As AI reshapes work, new programs show what it will take to keep up

Terry Garton Mika, I want to start with you. You and I both spent some time in the Department of Labor. The Department of Labor has promoted this idea of ​​AI fluency as a core skill for the workforce. To me, that means there is a presumption that most people are not proficient in AI. So how is the Department of Labor going to address this issue?

Micah Cross So yeah, I’m also a proud DOL alumnus and former federal leader, and of course I’m really happy to see this framework in terms of really giving the nation a baseline to really think about the five fundamentals of making sure the workforce has the right skill sets at all levels to be able to navigate the jobs of the future, whether it’s K-12 education, whether it’s workforce development, whether it’s for employers, whether it’s for people who invest in skill development, at all levels to be able to navigate the jobs of the future. A successful method. So this includes understanding the baseline of AI fundamentals and what they are, how to leverage the tools, how to compare outputs, how to ensure you are leveraging AI ethically and responsibly, and how to ensure that human skills of AI deployment are integrated in terms of critical judgment and decision-making. And for a demographic of workers who may have traditionally experienced barriers to employment (of which there are many), it’s a way to try to create that baseline so that organizations can prepare their future workforce to navigate the complexities of today’s and tomorrow’s job markets. So to me, it looks like people who live in rural communities, perhaps people with disabilities or medical conditions. Of course, so do transitioning military personnel, veterans, caregivers, parents, D, all of the above, and future workforce talent.

Terry Garton Now, Ted, you’re focused on taking this AI framework and helping veterans use it. What can you tell us about the first Mission-Ready AI Readiness Cohort?

Ted Adair Yeah. So we brought together 13 veterans from all eras, from Vietnam to today’s Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. We also made sure that both men and women had representation. Its purpose is to bridge the gap. We saw a need in the market for veterans who wanted to pursue different career paths, whether it was becoming an entrepreneur or looking to upskill in AI. So we built a cohort by veterans, for veterans, to not only provide veterans with awareness and understanding of how AI tools work, but also provide them with practical outcomes. They actually created a live demonstration of the agent and delivered it to us on the last day.

Terry Garton So, do the people who started your cohort have a lot of AI experience or no AI experience?

Ted Adair We initially conducted a few surveys, the majority of whom had tried AI but weren’t confident in the tool set. And when we did post-retirement research, we found that veterans were very satisfied with what they built and what they delivered.

Terry Garton So what will the cohort curriculum look like? How can we move people from their immediate surroundings to our facilities?

Ted Adair This means 30 minutes a day online for 3 weeks, with modules delivered using our partner Lead with AI. We also provided training to the cohort by having faculty meet with them during office hours. We also had some “Ask Me Anything” sessions where we really worked together. Does that mean 3 weeks of 30 minutes a day training is designed for busy people? Busy lives, busy families. You get 30 minutes per day, plus time throughout the week. Then, on the final day, we gathered everyone together and held a demonstration. We had some veterans there, and we had time over the last two weeks to actually build some different solutions. There were some great examples of creative ways to use AI to remove friction from everyday life.

Terry Garton Please tell me about one of them.

Ted Adair So one of our contemporaries was having a big challenge managing his life calendar. And he was able to integrate his sports calendar with his family calendar, work and business calendars, and resolve conflicts all the way he needed to be, all on one screen, at once. Just pick up your smartphone and see exactly where you need to be and when you need to be, all while covering all the different competitive events taking place in your busy household.

Terry Garton It seems like anyone can use it.

Ted Adair absolutely.

Terry Garton I’m talking to Micah Cross. She is the founder of Strategy@Work and Ted Adair is the founder and president of Oath and Oak. Mika, back to the topic. I’ve been talking about digital skills, but I feel that AI is different. It’s really faster moving and more destructive. What difference does AI fluency actually make in terms of an individual’s employability?

Micah Cross I think we’ll start with the basics, getting familiar with the skills. One of the highlights of the Mission Ready cohort is tool agnosticism. So you can actually compare the output with the tool of your choice throughout the curriculum. So if you’re a Co-pilot user or fan leveraging Microsoft tools and Claude’s stack, you might want to compare the output to check for hallucinations, or do some deep research to compare and contrast how yours works. I think the other thing is to meet people where they are. So the best organizations that provide the really best training in AI understand that the majority of people here are not technical experts. So how do you make sure that everyday users can use it for whatever purpose they need? For example, what I really liked about Mission Ready’s program is that they provided three specific pathways, whether it’s career transition and job search, business growth and expansion, entrepreneurship, or general skill building and development. And with the help of the on-demand curriculum that Ted mentioned and a collection of volunteer AI coaches and experts from the military community, we were able to provide people with practical expertise on useful use cases. Therefore, you don’t need to be a technical expert in these AI tools. I needed to be curious, adaptable, and have an open mindset to learn the right skills for the purpose I was building.

