Google partners on AI training for thousands of American manufacturing workers

EXCLUSIVE: Google is contributing $10 million to the Manufacturing Institute to support new artificial intelligence (AI) training for 40,000 manufacturing workers, FOX Business has learned.

Funding for the initiative is coming from Google.org’s AI Opportunity Fund and will go to the Manufacturing Institute (MI), the nonprofit workforce development and education affiliate of the National Association of Manufacturers.

“Google has been a technology partner to the manufacturing industry for years, providing AI tools and cloud infrastructure to help manufacturers innovate and increase productivity,” Maggie Johnson, global head of Google.org, told FOX Business. “Through this initiative, our AI training courses will serve as the basis for MI’s new AI curriculum for manufacturers.” 

“This will enable manufacturing apprentices and workers to learn essential AI skills from Googlers across our company – from engineers to data analysts. MI will then tailor for hands-on manufacturing scenarios that they’ll need to use AI in their day-to-day work,” Johnson added.

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Google’s funding will enable the creation of two new courses for manufacturing workers – AI 101 for Manufacturing and Advanced AI for Manufacturing Technicians. The 101 course will tailor existing AI training from Google to manufacturing contexts, while the advanced AI for manufacturing techs course will be newly developed by the Manufacturing Institute.

The Manufacturing Institute will also launch new Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education (FAME) chapters in at least 15 new regions while embedding the AI for Advanced AI for Manufacturing Technicians across all FAME chapters.

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“We’re collaborating with the Manufacturing Institute because we know that true innovation happens when the people on the shop floor have access to the technological tools and training they need to succeed,” Johnson said. “By supporting new AI training for manufacturers and the expansion of FAME apprenticeships, we’re helping ensure the current and next generation of workers are ready to lead this new industrial era.”

The partnership aims to address a large and growing shortfall of skilled manufacturing workers across the U.S. workforce by ensuring workers have the technical skills to use AI tools and fill those roles, which are projected to total nearly 1.9 million manufacturing jobs by 2033.

Carolyn Lee, president of the Manufacturing Institute, told FOX Business that the “training is designed to directly close that gap by providing workers with the context of how AI can be applied in real manufacturing production settings. When manufacturers have a workforce that can effectively use these tools, they’re able to adopt advanced technologies faster, operate more efficiently and stay competitive on a global stage.”

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Lee also acknowledged that there’s a human side to integration of AI in manufacturing, saying that there “is fear around AI, fear about the unknown and the impact these technologies will have on jobs. It can feel uncertain and the best way to combat that is with good communication and skills training.”

She said that’s why part of the effort is around “demystifying AI and giving employees the foundational skills they need to use it today.”

“These training programs show the real-world application of AI on the shop floor, helping people see exactly how the technology is used and how AI will be utilized to augment human skill, not replace it. That clarity matters at a time when there’s so much uncertainty about what AI means for jobs,” Lee said.