to incubate innovative ideas for eventual government adoption
Rather than measuring success by enrollment numbers, the organization will benchmark progress on whether participants actually secure and retain quality employment.
Amazon, Anthropic, Microsoft, and the OpenAI Foundation are designated as anchor partners. Bank of America is the primary corporate sponsor for an advanced manufacturing apprenticeship program. Additional supporters include ADP, AMD, Blackstone, Cisco, Deloitte, Eli Lilly, General Motors, IBM, Mastercard, ServiceNow, UPS, Workday, and several major philanthropic foundations.
"AI is going to reshape how nearly every job works, and this is exactly the kind of effort we need to make sure American workers have the skills for what's next," said Amazon President and CEO **Andy Jassy**.
Early State Programs
Programs are already underway in the partner states. In Arkansas, RAISE US is backing **Arkansas LAUNCH**, an AI-powered career navigation platform. Maryland’s efforts include expanding a service-year program to address worker shortages in critical fields like healthcare, along with an entrepreneurship accelerator for displaced workers.
Among the policy innovations under consideration is a **wage insurance** model, which would enable workers who take lower-paying jobs after displacement to continue receiving supplemental benefits, helping them stay in the workforce rather than exiting entirely.
The launch comes amid a historic contraction in white-collar hiring that has lasted more than two years — a trend unseen outside of recessions — as economists debate the extent to which AI is contributing to the slowdown and whether future job creation will offset the positions it displaces.