Terry Garton Ted, could you tell us a little bit more about what this development looked like for veterans who were on the career transition track?

Ted Adair For veterans focused on career transitions, we’ve had a lot of questions about roles and jobs specific to forward-deployed engineers. What does this term mean? What is its role or function? And we were able to analyze that and discuss the practical consulting skills that they needed and give them the right toolset. But more important is the coaching and then peer aspects. As a veteran, the first obstacle course or confidence course you go through with others is generally one you go through as a team. When you went over that wall, you were either looking for someone to help you over that wall, or someone on the other side. I think that’s the peer-based aspect of this. So how do we prepare veterans to experience the transition to the military and use AI as a toolset? It happens in a peer-based environment. I don’t think there’s anything that can replicate that. And we’ll do it live as well. We went to great lengths up front to intentionally bring people together in one room, especially in an era where AI and social media are thwarting the human factor. We were keen to get people into the room.

Terry Garton Mika, this is a very promising pilot, but it’s just a pilot. Given your knowledge of the workforce system, how do you imagine taking something like this cohort and expanding it? We’re thinking about military transition programs and workforce centers for training, but where do you think it will go and how will it grow?

Micah Cross I think this is an exciting time for growth and expansion and thinking about what’s possible. In fact, this new national initiative called AI Ready was just announced by the National Science Foundation, Department of Agriculture, Department of Labor, and Department of Commerce, and it was a shock among us, and our group is almost done. So we were thinking about all the ways we could connect with the workforce system, nonprofits, and academia. Grant-funded partners, military service or veteran service organizations and employers. But what we know about employment space Terry is that it cannot be done in a vacuum. A one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t solve everything. So we’re really looking for the right kind of partners, communities, organizations that see this cohort as a differentiator specifically aligned to the Department of Labor’s AI framework. The reason is, as Ted said, it’s also about building community. So how do we bring people together? How do you build a culture of psychological safety? You’re giving them the basics. You’ll be ensuring that they have a framework for literacy and fluency while also making sure they’re not doing it alone. Many of these programs offer training in an individual learner-based environment. This was done in a mixed approach with a community of people with lived and shared experiences. So it was built by veterans and the military-affiliated community, for veterans and the military-affiliated community. And we know it will evolve and grow. Our volunteer faculty consisted of U.S. Army AI experts like Col. Chris Sailing, who is embarking on his own transition and retirement. Mr. Takashi Ariga, former executive officer in charge of AI in the Human Resources Department, visited us. We have human-centered design experts from government, military, and military spouse entrepreneurs who lend their time as AI coaches, career experts, and business growth partners. And it’s relevant to the Patriot Boot Camp program. By the way, through this program, I myself learned that we are a proud small business run by veterans. I participated in the Patriot Boot Camp program, connecting with other veteran-owned small businesses. And our first founding faculty included one of our Patriot Boot Camp graduates and a member who is a military veteran who owns a small business himself, completed the program, built agents and assistants, and demonstrated it in front of the entire Mission Ready program. And now she has an agent with an app that enables her business.

Terry Garton I love hearing about the connections between all of them. And Ted, back to you. You have one cohort. What happens next? Are you imagining more cohorts, larger cohorts? And what kind of policy and legislative support is needed to scale this idea?

Ted Adair We envision multiple cohorts. In fact, we have many people who take our program and want to become mentors and coaches. And we would be happy to see that be part of a model that matures and grows in the military’s great tradition of training trainers. In terms of policy and support, I think the educational impact of this type of training would be helpful. And while there’s no question there’s a lot of free online training from top institutions that do this very well, it’s individual-based and self-directed training. What we built was, again, by veterans, for veterans, and if you think back to when you were doing PT, there were some days when you were doing PT by yourself. And, especially for veterans, it makes sense to do difficult things in groups. Frankly, I think some people were nervous about some of the toolsets we had in front of them. And we saw significant growth between the three weeks and the final demo date.