CT redoubles efforts to equip workforce for AI economy

The rapid adoption of artificial intelligence — and what it means for Connecticut’s economy, its residents and its businesses — has been top of mind for state leaders this year. 

Economic development leaders and businesses hope that AI will drive a productivity boom. State residents, however, have often voiced concern — be it anxiety about the intentions behind an AI workforce center in Hartford, worries over the possible environmental effects of data center development, or frustrations about how workers could be displaced across the state. There’s also widespread debate around how AI is used in employment decisions, productivity metrics, and employee assessments. 

For Connecticut officials, AI presents a more fundamental question: how to train a workforce to engage with something that’s still very much in development.

“Nobody’s going to lose their job over AI,” Gov. Ned Lamont said. “We’re going to provide you the training to make sure it’s a tool that helps you do your job better,” adding, “We’re always going to have that human oversight.”

In recent months, state leaders and political officials have announced a number of investments in AI related workforce development and education. New legislation will support those efforts, including the Connecticut AI Academy, AI literacy programs for teachers and new programs for worker reskilling and job training. 

And in the months to come, the state will embark on a multifaceted workforce development effort aimed at preparing workers for the AI transition. That includes a recently-announced partnership with RAISE US, a new nonpartisan organization that plans to support workers through a mix of retraining and upskilling. As part of the collaboration, Connecticut will work with the organization to develop pilot workforce programs aimed at training workers to interact with AI, using the lessons from Connecticut and other partner states to inform a national workforce strategy. 

[RELATED: CT lawmakers, advocates push Lamont to release training funds]

The workforce development effort, officials say, is part of a larger plan that includes a federally-supported quantum computing business incubator, new AI policy, and a push to create a tech-oriented economy in the state. The effort, officials hope, will cement Connecticut’s status as a national model for how states can approach balancing innovation and technology-based economic development with resident needs. 

Those involved in the effort say that Connecticut is up to the challenge, adding that officials are clear-eyed about the complexity of the task. 

“AI has tremendous opportunities for the Connecticut economy, but there are challenges associated with it,” said Dan O’Keefe, commissioner of the state Department of Economic and Community Development.

A national partnership

Connecticut’s new partnership with RAISE US is the highest-profile part of the state’s larger AI workforce development effort. The national organization is working to convene companies like Anthropic and Amazon, with experts and state government officials to the same table to create a plan. 

“America has a technology strategy for leading the global AI competition. It does not yet have a people strategy — and we cannot lead without one,” said Gina Raimondo, a former U.S. Commerce Secretary and Rhode Island governor, who is serving as the co-founder and CEO of the national organization. “If we build the best AI systems in the world and leave millions of Americans behind, we won’t have won anything; we’ll have automated our own decline.”  

So far, the organization is launching with collaborations with four states: Arkansas, Maryland, Utah, and Connecticut. Each state will develop its own workforce pilot programs that RAISE US will support.

In Arkansas for example, the organization is backing a career navigation program called ArkansasLAUNCH. In Maryland, RAISE US is supporting career transition programming and other support for displaced workers.

The organization, which is co-founded by Raimondo and former Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, hopes to measure success by looking at job creation as opposed to metrics like program enrollment or training hours. 

What Connecticut’s pilot will look like is still unclear. Asked for more details, the governor’s office noted that the collaboration is still in its early days, and that the state is still in the process of shaping its pilot with RAISE US’s support.

A spokesperson for RAISE US said in an emailed statement that the group is still working to set up shop in the state, but that the plan “builds on the momentum the state has already created through its existing sector partnerships and economic development efforts.”

The idea is that whatever program Connecticut ultimately unveils, the lessons learned from the pilot will help inform RAISE US’s future work. The national organization has already raised some $500 million for the initiative. It’s also standing up a policy lab to conduct research.

The effort strongly touts its bipartisan nature. And it‘s taking a moderate approach, focusing on state-level efforts to help employers and workers through the AI transition — rather than broader, national policy proposals like taxing AI companies or promoting guaranteed income programs to support displaced workers. 

“This isn’t red versus blue; it’s an all-hands-on-deck moment,” Holcomb said in a June press release. 

The state’s participation in RAISE US comes at a time of federal stagnation on AI policy. While the Trump administration has released a framework for artificial intelligence, the proposal has been criticized for being lenient on companies and faces an unclear path forward in Congress.

