STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Two former governors are thinking of jobs that go out of style. Eric Holcomb was governor of Indiana.
ERIC HOLCOMB: My great-grandfather was a blacksmith in the 1940s.
INSKEEP: And Gina Raimondo was governor of Rhode Island...
GINA RAIMONDO: Rhode Island was once the jewelry manufacturing capital of the country.
INSKEEP: ...Where it seemed that everyone was connected to the industry.
RAIMONDO: My own dad worked at Bulova Watch, and it was a thriving economy until it wasn't. People like my dad blamed Rhode Island's leaders because you can't just see what's coming and not plan for it.
INSKEEP: Raimondo was also President Biden's commerce secretary. She's now teaming up with Holcomb to address the possible loss of jobs from artificial intelligence. Their new nonprofit called RAISE US has raised money from corporations and philanthropies, and as you'll hear, they're just figuring out how to spend it. They're announcing their effort today. A Pew survey published this spring finds that half of all Americans are concerned about AI, including the effect on their jobs.
RAIMONDO: I think they're right to worry because right now, all they hear about on television or in the media, including from the guys creating AI, is that jobs are going away. No one has come forth with a plan to say to Americans, AI can do all kinds of good things, like cure cancer and create medicine, but we also have a plan to make sure that there's a place for you and your kids with a good job in an AI economy.
HOLCOMB: There's a lot of change coming, and there's a lot at stake. We just have to make sure people understand that there are pathways. They are affordable. They are accessible. And hopefully, we can turn AI into a benefit to people, not just to protect our national security. Failure's not an option. We have to succeed. And that's what RAISE US is all about - the how.
INSKEEP: So what are you doing?
RAIMONDO: Innovating - right? - working with governors to try new things, like in Maryland, we're going to pilot a year of service. We know entry-level workers are being squeezed in an AI economy. We know employers increasingly don't want to hire folks unless they already have work experience. So we're going to work with Governor Moore. We're going to fund his effort, help him execute it, to help young people get a job. And it will be aimed at job shortages in that state - healthcare, clinical healthcare workers, education, you know, nurses, teachers, teachers' assistants.
INSKEEP: Oh, so you would take someone who is just getting out of college - they're looking for a job in whatever field - and you direct them for a little while into a place where there is a shortage of labor.
RAIMONDO: Right, or even maybe high school, or maybe someone who's in their early 20s. We have a coalition of more than a couple dozen companies and philanthropists who have said, we're committed. We have governors of both parties committed, saying the same thing. We want to try new policies around training, around apprenticeships, around incentives for employers to redeploy people instead of just lay them off.
INSKEEP: What are some companies that are involved?
RAIMONDO: Oh, it's a very long list. Amazon, Anthropic, the OpenAI Foundation, UPS, General Motors, IBM, AMD, Workday. It's a long list across sectors. And we have met with every one of these CEOs to say, you know, we're pro-AI. We want America to lead in the global AI competition, but it's got to be done in the right way.
INSKEEP: I want you both to address the skepticism that some people may feel when hearing about this. It is common - I mean, companies are there to make money. They're there to make a profit, and there have been cases in the past where a company makes a thousand dollars in some way that's harmful to other people, and so they toss $50 to philanthropy to say they're addressing the problem. Do you worry about that happening at all with these trillion-dollar companies, in some cases?
HOLCOMB: I'm heartened by the fact that so many have stepped up outside of their own self-interest, outside of their own business model and, by the way, patriotically, don't want to lose the AI race to a potential adversary who is right now heads down, working on this technology for ill purposes.
RAIMONDO: Listen, I hear the skepticism, and I understand where it's coming from. I think it's, in many ways, valid. But I also know we can't solve this problem without employers. They're the ones who hire people. We need employers to give us a real-time view of shifting supply and demand in their industry. So we've raised real money. They're at the table. They are committed. And now it's on us to produce.
INSKEEP: As you are working through this project, assembling materials for it, gathering ideas, doing everything else, are either of you using AI?
RAIMONDO: Oh, definitely.
HOLCOMB: Yes.
RAIMONDO: Yeah. Our whole operation does.
INSKEEP: Go on. In what way?
HOLCOMB: Not just as a search engine to help me become more efficient and not just in research, but I don't exactly have a hundred assistants that are not human.
INSKEEP: (Laughter).
HOLCOMB: But I am being assisted in my daily life.
RAIMONDO: Yeah. Same here. My kids think I should build an AI agent for our family online shopping. I haven't done that yet.
(LAUGHTER)
RAIMONDO: But I'm in charge of the supply chain in our house. So when things get low, they're like, Mom, get the agent. But also, we think it's exciting. Like, one of the things we're going to fund is new kinds of training, right? Like, in general, we think America needs to move to shorter affordable credentials built upon real skills that people need for a job. Let's use AI to do that. Like, wouldn't it be awesome if everyone had an AI tutor or an AI learning coach?
INSKEEP: In the end, I suppose whatever you do is a risk, right? We're taking a giant risk - the entire world - with AI, and you're taking a risk in trying to spend some money to mitigate it.
HOLCOMB: Someone once told me, if you don't like evolution, you'll like being obsolete even less. And to me, that told me I need to be prepared for this moment.
INSKEEP: Secretary Raimondo, Governor Holcomb, thanks to you both.
HOLCOMB: Thank you, Steve.
RAIMONDO: Thank you. Have a great day.
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