Tech Giants Join RAISE US to Ease AI Transition for Workers

A new bipartisan nonprofit called RAISE US launched on Thursday with over $500 million in committed funding from more than two dozen major companies and philanthropies, aiming to prepare American workers for the disruptive impact of artificial intelligence on the job market. Co-founded by former U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and former Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb, the organization counts OpenAI, Amazon, Microsoft, Anthropic, and Bank of America among its anchor partners, according to the Rockefeller Foundation.

The Scale of the Challenge

The launch comes amid mounting evidence that AI is reshaping the American workforce at an unprecedented pace. An April 2026 analysis by Boston Consulting Group estimated that roughly half of U.S. jobs will be reshaped by AI over the next few years, with as many as 25 million jobs potentially eliminated over five years. Goldman Sachs separately estimated that a quarter of U.S. work hours could be automated by AI. White-collar hiring has already contracted for more than two years, a stretch without precedent outside of recessions.

“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 the announcement. “If we build the best AI systems in the world and leave millions of Americans behind, we won’t have won anything; we’ll have automated our own decline.”

A Bipartisan Coalition

RAISE US is explicitly nonpartisan, with Raimondo, a Democrat, and Holcomb, a Republican, co-leading the effort. The initial state partners — Arkansas (Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders), Connecticut (Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont), Maryland (Democratic Gov. Wes Moore), and Utah (Republican Gov. Spencer Cox) — are evenly split between red and blue states, as Semafor reported.

“This isn’t red versus blue; it’s an all-hands-on-deck moment,” Holcomb said. “As governor, I made workforce development the centerpiece of my administration that helped train Hoosiers in every corner of the state.”

What RAISE US Will Do

The organization operates across four core areas: state partnerships, an employer coalition, education and training, and a policy lab. Its approach is distinctive in several ways. Rather than pushing for federal legislation, RAISE US is working directly with governors to pilot programs, with the intent that successful models can later be adopted nationally. Success is measured by whether workers secure and sustain employment, not by enrollment numbers. The Policy Lab will be funded exclusively by philanthropic contributions, not corporate dollars, to maintain independence.

In its first state partnerships, RAISE US is already launching concrete programs. In Arkansas, it is supporting an AI-powered career navigation platform called Arkansas LAUNCH that connects students and jobseekers to personalized learning and employer-linked career pathways. In Maryland, the collaboration involves expanding service-year pathways into sectors such as healthcare and education.

Unprecedented Corporate Backing

For the first time, the leading AI developers are sitting alongside AI adopters in an independent workforce transition effort. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said, “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.”

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, added: “Helping people through the shifts that AI may bring to the economy is one of the most important things to start thinking through now.” Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark noted that “RAISE US is going to build some of the infrastructure we’ll need to navigate AI’s economic impacts.”

Brad Smith, Vice Chair and President of Microsoft, said: “The country needs a broad partnership to ensure AI creates better opportunities for more people to pursue better jobs.”

Expert and Labor Support

The initiative has drawn support from leading economists and labor leaders. MIT Professor David Autor, whose research on the “China Shock” informed much of the thinking behind RAISE US, said: “How workers fare in an economic transition does not depend on luck or individual virtue alone. Policies and institutions determine whether rapid labor market change opens new opportunities or leaves scars.”

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler emphasized labor’s role: “Working people belong in every room where decisions about their jobs and their futures are being made. RAISE US represents a better way forward: where labor, business, politicians, industry experts, and academics all come together.”

Political Landscape and Challenges

President Donald Trump has expressed little anxiety about AI displacing human workers, stating: “Right now, they’re not” when asked about truckers losing jobs to AI. Raimondo expressed skepticism about Congressional action in the near term, telling Semafor: “I don’t have a lot of hope for bold action by Congress in the next few years on this issue, and I don’t think we can wait a few years.” She noted that RAISE US has been in contact with Acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling.

Criticisms and Open Questions

Despite the ambitious scope, critics have raised concerns. The same companies citing AI in layoff announcements — Amazon, Microsoft, and others — are writing the checks for retraining, raising questions about conflicts of interest. Even the $1 billion target represents a fraction of what would be needed to retrain millions of displaced workers. Forrester has warned that many companies announcing AI layoffs are overstating their actual AI capabilities, creating credibility risks.

What’s Next

RAISE US is targeting $1 billion in total multi-year commitments and has already secured over half. The organization will use its first state partnerships as proving grounds, with additional states expected to join in the months ahead. The initiative raises fundamental questions about whether private-sector-led retraining can adequately address structural labor market shifts, or whether more comprehensive government intervention will ultimately be necessary. For now, RAISE US represents the largest private-sector workforce transition effort in U.S. history — and a recognition from the tech industry that the AI revolution cannot succeed if it leaves American workers behind.