By Senator Kent Conrad:
While Bay Area coders and Ivy League grads dominate the headlines about artificial intelligence (AI), it is miners and construction workers who will create and maintain the data centers and the energy grid that unlock American innovation.
Our country’s AI infrastructure requires electricians to wire the facilities, welders to assemble the systems, plumbers to install the cooling infrastructure and thousands of skilled workers to connect those facilities to the power grid.
As our economic strength and national security operations become more high-powered due to AI, America faces a fundamental challenge. We lack the workforce to meet the moment. Right now, America needs 500,000 electricians, 300,000 welders, and 550,000 plumbers.
The private sector is beginning to recognize and address this challenge. One recent example, Meta’s America’s Workforce Academy, acknowledges the critical reality that the future of the industry depends as much on skilled workers as software engineers.
This new, first-of-its-kind program is a five-week program to teach Americans a skilled trade. With no prior experience required, graduates of the course will earn a guaranteed job building data centers and the infrastructure that powers them.
Without these skilled tradesmen, America’s AI infrastructure will stall, and China will win the AI race.
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