Amazon invests $100 million to equip disadvantaged communities with literacy, cloud computing and artificial intelligence skills

This is the AWS Education Equity Initiative to equip educational institutions with the technology needed to develop digital learning solutions that serve underserved communities.

In today’s ever-evolving digital age, being equipped with skills in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), cloud computing, and computer science will open up countless new opportunities for students. However, not everyone can easily equip themselves with these essential skills for their future careers.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is committed to leveling the playing field in education, ensuring that students from disadvantaged and marginalized communities have access to life-changing learning opportunities.

As part of the Amazon Web Services Education Equity Initiative, AWS will provide up to $100 million in cloud credits over the next five years to educational institutions around the world to build or expand their digital learning solutions.

The new program will provide participating organizations with cloud computing credits to use AWS cloud services, giving them access to a comprehensive portfolio of cloud services and advanced AI services to develop innovations such as AI assistants, coding curricula, connectivity tools, digital learning platforms, mobile apps, chatbots, and other digital learning experiences.

Additionally, organizations will receive dedicated technical support from the AWS Solutions Architect team, which will provide comprehensive architectural guidance and best practices to help organizations deploy AI responsibly, as well as ongoing support for optimizing the solution to ensure it performs at its best.

AWS is working with more than 50 organizations from 10 countries, helping them apply advanced technologies to bring digital learning solutions to serve disadvantaged and vulnerable communities.

The AWS Education Equity Initiative builds on Amazon and AWS's long-standing commitment to providing educational and career opportunities to underserved students.

Over the past year, more than 2 million students participated in 17 million hours of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses, literacy skills, and career development delivered through programs like Amazon Future Engineer, a program dedicated to helping disadvantaged and underrepresented students access computer science education, and other Amazon education programs.

Additionally, the AWS AI and ML Scholarship Program has awarded scholarships totaling $28 million to approximately 6,000 students, helping them prepare for future careers in artificial intelligence.

With this AWS Education Equity initiative, AWS can support nonprofits, education technology companies, social enterprises, government agencies, and CSR teams to expand learning and development opportunities to disadvantaged and marginalized communities.