DOL’s AI-Ready Initiative Gains Early Traction with Nationwide Rollout

The Department of Labor’s new Make America AI-Ready initiative is already seeing positive results, according to the agency. 

The AI literacy course, which launched last week, is free, delivered via text message and is intended to help American workers learn the basics of AI. The seven-day course takes less than 10 minutes per day to complete and incorporates hands-on learning, multiple choice questions and conversational language even the least tech-savvy student could follow. 

“We’re thrilled our Make America AI-Ready initiative is being utilized by Americans of all ages to improve their AI skills and better prepare them for the jobs of tomorrow,” Taylor Stockton, chief innovation officer, told GovCIO Media & Research. “The department has received tremendous positive feedback and will continue to promote this literacy course nationally to ensure Americans, even in the most rural parts of the country, can access this training.” 

The Labor Department designed the course to be the “starting point for American workers in their AI journey,” and features seven lessons including “How to Talk to AI” and “Put AI to Work For You,” among others. Each new lesson opens with a GIF and quick facts that are easy to understand. For example, the lesson “What Is AI” says this about generative AI: 

“There’s a newer kind of AI called GENERATIVE AI that doesn’t just predict; it creates. Give it short instructions (aka ‘prompt’), and it can draft an email, explain a confusing form, or help plan your week,” according to the lesson. “Think less sci-fi robot plotting for world domination, more really smart digital assistant (one that works at 2 a.m., never judges you for asking the same question 3 times, and never asks ‘did you Google it first?’)” 

The info portion of the lesson is followed by multiple choice questions based on the information shared, along with a challenge of the day that features different AI models including Google’s Quick Draw game and Udio’s AI music generator to help with song writing. On the last day of the course, participants are offered additional resources to learn more advanced AI skills or pursue AI-related careers, based their goals or interests. People can sign up for the course by texting “ready” to 20202.

“This initiative will help demystify AI for American workers,” said Deputy Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling in a press release. “We are seeing AI create new jobs, new levels of productivity, and new forms of entrepreneurship, and we want to make sure all Americans have the skills to share in that prosperity.” 

The initiative aligns with the White House’s “America’s AI Action Plan”, a strategy released last summer to maintain U.S. global dominance in AI. The document emphasized that winning the AI race is a national security and economic imperative and outlined plans to dismantle regulatory barriers, bolster domestic capabilities and project American AI leadership worldwide.

The plan built off the administration’s January 2025 executive order reorienting federal AI policy toward private research and development and supporting  AI development free from “ideological bias or engineered social agendas.” The document also outlines the White House commitment to a “worker-first AI agenda,” ensuring that American workers benefit from the opportunities created by AI and other emerging technology. 

More recently, the White House released its AI legislative framework that called on Congress to establish a unified national AI policy to accelerate innovation while addressing security, privacy and workforce challenges. The framework emphasizes a federal approach to AI governance, warning that a “fragmented patchwork of state regulations” could slow development and weaken the United States’ global competitiveness.