Amazon “AI Ready” initiative to teach 2 million AI skills by 2025

To reach this ambitious target, Amazon is rolling out new educational initiatives for both adult learners and younger students, alongside expanding its existing free AI training programs.

The AI Ready initiative introduces three main components:

• A set of eight new, complimentary AI and generative AI courses.
• The AWS Generative AI Scholarship, offering access to a novel generative AI course on Udacity for over 50,000 high school and university students worldwide.
• A collaborative project with Code.org, aimed at introducing students to the concepts of generative AI.

The need for skilled AI professionals is more pressing than ever. Findings from a study by AWS and Access Partnership indicate that 73% of employers prioritise hiring AI-skilled staff, yet three-quarters struggle to fulfil their AI talent requirements. Furthermore, businesses foresee AI becoming a core element of operations, with 93% expecting AI implementation across their organisations within five years.

Amazon's AI Ready program is designed to empower individuals eager to learn about AI, opening up significant opportunities for them. The initiative caters to both current workforce members and the next generation of professionals.

In-depth AI training for professional development:

Amazon announces eight novel, free AI and generative AI courses open to all, catering to various job demands. These courses are designed for a broad audience, from business leaders to technical professionals, and enhance the over 80 free and affordable AI and generative AI courses provided through AWS.

Courses tailored for business and non-technical learners:

• "Introduction to Generative Artificial Intelligence" and "Generative AI Learning Plan for Decision Makers," available on AWS Educate and AWS Skill Builder.
• "Introduction to Amazon CodeWhisperer," accessible on AWS Educate.

Courses for developers and technical professionals:

• "Foundations of Prompt Engineering" and "Low-Code Machine Learning on AWS," offered on AWS Skill Builder.
• "Building Language Models on AWS" and "Amazon Transcribe—Getting Started," also available on AWS Skill Builder.
• "Building Generative AI Applications Using Amazon Bedrock," found on AWS Skill Builder.

Substantial investment in generative AI scholarships:

Through the AWS Generative AI Scholarship, AWS is providing Udacity scholarships, collectively valued at over $12 million, to more than 50,000 students globally. This includes a course on generative AI, designed by AI experts at AWS, providing foundational knowledge and a practical project.

Engaging introduction to AI for students:

Amazon collaborates with Code.org for the Hour of Code Dance Party: AI Edition, an innovative, hour-long introduction to coding and AI where students create virtual music videos. This collaboration aims to familiarise students with generative AI and its underlying technologies.

Hour of Code, coinciding with Computer Science Education Week from December 4–10, targets students and teachers from kindergarten to 12th grade worldwide. In support, AWS is contributing up to $8 million in AWS Cloud computing credits to Code.org.

Extending cloud skills training:

The AI Ready commitment augments AWS's existing pledge to offer free cloud computing skills training to 29 million people by 2025, with over 21 million individuals already trained.