In an unlikely coalition, former Republican Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, former Democratic Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and dozens of others are coming together to train American workers for an AI economy.
RAISE US, launched by Holcomb and Raimondo, on June 25 will design national corporate AI training and job transition support. The organization pledges to work on all “pieces of the puzzle:” trainings, policy, employment, and career coaching.
“This isn’t red versus blue; it’s an all-hands-on-deck moment,” Holcomb, a RAISE US board member, said in a statement. “As governor, I made workforce development the centerpiece of my administration that helped train Hoosiers in every corner of the state.”
RAISE’s founding partners include the leaders of OpenAI, Arnold Ventures, ADP, Anthropic, Amazon, IBM, Eli Lilly, Microsoft, and more major employers and policy shapers. The president of union umbrella organization AFL-CIO, Liz Schuler, is one of dozens of advisors.
“Working people belong in every room where decisions about their jobs and their futures are being made,” Schuler said in a statement. “That is especially true when it comes to AI and the technology that is reshaping our economy, our work, and our daily lives. When that technology is forced on workers without their input and consent, it puts us all at risk.”
In Indiana, residents are strongly opposing AI data center development in council meetings, but this July, a state law incentivizing local governments to approve data center development will go into effect.
AI adoption is linked with higher unemployment rates, according to a study by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
“If current trends continue, new approaches to workforce development, social safety nets and economic support for displaced workers may merit greater consideration,” Serdar Ozkan and Nicholas Sulliva, the study’s authors, wrote in August 2025.
RAISE will begin with four state partnerships in Arkansas, Connecticut, Maryland, and Utah. The states, and their governors, are an equal division of deep red and blue, part of RAISE’s commitment to bipartisanship. State-level programs could include apprenticeships, funding based on job outcomes rather than school enrollment, wage insurance and retraining. The four states are also “out front nationally in preparing for the AI economy,” according to RAISE US.
A spokesperson for Gov. Mike Braun did not respond to the IndyStar at time of publication about if Indiana would participate.
RAISE US is beginning with over $500 million in multi-year corporate and philanthropic funding commitments. The organization pledges to raise another $500 million soon. A policy lab designed to test workforce pilot programs and recommend national policy will not receive any corporate contributions.
“For 150 years, Lilly has been discovering and making medicines that improve lives,” said David A. Ricks, CEO of Eli Lilly, in a statement. “That work will always depend on people who can apply new technologies, supported by systems and policies that keep pace.”
A spokesperson from Eli Lilly did not respond to the IndyStar about how Indiana-based workers may be impacted.
Lucy Tobier is the politics reporting intern for the Indianapolis Star. She can be reached at lucy.tobier@indystar.com or on X at @TobierLucy
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Former Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb launches AI workforce development group
Reporting by Lucy Tobier, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Lucy Tobier, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
