aiEDU, Burning Glass Institute and Salesforce Launch Initiative to Prepare Students for an AI-Driven Workforce

aiEDU and BGI will combine to create fresh research, next-generation AI Readiness Framework 

aiEDU: The AI Education Project and the Burning Glass Institute (BGI) are embarking on a new initiative with $1 million in support from Salesforce to examine how artificial intelligence is reshaping the labor market and to translate those insights into a practical roadmap for schools.

The joint effort will help students, educators, and districts understand — and keep pace with — the skills most in demand in an AI-saturated economy.

The partnership is kicking off with a major research study led by BGI examining how AI, particularly generative AI,  is reshaping the skills required across a wide range of industries, as well as the implications of those changes for the education landscape.

The work will generate a public-facing report that will inform employers, educators, and policymakers. The research will also map industry-informed taxonomies with learning standards across the U.S., and look at how skills demand is evolving and how the nation’s K-12 systems are building those skills or where they can improve.  

Drawing on the research, aiEDU will create the next-generation of its AI Readiness Framework for K–12 education, building on its existing AI Readiness Framework, and outlining essential components of AI readiness and AI literacy for students, educators and administrators—with more detail broken out with more granularity by grade level—ensuring alignment with existing educational standards and helping school systems navigate the fast-moving AI landscape.

“In a world where AI is everywhere, one of the most important things we can understand is how it will affect people’s careers and the skills they need to thrive,” said Alex Kotran, CEO of aiEDU. “Partnering with BGI and Salesforce ensures the field has the freshest, most rigorous labor-market data at its fingertips — so we can advise school systems as they realign teaching and learning priorities to match the skills of the future.”

The second phase of the initiative will focus on dissemination and implementation of the framework and research. In the coming months, aiEDU will work with education leaders and organizations to share the research and develop practical ways to implement it, as well as sharing the findings at top tier conferences, industry gatherings and professional learning environments for teachers and school system leaders. aiEDU will also publish practical thought leadership and content to share the research and its next generation framework.

The Burning Glass Institute, a non-profit data laboratory, adds a powerful lens to the partnership — BGI’s researchers parse billions of job postings and résumés in real time, distilling how automation and AI are reshaping work long before traditional statistics can catch up.

Known for their flagship resources such as the American Opportunity Index — which assesses Fortune 500 companies across dimensions of pay, promotion, access, and retention — BGI has earned a reputation for translating dense labor-market data into clear, actionable insights about the skills that unlock upward mobility.

By weaving those high-resolution insights into aiEDU’s on-the-ground work with districts nationwide, the collaboration bridges two critical gaps—between the classroom and the job market, and between emerging AI trends and day-to-day instruction. Together, the organizations will convert BGI’s forward-looking data into practical guidance that helps schools recalibrate teaching and learning priorities to match the skills students will need next.

“Educators are on the front lines of a labor market that’s evolving faster than any we’ve seen,” said Stu Andreason, Executive Director of the Burning Glass Institute and former founding director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s Center for Workforce and Economic Opportunity. “Our mission has always been to translate cutting-edge data into practical guidance for governments, organizations, and workers. By joining forces with aiEDU, we can put that real-time insight directly into the hands of school leaders, helping them recalibrate teaching and learning so every student—regardless of zip code—has a clear pathway to meaningful work in an AI-driven economy.