Leading the Conversation on AI and the Future of Work

By Laura Walling, Vice President of Government Affairs, Goodwill Industries International, Inc.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping jobs, skills, and career pathways. As policymakers, employers, and educators grapple with what comes next, Goodwill is working to ensure that workers remain at the center of the conversation.

That commitment was on full display recently as Goodwill Industries International joined Verizon’s new $70 million AI workforce initiative and continued engaging national leaders through discussions connected to the SCSP and NVIDIA Task Force on AI and the Future of Work.

Goodwill brings a perspective few organizations can match.

Every year, Goodwill helps nearly 1.9 million people build skills, earn credentials, and connect to employment opportunities. We are also an employer of more than 140,000 people and a trusted workforce partner with a presence within 10 miles of more than 82.6 percent of the U.S. population. Those experiences provide a real-world view of how technological change affects workers, employers, and communities.

Goodwill sees both the promise and the challenges of AI. New technologies can increase productivity and expand opportunity, but many workers still lack access to training, digital tools, transportation, childcare, housing, and other supports needed to navigate a rapidly changing labor market.

As national leaders explore the future of work, Goodwill is advancing a simple but important principle: invest in people before displacement occurs.

Goodwill’s policy priorities include:

• Making AI literacy a foundational workforce skill integrated into workforce, education, apprenticeship, and digital equity programs.
• Investing in upskilling, reskilling, and career-transition supports so workers can adapt as jobs evolve.
• Expanding earn-and-learn pathways such as apprenticeships and sector partnerships that connect AI skills to employment opportunities.
• Supporting responsible AI adoption that emphasizes transparency, worker input, and career advancement.
• Building trustworthy workforce data and intelligence while protecting privacy and equity.
• Strengthening community-based workforce partners that can deliver training and supportive services where people live and work.

These priorities closely align with many of the themes emerging in national discussions about AI and workforce competitiveness: stronger talent pipelines, faster skills development, and ensuring that the benefits of innovation are broadly shared.

Congress and federal agencies are actively considering how workforce, education, economic development, and technology policies should respond to AI. Goodwill’s experience demonstrates that successful AI policy must do more than support innovation. It must support people.

That means investing in skills. It means strengthening career navigation and support services. It means leveraging trusted community-based organizations. And it means ensuring that workers have access to the tools they need not just to adapt to change, but to thrive because of it.

AI will help shape the future of work. Goodwill is helping ensure that the future of work remains centered on opportunity, inclusion, and economic mobility for all.