Intel AI Initiative on Track to Reach 30 Million People by 2030

By Bruce Andrews, Chief Government Affairs Officer, Intel

In an increasingly high-tech world, empowering communities worldwide with digital readiness is critical to our future. In three years, we reached 25 countries, more than 13,000 institutions, and 3 million people globally through the Intel® Digital Readiness Programs.

Our programs empower non-technical audiences and next-generation technologists with the skills, trust and tools to use AI impactfully. This global, shared-value initiative to demystify and democratize artificial intelligence (AI) is growing rapidly.

We’re on track to help 30 million people by 2030 learn skills for current and future jobs by partnering with 30 governments and 30,000 institutions, civil society and industry stakeholders.

Around this time last year, I helped kick off the inaugural AI Global Impact Festival, and this year, we celebrated the success of impactful AI innovation by students, teachers, governments and partners worldwide at the Intel® AI Global Impact Festival 2022. With 146 projects from 25 countries, our second AI Global Impact Festival highlighted the value of AI innovation and application to real-life problems by next-generation technologists.

Let’s take a moment to acknowledge the work we’ve done all over the world with our Digital Readiness programs, the partners who’ve been involved, and the best practices they’ve learned along the way.

• One year ago, we launched the AI for Workforce Program at 18 community colleges in 11 states across the U.S. This year, we partnered with the American Association of Community Colleges and Dell to expand to 70 schools in 32 states with a goal to reach all 50 states by the end of 2023.
• In Costa Rica, we partnered with the Ministry of Education for country-wide adoption of an AI degree for technical high schools. Intel has begun training faculty, and the first seven schools will launch the degree program in the fall of 2023.
• We launched Digital Readiness in South Africa, working with the President’s Commission on the 4th Industrial Revolution. Intel and government partners established Orbit college in Johannesburg as the first AI hub for South Africa — reaching 50 vocational schools, with the potential to scale across the continent.
• In collaboration with the government of India, we launched Responsible AI for Youth 2022 as a national AI skills program aiming to reach a million students in its first year. 
• In Indonesia, we launched Digital Readiness with the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of IT. We also collaborated with the Ministry of Industry to help the Indonesian laptop enablement consortium.
• In Poland, in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, we introduced the first AI in Agriculture training to 61 schools and established a Smart Farming Competition in which students built AI-based precision farming projects. This pilot has the potential for wider, global adoption.
• In South Korea, AI for Future Workforce was launched in collaboration with Higher Ed institutions and Samsung and is currently available at three universities and community colleges and scaling to 10 universities by the end of 2022.

A few common themes emerge from our government partners as they implement digital readiness programs.

Governments are utilizing private/public partnerships centered on common goals and vision to broaden public awareness of emerging technologies. We see this awareness in countries’ adoption of the Intel® AI for Citizens program to demystify AI.

Governments are prioritizing dedicated critical resources — including curriculum design, planning, teacher training and digital infrastructure investment — that upscale existing education systems to teach digital readiness skills. We also see the application of AI tools in critical industries, as in Poland’s adoption of smart agriculture by offering training and labs for future farmers.

Thank you to all our government partners worldwide for your commitment and vision. I invite you to celebrate and learn more about Digital Readiness work being done with our government partners at the Intel AI Global Impact Festival, found at https://intel.com/impactfestival.

To join us in our mission to further digital readiness for all – visit https://intel.com/digitalreadiness.