Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer told Newsmax on Thursday that the Trump administration is pushing to make workers "proficient and literate in AI" through a federal initiative she described as an easy entry point for Americans worried about how artificial intelligence could reshape the job market.
On "Bianca Across the Nation," Chavez-DeRemer said the Department of Labor is trying to counter what she called exaggerated warnings about mass job losses while preparing workers for changes already underway across the economy.
"AI is here to stay, and we are leaning into that," Chavez-DeRemer said.
She said the department wants to make sure it is "collecting the data points that are correct so that we can be transparent with the American people" as businesses adopt AI tools.
The centerpiece of that effort is the department's new Make America AI Ready program, which the Labor Department formally launched March 24 as a free, weeklong AI literacy course delivered entirely by text message.
"And what we want is a workforce who is proficient and literate in AI," Chavez-DeRemer said.
"And so we are adopting all sorts of new initiatives, one of those being Make America AI Ready, where, you know, for a beginner, somebody who's not been, you know, really introduced to AI, it's something they can do right from their phone," she said.
"They can text 20202 and take us, you know, a short, seven-day course and, you know, start to, to dive into that because we want to win that AI race," she added.
The Labor Department says the program is meant as a starter course for workers with little or no AI experience and is based on the agency's AI Literacy Framework released in February.
According to the department, the course takes about 10 minutes a day for seven days and covers five core areas: understanding AI principles, exploring AI uses, directing AI effectively, evaluating AI outputs, and using AI responsibly.
The agency's website says that workers can enroll by texting the word "READY" to 20202 and that no laptop, app, or Wi-Fi is required.
Chavez-DeRemer said the course is already live and accessible immediately.
"Absolutely. As a matter of fact, I, I started it last week," she said when asked whether the 20202 sign-up was up and running.
"Yeah, you just text it comes back immediately and you can take it asks you questions," she said.
"You can, you know, do it right from your phone, right in the office, right from home at any point during the day," Chavez-DeRemer said.
"So it's an exciting time for, for new learners."
The secretary framed the initiative as part of a broader administration effort to align workforce policy with private-sector demand, saying some of the jobs being created will be tied to AI and that workers need training to fill them.
"So the private sector, 600,000 jobs that's been created, some of those will be in A,I and we're going to train that workforce," she said.
The comments come less than a week after the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that U.S. employers added 178,000 jobs in March while the unemployment rate held nearly steady at 4.3%, with gains led by healthcare, construction, and transportation and warehousing.
Chavez-DeRemer said those figures show the administration is concentrating on private-sector growth as federal employment declines.
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Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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