Verizon to invest $70 million in nationwide AI training effort
Verizon will spend $70 million on a nationwide effort to give job seekers, small businesses and educators AI training, working with Goodwill Industries and training resources from IBM, Google, Anthropic, Microsoft and OpenAI.
Verizon is investing $70 million in a nationwide effort to provide AI training to job seekers, small business and educators, the US telecom company said on Wednesday, as the economy undergoes what it called a dramatic transformation.
The company is partnering major non-profit programmes including Goodwill Industries and aims to offer AI training to hundreds of thousands of people, using training resources from companies including IBM, Google, Anthropic, Microsoft and OpenAI, Reuters reported.
“AI will change the face of the workforce,” Verizon chief executive Dan Schulman said in an interview. “You have to do this in order to protect the democracy.”
Schulman urged large companies to join the effort to fund workers acquiring skills for specific AI-related jobs. “It’s in the self-interest of all business leaders to step up,” he said. “If every Fortune 100 (company) put $50 million or $70 million into this, we have a multibillion-dollar fund.”
The announcement builds on last year’s move: Verizon invested $20 million to help departing employees gain AI skills after announcing 13,000 job cuts. The new effort adds $50 million to that commitment.
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