Arist, supported by Amazon and Meta, will help the Department of Labor bring foundational AI education to 330 million Americans—no internet required
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Arist, the leading AI-powered enterprise enablement platform, today announced its role as the technology partner behind the U.S. Department of Labor’s “Make America AI-Ready” initiative—a first-of-its-kind national AI literacy program delivered entirely over text message.
Any American can text READY to 20202 to begin a free, 7-day AI literacy course. The program requires no internet connection, no laptop, and no app download—just a cell phone. In just 10 minutes a day, participants receive bite-sized lessons and daily challenges aligned to the Department of Labor’s AI Literacy Framework.
The groundbreaking initiative was developed as part of the White House’s Pledge to America’s Youth and advances the Administration’s commitment to equip American workers with foundational AI skills, as outlined in the AI Action Plan and America’s Talent Strategy.
A Coalition of American Technology Leaders
Arist is supported by leading American technology companies to help power the initiative at national scale:
• Amazon serves as the cloud services provider, supplying the compute and delivery infrastructure to support Arist’s text-message-based AI education at the scale of the entire American workforce.
• Meta serves as Arist’s advertising partner, helping drive awareness of the initiative and reach Americans across the country through targeted campaigns on its family of apps.
• Arist provides the end-to-end enablement platform—including AI-powered course creation, delivery infrastructure, and real-time analytics—that makes the program possible.
“The hardest part of AI adoption isn’t the technology—it’s getting the right information to the right people at the right time. That’s exactly what Arist does for the world’s largest enterprises, and now we’re proud to bring that same capability to every American,” said Michael Ioffe, Co-Founder and CEO of Arist. “With Amazon powering our cloud infrastructure and Meta helping us reach Americans where they already are, we have the coalition to make AI literacy truly universal.”
"AI literacy programs need to meet learners where they are, at any level, anywhere. We’re proud to collaborate on this initiative, providing access to cloud infrastructure support and credits, to deliver accessible, foundational AI skills through text-based education,” said Kim Majerus, vice president of global education and US state and local government for worldwide public sector at Amazon Web Services. “We're ensuring every American can participate in the AI revolution, transforming how we work, learn, and innovate for a more inclusive future."
Why Text Message
The program’s text-message-based design was chosen to maximize reach, engagement, and retention among American workers:
• Reach: 98% of Americans have a cell phone. SMS works on any device—including flip phones—and requires no internet connection, ensuring Americans in rural communities and underserved areas are not left behind.
• Engagement: Pushing content directly to learners’ phones drives significantly higher participation than asking them to visit a website, with 3x+ adoption rates compared to traditional online learning.
• Retention: Daily, bite-sized content—modeled on modern learning science—drives 8x completion rates versus traditional online courses.
What Americans Will Learn
The 7-day course is aligned to the five foundational content areas of the Department of Labor’s AI Literacy Framework:
• Understand AI Principles — AI’s core concepts, capabilities, and limitations
• Explore AI Uses — real-world tools and use cases across industries
• Direct AI Effectively — how to prompt AI and provide the right context
• Evaluate AI Outputs — assessing results for accuracy and relevance
• Use AI Responsibly — ethical use, security, and accountability
The course is designed as a starting point for Americans who may be unsure about AI, featuring an approachable tone, daily GIFs and emojis, hands-on challenges, and pathways to continue learning more advanced AI skills or explore AI-related careers.
About Arist
Arist is the AI-powered enablement platform replacing legacy training, survey, and communications tools with end-to-end AI agents that create, deliver, and measure enablement programs across SMS, Microsoft Teams, Slack, and WhatsApp. Trusted by Fortune 500 companies including Novartis, ExxonMobil, and Medtronic, Arist delivers 8x faster program launches, 3x+ adoption rates, and over 70% cost savings versus legacy enablement approaches. For more information, visit arist.com.
