New York Puts $10 Million Behind AI Training for 40,000 Workers

New York City and New York State are spending $10 million to train up to 40,000 New Yorkers for AI-related jobs by 2032, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Thursday.

The money funds the AI Jobs Institute, a Long Island City hub that the nonprofit Pursuit will design and run. Its mandate is threefold: train workers, link them to employers, and produce research to guide state and federal workforce policy.

The timing isn't accidental. New York now employs more tech workers than any other metro area in North America — 394,300 as of 2025, after adding 30,640 between 2022 and 2025. That surge pushed it past the San Francisco Bay Area for the first time in the 13-year history of CBRE's annual tech talent report. Much of the growth came from banks and financial firms hiring AI talent, though the Bay Area still employs more AI specialists.

"During a time when AI is transforming our workforce and causing uncertainty, New York is continuing to lead the nation with policies and training to ensure New Yorkers workers are protected and prepared for the future," Hochul told Fortune.

She added: "The AI Jobs Institute will connect thousands of New Yorkers with cutting-edge courses and career pathways, giving them the opportunity to keep up with rapidly evolving technology. By investing in our people, we are building a workforce ready to compete for the good-paying jobs of tomorrow."

Who's paying for it?

Public funds flow from several sources:

• Empire State Development
• The city's Economic Development Corporation
• The Queens Borough President's Office

Private funders — Ascendium Education Group, Google.org, Wells Fargo, Con Edison and Adobe — will cover operating costs.

Can Pursuit scale 80-fold in six years?

The institute builds on an existing relationship. When Hochul launched the FutureWorks Commission in March, Empire State Development named Pursuit the statewide lead for AI Prep for Jobs, a program training 420 low-income New Yorkers through accelerated courses rather than degree programs.

Pursuit, founded in 2012, spent most of its history training people for software jobs. About three years ago, CEO Nick Simmons said, the group "took a real leap of faith" and replaced that curriculum with a 630-hour AI course it updates every week. Between 400 and 500 people have gone through the new program, counting both the full course and shorter workshops.

Reaching 40,000 means growing that number roughly eighty-fold in about six years.

"The city alone is going to need millions and millions of workers upskilled in AI to be able to fill the job needs of the economy by 2030," Simmons told Fortune. "We know that is going to really take a village."

Pursuit says 70% of its participants are Black or Latine, half receive public assistance, 60% lack a four-year degree and 40% are immigrants. The nonprofit says its programs have produced more than $1 billion in lifetime wage gains for participants. Notably, the state's release sets no placement or wage targets for the new institute.

What do trainees actually learn?

Pursuit recruits through the New York City Housing Authority, the public library system, local labor departments and community groups, with plans to add small business associations. Trainees start with the basics of tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Copilot, then learn to build AI agents that handle routine business tasks.

"If you don't have proficiency, AI can be dangerous," Simmons said. "It can be feeding you false answers. It can be just a yes person telling you you have the best ideas ever."

The curriculum targets a labor market where entry-level rungs are disappearing. Census Bureau research shows that since ChatGPT's release, graduates of AI-exposed majors such as computer science have landed fewer jobs and lower pay, often in retail and food service. Entry-level postings in AI-exposed fields increasingly ask for skills once expected only of experienced workers.

Simmons argues the equity stakes are high. In past technology waves, wealthier New Yorkers got training first and the gap compounded.

"Something we're really thinking about this time is the institute is really focused on lower income New Yorkers and making sure that this time they are able to be at the front of the line," he said.

Who's advising the institute?

Former U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona will chair the national advisory council. Members include Leah Belsky, OpenAI's head of education; Eleanor Dorfman, Anthropic's head of industries, commercial sales and private equity; Maggie Cacioppo of Google.org; and CUNY Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez.

Simmons said OpenAI, Anthropic and Google are supplying credits, certificates and access to their training platforms so trainees learn on the tools employers actually use. Employers on the council report which skills they're hiring for.

The institute also plans to work with CUNY, which enrolls roughly 500,000 students, on programs such as add-on AI certificates. Pursuit trained 100 students this year at LaGuardia Community College, across the street from the new site, and plans to expand that partnership.

Hochul's FutureWorks Commission is due to deliver proposals by the end of December on job training and placement, job quality, the social safety net and support for small businesses. "These are where the jobs are, and this is where the economic mobility is," Simmons said.