Digital technology has become ubiquitous in U.S. classrooms, with a growing number of schools now embracing generative AI.
Nevertheless, equitable access remains a challenge, with millions of families, often in underserved and underrepresented communities, without access to computer or internet at home. This not only hinders students' abilities to join class remotely, do homework, or simply fit in—it also creates a divide on what’s seen as possible for career opportunities.
Amazon is hoping to help change this dynamic. In a Fortune exclusive, the company is announcing the establishment of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Education Equity Initiative—a $100 million commitment to help education organizations develop digital learning opportunities for underserved and underrepresented communities. Over the next five years, the funds will be distributed in the form of AWS cloud credits.
Swami Sivasubramanian, vice president of AI and data at AWS, says the initiative is grounded in the idea that AI is the most transformational technology of this generation and will fundamentally change every industry—and barriers to technology need to be broken.
“Education and opportunity should be available to everyone,” Sivasubramanian tells Fortune. “Unfortunately, if you look at it, the global demand for education technology is increasing, but many organizations in the edtech sector that serve learners from underserved communities, they do not have the resources they need to leverage cutting-edge technologies like cloud and AI.”
Organizations like Tangible Africa and Code.org have previously partnered with Amazon and have been providing computer science education to millions of students around the globe. This new initiative will allow projects to scale. Code.org, for example, plans to expand its AI teaching assistant, which is powered by Amazon Bedrock.
Karim Meghji, chief product officer at Code.org, says the commitment is exciting because of its ability to empower educational organizations of all sizes to use AWS technology to bring positive outcomes on students' lives.
“This equity initiative, and the funding and the support that Amazon is pledging, I think, can have an amazing outcome in terms of reaching those students through big and small organizations in a way that I've seen it transform the lives of students that we serve directly every day through Code.org.”
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Computer science and AI skills: critical for all careers
Learning about computer science and AI is paramount, Sivasubramanian and Meghji both say—no matter if students want to work in software engineering, nursing, finance, or any other field.
"AI is going to be such a necessary skill in the same way it is important that you know like Word and Excel and various other things,” Sivasubramanian adds.
For those looking for a tech career in particular, Sivasubramanian suggests that understanding core aspects of computer science, like how operating systems work and how programs execute, is critical—alongside the ability to use AI to help program.
“It’s not about learning 10 different programming languages, but it's about learning how to program, let's say maybe one, and then embrace these AI assistants,” he says.
He points to a 2023 AWS survey that found that employers are willing to pay an average of 47% more for a worker with AI skills versus someone without them. Internally, he adds, when AWS internally began developing and using its own AI assistant, Amazon Q, the company saved about 4,500 developer years.
The number of new software developer jobs over the next decade is expected to be the second highest of any occupation, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Both Sivasubramanian and Meghji also point to computational thinking or problem-solving as softer skills that every student should master to ultimately unlock career opportunities and drive economic gains for them.
"The super important thing we all need to do is expand the access, especially for young learners, and get them access to the cutting edge technology and democratize education to not just millions, but hundreds of millions of students from underserved and underrepresented parts of the community as well," Sivasubramanian says.
Organizations can apply for AWS’s Education Equity Initiative online.
Amazon is No. 2 on the Fortune 500 list and earned over $30 billion in profit in 2023 alone. AWS controls the largest percentage of the cloud infrastructure market, according to Synergy Research Group.
