Former Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, a Democrat, and former Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb, a Republican, have co-founded RAISE US, a new bipartisan nonprofit organization. This initiative aims to address potential job losses and economic displacement caused by artificial intelligence. The group has launched with more than $500 million in initial funding, with a goal of raising $1 billion in multi-year commitments to support its mission.
RAISE US plans to focus on developing and piloting new forms of education and training programs, partnering directly with states and major employers rather than primarily with the federal government. Initial state partnerships include Arkansas, Connecticut, Maryland, and Utah. The organization will explore policies that connect schools more closely with employers, identify corporate incentives for retraining workers, and implement new training models tied to employer demand. They are also considering changes to corporate taxes and other incentives to keep people employed and support those transitioning between jobs, potentially through policies like wage insurance.
Prominent companies and organizations supporting RAISE US include Amazon, Microsoft, Anthropic, the OpenAI Foundation, Bank of America, UPS, General Motors, Eli Lilly, Mastercard, AMD, Cisco, IBM, ADP, Autodesk, Blackstone, Boston Consulting Group, Cognizant, Deloitte, Infosys, Pivotal, Rockwell Automation, ServiceNow, and Workday. The advisory board features notable figures like former Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, billionaire investment manager Stephen Schwarzman, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, and economists David Autor, Erik Brynjolfsson, and Raj Chetty. Gina Raimondo will serve as the CEO of RAISE US. This effort comes amidst projections that AI could reshape about half of U.S. jobs and eliminate as many as 25 million jobs in the U.S. over the next five years, according to an April analysis by the Boston Consulting Group.
