AIs of sunshine: Expanding economic opportunity for all with gen AI

Generative AI has made a splash for its ability to boost productivity and build opportunities across the enterprise — but what about those hoping to break into the workforce in the first place?

Whether studying, skillbuilding, or applying for jobs, gen AI is playing a growing role in every step of the professional journey. It’s helping individuals achieve their maximum potential and leveling the playing field for many — especially those who are more likely to be marginalized.

We’re seeing AI-based learning coaches offer personalized approaches to education, which can significantly improve graduation chances. AI-powered agents are helping tailor cover letters and improve resumes, creating career plans, or matching candidates to jobs. Such supportive guidance is helping individuals save time while also boosting their confidence.

Not everyone has had equal access to jobs in the past, nor have they had access to technology. A growing constellation of nonprofits is working to change that, hoping that generative AI technology in particular can be the key to opening more opportunities for more people to find meaningful work and successful careers.

To further unlock AI technology for social good, Google.org recently ran its inaugural gen AI accelerator, where twenty organizations from around the world developed generative AI solutions to help tackle some of the world’s biggest issues (applications for the next cohort are already open here).

We’ll feature work from a number of these organizations in a series of posts over the coming weeks, starting today with the benefits AI can bring to those seeking greater economic opportunities. You can read more about the incubator and its world shaping work in this new ebook.

Furthermore, we’ll hear from the leaders of these organizations on the ways they see AI technology enhancing the work of everyone beyond the bounds of their organizations, and what business leaders can learn from their experiences. Fighting for access to education and employment can teach us a lot about the hurdles faced across the enterprise, too

Beyond a million mentors

Many of us know the power of a mentor. That great teacher who inspired us, the relative who looked out for us, the first great boss who showed us the ropes. For many low-income individuals, they may not always have these kinds of role models, or as many of them. There’s many well-meaning organizations and volunteers try and make up for this, but they only have so much time and resources to give.

The reality is that only 16% of students from low-income communities in the US attain bachelor's degrees by their mid-20s, according to Beyond 12, a US-based nonprofit organization. Beyond 12 was established to explore how technology might help close the educational and mentoring gap, so more individuals can attain post-secondary degrees that lead to meaningful employment (in other words, excelling beyond 12th grade). You can watch a demo here.

In business: Given the talent shortage many industries face, the Beyond 12 coach offers a useful model for organizations looking for novel ways to upskill their workforce — whether that’s in how to operate some new machinery or software, new approaches to customer service, or even best practices for generative AI. The conversational ability of gen AI brings a new dimension to old guides, search, and ways of learning.

Scaling personalized career information to everyone

Searching for a job is a daunting task for anyone, especially for those without the resources or network to help show them how. CareerVillage was launched in 2011 to democratize access to career advice, so students from anywhere and any background could get tailored help.

After crowdsourcing information for more than 4 million students in 190 countries answered by more than 150,000 professionals covering 8,000 topics, CareerVillage has built quite the database of advice. It’s a striking example of the power such vast reserves of information can unleash when paired with generative AI models, which can quickly parse all those ideas and synthesize them into new ones.

During its time at the accelerator the CareerVillage team began experimenting with the Gemini API and BigQuery as they worked on building and improving Coach, their AI career advisor. Already in use in 80 countries, this tool supports users with everything from interview preparation and AI-powered mock interviews to optimizing resumes and cover letters. You can try it out here.

The business value: By adopting AI models like the ones used by CareerVillage, businesses can create scalable training and personalized support solutions for both employees and customers. This could include offerings like virtual coaching or skill development programs, which can lead to higher employee satisfaction and improved retention rates. And really, the same goes for any vast trove of organizational data. An investment firm could upload troves of SEC filings to look for opportunities, a retailer could collate customer information for more personalized marketing emails.

Making every worker shine

One of the most prominent challenges in the labor market today is helping overlooked workers participate more fully through meaningful, higher-wage work. Some are held back by a lack of experience or connections. Others possess relevant skills but must overcome bias, outdated hiring practices, and lack of professional networks.

Tabiya and Opportunity@Work are a pair of organizations with the mission of empowering individuals around the globe to jumpstart their careers, with a particular focus on assisting specific groups who may face discrimination in the job search process.

Tabiya is an organization that has partnered with government agencies and local nonprofits in low- and middle-income countries, including Ethiopia, India, Kenya, and South Africa, to facilitate scaled-up, cost-effective, and successful candidate-job matches, with a special emphasis young jobseekers.

Using Cloud Run and VertexAI, Tabiya created an open-source, generative AI-powered conversational agent called “Compass”. Compass works to understand the experience and skills of applicants — focusing on abilities over credentials, including informal and unpaid work—and matches them with the best opportunities available to them. You can check out Compass first hand here.

Another key challenge for employers is finding candidates with the right skills to fill in-demand jobs. Opportunity@Work dedicates its efforts to helping STARs – workers who are “skilled through alternative routes,” such as community college, military service, or on-the-job experience, rather than a bachelor's degree. Over half of U.S. workers are STARs, but many employers overlook their valuable skills.

This nonprofit employs a combination of Vertex AI and retrieval augmented generation (or RAG) to tailor insights into STARs' skills, career paths, and job sourcing. They also enhance public job posting metadata with STARs-specific attributes and labels, considering that nearly half of these workers possess the skills for jobs that pay over 70% more than their current earnings, as shown in this demo. These insights help to uncover overlooked talent in a remarkable way, significantly expanding opportunities for this group.

The business value: These initiatives stand out for their commitment to diversity and inclusion. As organizations continue to look for ways to broaden their workforce — especially when labor markets remain tight — generative AI, and its ability to uncover unique patterns and make novel connections, is proving to be a powerful tool for workers and recruiters alike.

Curious to learn more? Check out this ebook about organizations leveraging generative AI to create a better world.