A new bipartisan nonprofit, RAISE US, has launched with over $500 million to address the potential for widespread job losses as artificial intelligence rapidly transforms the workplace. The group, founded by former Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, a Democrat, and former Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, a Republican, aims to pilot programs and incentives designed to help American workers adapt to an economy increasingly automated by AI.
This initiative emerges as analyses project significant labor market upheaval. An April analysis by the 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 in the U.S. over the next five years. Goldman Sachs, in March, separately released an estimate that a quarter of U.S. work hours could be automated by AI.
The scope of this transformation includes the potential for driverless trucks on roads, factories staffed by robots, and the supplanting of office workers, lawyers, and doctors. Concrete job losses have already been recorded; manufacturing has shed 68,000 jobs and the trucking transportation sector has cut 28,300 jobs since the start of President Trump’s second term, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Capital's Response to its Own Contradictions
RAISE US is focusing its efforts on partnering with states and major employers rather than the federal government. The nonprofit has initially partnered with officials in Arkansas, Connecticut, Maryland, and Utah, alongside several of America’s largest corporations and charitable organizations.
Anchor partners for RAISE US include Amazon, Microsoft, Anthropic, the OpenAI Foundation, and Bank of America. Other employers involved in the project are UPS, General Motors, Eli Lilly, Mastercard, chipmaker AMD, Cisco, and IBM. The advisory board features figures such as billionaire investment manager Stephen Schwarzman, former Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, and AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler.
Former Commerce Secretary Raimondo, who will serve as the nonprofit’s CEO, articulated the underlying concern, stating, “We’re talking about a certain level of unemployment that could destabilize our country and our democracy. If you want to lead the world in AI, you have to take action to make sure our democracy doesn’t crumble.” Former Governor Holcomb added, “Good things tend to happen when you convert have-nots into haves.”
The group intends to develop policies that connect schools more closely to employers, with the stated goal that layoffs can be replaced by the potential for new jobs with higher incomes. It is also exploring changes to corporate taxes and other incentives, aiming to keep people working.
The State's Role in Preserving Capital
Raimondo, who previously played a formative role in setting AI policy as the Biden administration’s commerce secretary, now leads this private initiative. This demonstrates the revolving door between state power and the interests of capital, where former officials transition to roles managing the systemic fallout of corporate technological advancement.
President Donald Trump, when asked on Tuesday ahead of touring a Mack Trucks factory in Pennsylvania if AI could cause truckers to lose their jobs, dismissed the concern. Trump told a reporter, “Right now, they’re not,” adding, “We have, right now, so many jobs that are going to be available and the biggest problem we have is getting the people. So we’re really doing spectacular.” This official denial of the problem occurs even as the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports job cuts in the trucking sector.
AI experts have warned of significant gaps between the transformations AI could create and a 20th century social safety net, including unemployment insurance and four-year college, which appears ill-prepared for the scope, scale, and speed of the change. Neuroscientist Vivienne Ming stated, “AI is now disrupting multiple sectors simultaneously, faster than any institution can respond.” Ming further noted that while economists argue the wealth generated by AI could create demand for more workers, the required skills extend beyond traditional trades, demanding curiosity and intellectual flexibility. Ming concluded, “Neither our education system nor our labor policies are building the foundational human capital that AI-era work actually requires.”
Raimondo stated the new nonprofit aims to use states as a vehicle for testing ideas that Congress can later embrace as policies, paving the way for the possibility of more profound changes to both the tax code and the educational system. She expressed a lack of hope for "bold action by Congress in the next few years on this issue," indicating a strategy to implement capital-friendly adjustments at the state level before seeking federal adoption. She added, “I feel pretty confident that they will look at the work that we’ve done.”