What’s New in Digital Equity: New York’s AI Jobs Institute – Government Technology

What’s New in Digital Equity: New York’s AI Jobs Institute

Experts have indicated that AI is going to cause the next digital divide, and digital inclusion practitioners are taking action to include AI skills in digital skills training. States are working to develop AI literacy among their workforces, and residents are looking to governments to provide them with skilling opportunities.

AIJI will offer AI upskilling opportunities to help New Yorkers access technology-related career pathways. It will also support innovation by incubating pilots and tools, produce data and recommendations for state and federal AI workforce strategies, and create a collaborative ecosystem for employers, talent and industry partners.

AIJI is expected to train up to 40,000 New Yorkers by 2032.

“New York City’s greatest competitive advantage is its people, and the AI Jobs Institute will help ensure New Yorkers have the skills and opportunities to succeed as technology continues to reshape our economy,” said New York City Regional Economic Development Council Co-Chairs Félix V. Matos Rodríguez and William D. Rahm in a statement.

The institute will be powered by Pursuit, a nonprofit tech workforce training and job placement organization. The organization pairs training with long-term employer partnerships. Empire State Development is supporting the training hub with $3.06 million, including $1.5 million through the Office of Strategic Workforce Development and $1.56 million through the Regional Economic Development Council initiative.

The initiative is supported by the state, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, partners across New York City government and a coalition of philanthropic, industry and civic partners — including Wells Fargo, Anthropic and the Partnership Fund for New York City.

A National Advisory Council will support AIJI’s work. Its founding members include Matos Rodríguez, who is chancellor of the City University of New York; Miguel Cardona, the former U.S. Secretary of Education; and Julie Samuels, CEO of Tech:NYC.

AIJI will also house the New York Global Tech and Innovation Center, which is intended to help connect underrepresented entrepreneurs to the capital, partnerships and networks they need to build and scale their companies; its goal is to create more than a dozen “high-growth startups” over the next five years, per the announcement.

SEATTLE GRANT FUND OPENS FOR 2027

The city of Seattle is accepting applications for the 2027 round of its Technology Matching Fund, which provides grants of up to $45,000 for eligible digital equity projects.

Eligible projects are those that increase Internet access and adoption in the community through initiatives like Digital Navigator services, digital literacy training, devices and technical support, and expanded Internet connectivity.

“We continue to find many of our residents are asking for assistance to access key services, whether it’s support with devices, digital training, or other needs,” said Chief Technology Officer Shannon Smith in a statement.

Applications are due Jan. 15, 2027, and grant recipients will be notified by the end of March 2027.

City staff will host information sessions to answer prospective applicants’ questions. The first was Wednesday; the next will be Tuesday, Oct. 27.

NEW MEXICO GRANT FOR DIGITAL EQUITY

The New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion (OBAE) announced more than $340,000 will be awarded to Albuquerque nonprofit Adelante DiverseIT as part of the TechUp! New Mexico initiative.

The statewide program distributes devices to organizations and expands access to training opportunities. Adelante will work with local communities to identify disadvantaged and disabled residents who would be positively impacted by the program.

Following the first round of TechUp! New Mexico training, recipients reported using their devices for education, job searches, telehealth services, bill payments, business operation and connecting with community.

The initiative’s second round will end June 30, 2027.

U.S. INTERNET, MOBILE PHONE USAGE

A series of fact sheets from the Pew Research Center explores U.S. residents’ usage of Internet, mobile phones, and social media in 2026.

First, the percent of U.S. adults who say they use the Internet has increased since 2000, although it barely increased from the prior year, going from 96 percent to 97 percent.

Usage is almost universal for some groups — specifically, younger adults, those with some level of college education and those from high-income households.

However, home broadband use rates are lower. Only 78 percent of U.S. adults in 2026 said they subscribe to home broadband.

While only about three-quarters of U.S. residents report using home broadband service, more than 90 percent report owning a smartphone.

In fact, 16 percent of U.S. adults today access the Internet only through a smartphone. The number is higher for adults ages 18-29 than for older age groups.

Social media usage varies by platform. While only 4 percent of U.S. adults surveyed in 2026 said they use Truth Social, 84 percent said they use YouTube. Meta platforms, like Facebook and Instagram, were used by 70 percent and 51 percent of U.S. adults, respectively. Governments in recent years have turned to social media platforms to reach constituents. However, because many of these platforms require users to have an account to see the content, putting information exclusively on those platforms can be a barrier to government access from those without accounts.

THE AI GENDER GAP

Recent data has revealed a gap in AI usage between women and men. The precise reason behind it remains unclear.

Men cite a higher confidence using chatbots than women, according to an analysis from the Pew Research Center, with 22 percent of men stating they are extremely or very confident using them versus 15 percent of women.

Chatbot use is on the rise for both men and women, per the analysis. As of 2026, 50 percent of male U.S. adults use AI chatbots, while 47 percent of female U.S. adults use them. Usage based on the type of AI chatbot varies, though.

While 44 percent of both men and women reported using ChatGPT, more men than women use Gemini, Copilot, Grok, Claude and Character.ai. Meta AI is the only tool women reported using at a higher rate.

Notably, 7 percent more men than women reported using Grok. This specific model generated approximately 3 million sexualized images of men, women and children in January 2026 alone.

One possible factor for the AI gender gap is perceived impact. Overall, women stated more frequently that they believed AI would impact them negatively; they also more frequently believed AI would impact society negatively. One-third, or 33 percent of women believed AI would negatively impact them over the next 20 years compared to 27 percent of men.

The Gender Equity Policy Institute (GEPI)’s recent report, How AI Fails Women: When Bias Becomes Amplified, examines the patterns of gender inequality shaping AI systems. This occurs across different areas. For example, when asked to rank the likely diagnosis of a patient, an AI model ranked panic or anxiety disorders as more likely when the patient was a woman.

AI image tools being used for sexual abuse also disproportionately impact women. Nine out of 10 victims of image-based sexual abuse are women, and 8 in 10 perpetrators are men, the GEPI report reveals.

Another recent study that examined four leading large language models found the LLMs recommended lower salary targets for female candidates than for males.

Although women may be using some AI tools at a lower rate than men, a lack of literacy may not be the only contributing factor.

AFFORDABILITY BLUEPRINT CALLS FOR ACP

The National Urban League (NUL) released a congressional blueprint to bring affordability to all. The “Affordability for All” agenda calls for the U.S. Congress to take several actions, including passing a living wage that increases with inflation. It also urges that any strategy includes access to digital skills training, AI literacy, broadband, and workforce training.

The agenda also urges Congress to provide affordable Internet access. A related NUL article said this includes both the re-establishment and strengthening of the Affordable Connectivity Program, a federal subsidy program that ended in June 2024 despite calls to sustain it.

Notably, the resource acknowledges that the AI economy and the rapid data center growth that powers it raise questions about electricity rates, energy demand, water, environmental impacts, and infrastructure investment; NUL “supports an innovation agenda in which communities benefit from technological growth through jobs, investment, connectivity and economic opportunity,” per the agenda.