On July 23, 2025, the White House released “America’s AI Action Plan: Winning the Race,” accompanied by three executive orders addressing AI development, federal procurement, and infrastructure. On workforce and education, the plan establishes an AI Workforce Research Hub under the Department of Labor to evaluate AI’s impact on employment, conduct scenario planning, and produce actionable insights for policymakers. It directs the DoL to prioritise AI skills as a core objective of federally supported training programmes, including career and technical education, apprenticeships, and rapid retraining for workers displaced by AI-related job changes. The plan also recommends that the Office of Management and Budget assess states’ AI regulatory environments as a condition of federal workforce funding, effectively creating a financial incentive for states to align with federal deregulatory priorities.
Who it affects: Workers accessing federally funded retraining and workforce development services, including those at American Job Centers and community colleges receiving federal grants. Apprenticeship programmes under Registered Apprenticeship standards. State governments seeking federal workforce development funding. Employers engaged with federally funded training providers.
What is notably missing: The plan is a presidential directive, not legislation; Congress has not enacted any of its provisions. The AI Workforce Research Hub is an analytical body, not a training delivery mechanism. No binding requirement on employers to train workers in AI. No mandate for AI ethics or critical evaluation in workforce training programmes. The rapid-retraining provision applies to workers after displacement, not before — it does not require pre-redundancy training obligations. The federal preemption agenda, if pursued through legislation or litigation, could remove the worker notification and appeal rights that several states have enacted.