{"id":25657,"date":"2026-02-27T08:21:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T08:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=25657"},"modified":"2026-02-27T08:21:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T08:21:12","slug":"walmart-exec-says-the-u-s-needs-to-get-tougher-on-training-its-next-generation-of-workers-in-ai-look-at-china-5-year-olds-are-learning-deepseek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=25657","title":{"rendered":"Walmart exec says the U.S. needs to get tougher on training its next generation of workers in AI: ‘Look at China, 5-year-olds are learning DeepSeek’"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Corporate America is in a race against time to upgrade its workforce. Top AI leaders warn that white-collar jobs could face major disruption within the next 18 months\u2014yet relatively few workers are using AI technology in their daily work.<\/p>\n

\n

That disconnect is pushing major employers like Deloitte, Verizon, and Walmart to roll out large-scale AI training for their employees. And according to Donna Morris, Walmart\u2019s chief people officer, the stakes extend far beyond individual companies\u2014the outcome could shape the competitiveness of the broader U.S. economy<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s look at China,\u201d Morris said in an interview with Fortune<\/em>. \u201cFive-year-olds are learning DeepSeek, and that says a lot about how they believe in capability building. What would it do to our U.S. economy, if we all leaned into that opportunity?\u201d<\/p>\n

In many parts of China, students are being introduced to AI concepts as soon as they enter school. Students in Beijing\u2019s primary and secondary schools plan to offer at least eight hours of AI instruction each academic year, covering topics like how to properly use chatbots and the ethics of AI. Chinese students, on average, also spend more time in the classroom than their U.S. peers.<\/p>\n

There are already signs that China\u2019s investment in AI education is translating into a deep talent pipeline. Nearly one-third of the world\u2019s top AI talent were born in China, according to a 2020 study from the Paulson Institute, and many top U.S. tech companies have been dishing out sky-high compensation packages to woo that talent. When Meta, for example, unveiled its new Superintelligence Lab in June, seven of the lab\u2019s 11 researchers were born in China\u2014and all were recruited from outside the United States.<\/p>\n

Without increased training, the U.S. talent pipeline risks \u201cfalling behind,\u201d CEOs say<\/h2>\n

Enhanced AI training for the U.S. workforce\u2014and its pipeline of students\u2014is a growing concern among top business leaders.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last year, a group of more than 400 CEOs, including Microsoft\u2019s Satya Nadella, DoorDash\u2019s Tony Xu,\u00a0 and Airbnb\u2019s Brian Chesky, signed a letter to lawmakers advocating for computer science and AI education to be part of the curriculum for every U.S. student.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the age of AI, we must prepare our children for the future\u2014to be AI creators, not just consumers,\u201d the CEOs wrote. \u201cA basic foundation in computer science and AI is crucial for helping every student thrive in a technology-driven world. Without it, they risk falling behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overall, AI skills are becoming table stakes for workers, no matter the industry of employment. AI literacy is the fastest growing skill, according to LinkedIn, and two-thirds of business leaders said in a 2024 report that they wouldn\u2019t hire someone without AI skills.<\/p>\n

For Morris, closing the AI talent gap begins with employers investing directly in their workforces.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe as big employers should be actively engaged in trying to equip our respective employees\u2014in our case associates\u2014to be prepared for a world that is AI enabled and automated or digitized,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf all of us collectively leaned into our workforces, where might we be?\u201d<\/p>\n

Broad-based AI training is a straightforward investment, she added\u2014one that makes sense across roles and industries.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the interesting and also exciting thing with AI is it\u2019s almost job agnostic,\u201d Morris said. \u201cRegardless of what job you\u2019re in, how I might use AI for my job might be different than you use it or somebody else uses it. So, why not equip everybody?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

#Walmart #exec #U.S #tougher #training #generation #workers #China #5yearolds #learning #DeepSeek<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Corporate America is in a race… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25658,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[14625,542,173,779,372,446,3091,7754,2297,9101,1624,764,3955,1981,472,342],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25657"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}