CEO Leadership Alliance Orange County (CLAOC) announced plans to launch Artificial Intelligence (AI) skills development programs early next year in partnership with Intel, along with local educational, community and workforce partners. According to CLAOC SVP Amy Kaufman, the new programs will focus on providing necessary AI skills to empower the future workforce in the growing digital economy.

Kaufman said regional workforce education is key to the OC region’s global competitiveness as companies accelerate their use of AI. “Demand for AI skills is expected to grow exponentially over the next three years and drive a need for workers to learn new technical skills across industries,” she said.

A recent Edscoop survey of higher education leaders and IT decision-makers found that 69% of all respondents sensed increasing demand from employers for graduates with AI technical skills. In January, CLAOC and its partners began a series of awareness and training sessions on how to equip the future workforce with the necessary technical, social, and career growth skills to succeed. As a partner in the effort, Intel will supply its expertise and intellectual property for the development of curriculum to be introduced by CLAOCs education partners at the high schools and community colleges with a goal to train and certify AI for Workforce skills (including non-coding), and enable access to work-based learning opportunities for at least 3,000 students by October 2026.

Carlos Contreras, Senior Director of AI and Digital Readiness at Intel said, “the next-generation workforce will need this kind of specialized training to develop solutions to the world’s greatest challenges, and community colleges have a huge role to play in unleashing innovative thinking.”

Intel’s corporate responsibility commitment to positive global impact is embedded in its purpose to create world-changing technology that improves the life of every person on the planet. This partnership builds on Intel’s commitment to expanding digital readiness to reach 30 million people in 30,000 institutions in 30 countries as part of the company’s 2030 Goals that underscore Intel’s aim to make technology fully inclusive and to expand digital readiness.

CLAOC is a not-for-profit membership organization of CEOs from some of the region’s most prominent public and private companies who are committed to leading change. CLAOCs mission is to collaborate to cultivate Orange County into a premier, inclusive, innovative talent hub. The group’s organizational priorities include creating an AI Talent Development Center of Excellence to bring together civic and business leaders, AI-focused entrepreneurs, and education organizations to cultivate and recruit the diverse talent needed now and in the future to support a robust AI-driven economy in OC. The AI Talent Development Center of Excellence will be the premier source of talent cultivation, providing OC residents the opportunity to build and flourish in AI-infused careers. Through this strategy, the group hopes to create a well-defined talent pipeline and promote a thriving local economy and environment for the region.

CLAOCs members include Edwards Lifesciences, Johnson & Johnson, EY, City of Hope Orange County, Pacific Life, PIMCO, Skyworks, Golden State Foods, Ingram Micro, and a host of others working strategically to help others succeed.
More information about CLAOC is available at www.claoc.org.