State officials say that with current uncertainty at the federal level, local government has a chance to take the lead on what AI policy and workforce strategy could look like.

“States are where the rubber really hits the road,” O’Keefe said. “I think the federal government has been a bit hands off on things, and we felt the need to fill the gap.”

It’s a moment that Connecticut officials say the state cannot afford to miss out on. “What we’re really doing is making sure that we have better alignment between skills, what the jobs out there are and what we’re providing people in terms of training,” Lamont said.  

A larger workforce effort

At the national level, there has been considerable concern that AI could disrupt countless industries and hurt the labor force. While economists have largely pushed against the idea that the technology has ushered in a wave of mass layoffs and immediate upheaval of work as we know it, a growing number of labor experts and scientists acknowledge that AI could have a significant impact on the workforce in the coming years if the technology expands without guardrails.

But Connecticut’s leaders are more optimistic. Earlier this year, the governor’s office noted that demand for artificial intelligence skills are increasing in the state, with more than 11,000 jobs in the state explicitly seeking AI knowledge since August 2024, a 40% increase from the prior year. In positions requiring a bachelor’s or associate’s degree, one in 23 roles in the state now call for some level of AI expertise.

Those involved in Connecticut’s plans note that supporting the state’s workforce through the AI transition is complex. The work needs to balance three things: support for career pathways and education targeted at students, assistance with credentialing and upskilling for workers looking to advance in AI-related fields, and providing opportunities for reskilling and retraining for workers seeking new jobs after spending years in other roles.

“The state is really taking a comprehensive approach to ensuring that Connecticut is well prepared and well positioned to excel in the age of AI,” said Kelli-Marie Vallieres, the commissioner of the state’s Office of Workforce Strategy. “That includes preparing our students and our workers at all levels, both with the technical skills that they need and almost more importantly with the durable learning skills that they need.” 

OWS is involved in a number of initiatives aimed at advancing this work. AI-related workforce development is a component of the third round of the Tech Talent Accelerator, a four-year-old program that aims to support training and workforce development through partnerships between higher education institutions and businesses.

Under the program’s latest iteration, known as Tech Talent Accelerator 3.0, OWS is explicitly supporting AI pilot programs at seven schools in the state including: AI accounting and entrepreneurship courses at Connecticut College, an AI for Cybersecurity program at the University of New Haven, and an online course on AI in healthcare business innovation at Quinnipiac University.  

“The days of just getting an education and starting an occupation and thinking like I’ve got the skills that are going to get me through to retirement, that that’s no longer applicable anymore,” Vallieres said. 

Additional workforce initiatives were included in the Connecticut Artificial Intelligence Responsibility and Transparency (CART) Act, a wide-ranging bill approved by the state legislature earlier this year.

The law implements new regulations around AI uses in the state including chatbots and how minors use social media. And several provisions were dedicated to AI and the workforce, outlining not only how employers should use AI, but how the state should approach workforce development in the AI era. 

“We didn’t want to just say, hey, artificial intelligence is coming, so everyone needs to learn how to code,” said state Rep. Hubert Delany, D-Stamford, a co-chair of the legislature’s bipartisan AI Caucus.

The CART Act, he said, “is supposed to be about building the public infrastructure necessary to understand the disruption of AI, preparing workers for artificial intelligence, and making sure that our government can make smarter workforce decisions as the technology evolves.”

That includes promoting things like the Connecticut AI Academy, which will provide training on AI technologies and provide AI skills to workers. The law also charges state agencies, including the DECD, with supporting workers as AI’s impact becomes more clear. 

Commissioner O’Keefe said DECD is in the process of building out programs, as well as initiatives that will support employers.

“We’re working closely with our industries to make sure we’re understanding what their needs are, and then working backwards into workforce development, into higher ed, frankly, into earlier ed, just to make sure that the educational systems, the pathways, the training is all available,” he said. “We want to be absolutely certain that our workers are able to take advantage of these tools.” 

More details about the RAISE US pilot are forthcoming, as the organization boosts its staffing in the state.

For those keeping an eye on the effort, like Rep. Delany, there’s a high bar for success. “The test for all artificial intelligence workforce initiatives is going to be determined by how our constituents on the ground actually feel the difference when they need it,” he said.