OKLAHOMA CITY (OBV) – Gov. Kevin Stitt and Google are working together to provide Oklahomans free artificial intelligence training to equip them with the skills they will need to be part of the workforce of tomorrow.
The no-cost training will be offered to 10,000 Oklahoma residents. Oklahomans who participate in the training will develop their AI skills through Google’s new AI Essentials course.
“Our state is positioned to be a leader in implementing AI technology, and this partnership with Google furthers that momentum by educating thousands of Oklahomans in foundational skills for tomorrow’s economy,” Stitt said. “For years, Google has partnered with organizations throughout Oklahoma to help residents expand their career opportunities through digital skills training. As more companies move to Oklahoma, we’ll be ready to meet them with a skilled workforce.”
Governor’s office officials described the AI Essentials course as product agnostic, saying trainees do not need a degree or previous AI experience to learn it. The course will teach workers foundational AI skills, AI best practices and how to use AI responsibly.
AI Essentials will be offered for one year. The 10-hour course is recyclable, so when a person completes the course, the course will then become available for another person to use. So, while the course is only available to 10,000 residents in the state at a given time, well more than 10,000 people will participate in the course.
Stitt announced the collaboration in front of a large crowd in the State Capitol Rotunda on Thursday.
“Oklahoma and Google have made a great partnership over the last few years. I’m proud of Google’s investments in Oklahoma,” Stitt said.
Stitt referenced the enormous data center Google built in Pryor, Okla., a $4.8 billion investment.
“It’s really causing other companies to look [at Oklahoma], so I can’t [overstate] how great it is to have Google in Oklahoma,” Stitt said.
Andrew Silvestri, head of Google’s Community Engagement division in Oklahoma, said AI Essentials will prepare Oklahomans for jobs that will be essential in the future.
“What we’re announcing today is an exciting partnership with the governor in the state of Oklahoma to really lead on upskilling and training Oklahoma’s workforce in key areas. The goal is to really prepare the workforce here in Oklahoma for the jobs of tomorrow, but also to help create more efficiency and more effectiveness in their jobs of today,” Silvestri said. “And so our goal with this is to really provide the tools and the skills that Oklahomans need every day to just be more successful.”
Research gathered by the State Chamber Research Foundation – a division of The State Chamber of Oklahoma – suggests that key Oklahoma industries, including energy, agriculture, aviation and manufacturing, can empower themselves by adopting AI early, helping them optimize operations and boost economic output.
World Economic Forum research shows that only half of workers have access to adequate AI training despite the rising demand for AI abilities.
AI Essentials teaches trainees how to use generative AI effectively in their jobs, giving them practical, hands-on experience using AI to help with work tasks through videos, readings and interactive exercises.
Skills obtained from the course can be applied to jobs across multiple industries. People who complete the course receive a certificate from Google to share with their professional network, governor’s office officials said.
“Generations of Oklahomans have the opportunity to benefit from this program as technology continues to evolve within the workplace,” said John Suter, Oklahoma chief operating officer and Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES) executive director. “We want to give Oklahoma professionals a competitive edge and harness the responsible application of AI tools as we work to recruit more companies to our great state.”
The new course is offered through Grow with Google, which is dedicated to helping people obtain the skills they need to obtain a good job and build a successful career.
AI Essentials is the latest step in Google’s ongoing effort to help Oklahomans access digital skill training. Google previously collaborated with the state on the Google Career Certificates program. Eighty-five percent of individuals who earned a Google Career Certificate in Oklahoma since 2022 say they’ve secured gainful employment through the initiative.
Tayvon Lewis, an Oklahoman and senior analyst for Aetna, a CVS Health Company, spoke in the rotunda after Stitt’s announcement. Lewis, who is also an entrepreneur and music producer, is a Google UX Design Certificate graduate. Lewis told Oklahoma Business Voice that Grow with Google enhanced his professional capabilities, better preparing him for the job market’s ever-evolving demands.
“Grow with Google helped me take it to the next level. Because even though I had [advanced] education, sometimes you need more skills to prove yourself. And that’s what the Grow with Google program taught me,” Lewis said. “It gave me extra skills that were in demand, and it opened up new pathways in a competitive job market, gave me more skills to add to my resume, and it really opened up more opportunities to use these skills in multiple ways.”
Oklahomans have the opportunity to get ahead of the game through Grow with Google’s training courses, according to Lewis.
“Grow with Google is always on the cutting edge of technology. They see things before other industries see it, and they see the need to teach the next generation a new skillset, in-demand skills that are going to be useful for the industry that is constantly evolving,” he said.
Google recently announced a Generative AI for Educators, a course designed to help middle and high school teachers use generative AI tools to personalize instruction to meet student needs, develop creative lessons and activities and save time on administrative tasks. The Generative AI for Educators course will be offered across the nation, including in Oklahoma’s Ada Public Schools, Enid Public Schools and Shawnee Public Schools. Google’s skilling programs have trained over 147,000 Oklahomans in digital skills, through a network of more than 100 local partner organizations, since 2017.
The sharp emergence of AI has been a point of debate and concern across the nation, with many fearing that the technology will replace workers. Stitt issued Executive Order 2023-24 in September, ordering the creation of an AI Task Force. He said the task force’s aim would be to investigate how the state could proactively and responsibly implement AI to make Oklahoma more efficient and prepare the workforce for the changes that the growing use of AI would bring about. The task force released the following recommendations in February on how the state should address the rise of AI:
- Create leadership positions within the state, such as establishing a chief artificial intelligence officer.
- Establish an AI oversight committee that incorporates all three branches of government.
- Establish an AI technology economic development task force to leverage Oklahoma’s AI infrastructure.
- Establish an AI digital workforce task force to encourage the existing workforce to incorporate more digital employees.
- Establish an AI technology talent task force to recruit more technologically skilled individuals to Oklahoma.
The goal of implementing AI is not to take jobs away from working Americans, Silvestri said.
“We’ve seen over the years jobs in the workplace evolve; tedious roles are reduced. But the goal of today and the goal of what we’re doing with AI is to really try and complement the current job market, to try to make workers more efficient at their roles, to take away the tedious roles that they can focus on, things that matter more, to make their businesses more productive, more competitive,” Silvestri said. “We believe that AI will actually create more jobs. I can’t even imagine today what could be developed or what could come from this technology.”
Technology has been evolving the workforce for years, Silvestri said.
“And so we’re excited to see what happens,” he said. “And that’s why we’re here, to prepare our workers for those days and those jobs.”
Ultimately, AI is a helpful tool, Lewis said.
“You can use AI to help boost your productivity. You can use it to help generate new ideas. You can use it as a personal assistant for a number of things. The next generation will use AI because it’ll help you handle multiple tasks, it’ll help you handle multiple jobs or requirements,” Lewis said. “It will help you always stand on the forefront. Whenever you’re faced with challenges and your team needs you, you’ll have AI right there to help you brainstorm new ideas. Make it work for you.”
Go to Google’s AI Essentials page to sign up for the new course.
Go to grow.google to find out more about Grow with Google.
