"Google Boosts Accessibility of AI Training with $75 Million Investment"

Google has recently announced a significant investment of $75 million in an upskilling initiative called the AI Opportunity Fund. The fund, which is being meted out through Google.org, the company's philanthropic arm, aims to make AI training more accessible across the globe, focusing on underserved communities, nonprofits, and small businesses.

In addition to the fund, Google is also launching a new product-agnostic course on AI essentials, which covers foundational AI skills and best practices. The course is designed to be accessible to people of all education levels and will be available to a handful of companies and universities upon rollout.

James Manyika, Google's senior vice president of Research, Technology & Society, emphasized the importance of AI skills in today's workforce. According to Manyika, the American workforce currently has a "giant mismatch" wherein two-thirds of Americans are locked out of all the jobs in the country.

Google's AI Essentials course is designed to be completed in just under 10 hours, and students who complete the course will earn a certificate that can be applied to jobs across industries. The course is self-paced and does not center on any particular AI product, but instead focuses on imbuing learners with the basic skills to be able to use any AI product existing today or which might exist down the line.

The AI Opportunity Fund will provide grants to organizations, allowing them to offer free courses for their workers. The goal of the fund is to bring upskilling opportunities to as many people as possible, with a particular focus on workers who may have been precluded from AI advancements.

According to Manyika, the least-skilled worker often benefits most from AI implementation. By providing access to AI training and skills, Google hopes to help close the gap and ensure that the opportunities created by new technologies are available to everyone.

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Source: <https://fortune.com/2024/04/26/google-ai-skills-investment-opportunity-fund-essentials-course-james-manyika-lisa-gevelber/>