White House announces almost $100M in commitments to expand pool of tech talent

The White House announced on Tuesday that government agencies, civil society organizations and academic institutions have committed to providing $96 million toward expanding technology training initiatives. 

The Biden administration publicized the pledges in a press release, saying that the funding would help “grow and enable the public interest technology ecosystem” by providing agencies with enhanced access “to diverse, expert, mission-oriented tech talent.”

The White House said the financial commitments align with the goals of President Joe Biden’s October 2023 executive order on the safe and trustworthy use of artificial intelligence, which called in part for the government to “adapt job training and education to support a diverse workforce and help provide access to opportunities that AI creates.”

The release named almost 20 entities that had committed to providing funding or expanded training initiatives, including several federal agencies. 

The White House said the National Science Foundation would provide “at least $48 million to advance research, implementation and learning opportunities.” This includes allocating $32 million toward its Experiential Learning in Emerging and Novel Technologies initiative to support “opportunities for diverse learners to succeed in emerging technology fields,” as well as $16 million for a second round of its Responsible Design, Development, and Deployment of Technologies program.

In addition to financial commitments, the Biden administration said the Department of Defense would also launch a “Trusted Advisors Pilot” later this year to create “a pool of science, technology, engineering, and math and AI experts” to help agencies implement provisions of Biden’s AI order and other presidential directives. DOD’s pilot initiative will be supported by the Office of Management and Budget and the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy.

OSTP Director Arati Prabhakar said Tuesday the government’s successful adoption of next-generation technologies that can better serve the public “all hinges on getting terrific people to come do this work.”

“We have a lot of tremendous talent within government that needs to figure out how to use AI, to wrangle it, to upscale and be able to really put it to work,” she said. “But we also need fresh perspectives, fresh technology expertise and fresh expertise on how these technologies get used and implemented so that we can both regulate and manage it intelligently and effectively and then also put it to use for public purposes.”

Several nonprofits also pledged millions of dollars to help expand interest in public technology opportunities.

The Ford Foundation announced that it would dedicate over $20 million toward enhancing “the field of public interest technology,” including by establishing “a first-of-its kind public interest technology institute at a Historically Black College or University.”

The White House also announced that a handful of academic institutions were taking steps to enhance their tech training programs, ranging from Georgetown University’s announcement that it was naming five new 2024 tech and public policy scholars at its McCourt School of Public Policy to Spelman College saying it would “develop plans for a new center focused on public policy, democracy and public interest technology.”