We're proud to announce the Pursuit AI Jobs Institute (aiji.pursuit.org), one of the first hubs in the country built to connect New Yorkers directly to the jobs AI is creating. Backed by a $10M public investment from New York State and New York City, the AI Jobs Institute will train as many as 40,000 New Yorkers by 2032 and open real pathways into AI-enabled careers. Thank you to our partners including Ascendium Education Group, @WellsFargo, Google.org, @OpenAI , @AnthropicAI , @Mizuho, @siegelendowment, @ConEdison, @GetSpectrum, @MetLife, @Adobe, the New York Jobs CEO Council, and the Partnership Fund for New York City, and our full coalition — for helping make this possible. Learn more: pursuit.org/blog/ai-jobs-ins… #AI #FutureOfWork #PursuitAIJobsInstitute #Pursuit

Ken Chenault sat in a room with our Builders last week and said something worth repeating: Interviewing is dead. You're auditioning. Ken is the founder of Benchstrength, a VC firm that backs founders the industry has historically overlooked. Groups that make up 75% of the world's population — just like the Builders at Pursuit — receive about 5% of global capital. His firm is a direct bet against that. When he evaluates founders, he's not looking for pedigree. He's looking for boundless curiosity. In a world where everything is changing by the minute, that's what keeps you valuable. He walked our Builders through the "flashlight test": build something that gets better as AI models improve, not something the models eventually replace. Flashlight apps once flooded the App Store. Then Apple shipped a native flashlight, and an entire category disappeared overnight. Uber, for example, is different. Better AI models make Uber faster, smarter, more efficient. They strengthen the product rather than replace it. Then there is the Pursuit Lookbook: lookbook.pursuit.org Before the event even began, Ken had reviewed six Builder projects. One tackled the same problem as a real estate startup he had recently evaluated for investment. The difference? Pursuit Builder had created it in six weeks as a class project. That's curiosity made visible. Just as engineers have GitHub, Pursuit Builders have the Lookbook. It is not a résumé. It is proof of what you can build. If you were planning to spend five hours on yours, spend ten. The audition is already happening. The barrier was never talent. It was always access. That is what rooms like this one exist to rebuild. That's why Pursuit exists. Read the full recap below: pursuit.org/blog/fireside-ch… #Pursuit #AI #AIJobs #TechCareers #NewYorkTech

To land a job in the age of AI, make a human connection. Build in public. Be persistent. Our AI-Native Builders sat down with @emmamariecryer, founding Business Development Representative at @OpenRouter, for a fireside chat led by Devika Gopal Agge, Chief Development & Employer Services Officer at Pursuit. OpenRouter is the API gateway connecting developers to 350+ AI models. Co-founder @alexatallah sits on Pursuit’s board, and the team has been a real partner to us. Emma came to AI without a computer science or software engineering degree. She studied humanities, trained as an actor, and produces short films on the side. She’s worked in business development for five years, now at OpenRouter working with the engineering and product teams at companies and universities building with frontier AI. Her advice to Builders looking to break in: “The bar has never been lower.” OpenRouter recently hired their second BDR. Out of thousands of applicants, only two reached out to Emma directly on LinkedIn. The one they hired didn’t pitch himself. He reached out like a person, showed her his work, and named the problem he could help solve. Then he kept following up, even when she didn’t reply. This is the humanist approach to employment in the age of AI. That story landed hard. Show, not tell. Build in public. Find the pain point at the company you want to join. Reach out like a person, not a transaction. Build a real connection. Then keep following up. And that’s what our Builders do. Thank you, Emma. The letters are coming. #Pursuit #OpenRouter #AI #futureofwork #tech

We’re proud to announce a $4 million grant from @AscendiumEd @AscendiumEP, a substantial programmatic investment in our AI program. This partnership supports the programmatic engine of the AI Jobs Institute, Pursuit’s dedicated workforce hub launching in Long Island City in 2027, and advances a question at the center of our work: As AI reshapes every industry, who gets access to the jobs it creates? Ascendium’s pivotal investment will help fund the full infrastructure to meet that moment: → Scaling Pursuit’s AI-native training for low-income New Yorkers → Creating new career pathways for low-income New Yorkers, and → Setting new standards for Registered Apprenticeships in the AI economy. The initiative will also expand Registered Apprenticeship pathways in AI and technology, creating more paid, earn-while-you-learn opportunities for learners from low-income backgrounds while demonstrating how apprenticeships can scale as a long-term strategy for developing the future tech workforce. This work builds on Pursuit's track record of connecting low-income New Yorkers to good jobs and launches the AI Jobs Institute as a national model for how workforce systems can keep pace with the AI era. We’re deeply grateful to Ascendium for their partnership and shared belief that the AI economy should expand economic mobility by democratizing access to the jobs and opportunities it creates. Read the press release: pursuit.org/blog/pursuit-asc… #Pursuit #AIJobsInstitute #WorkforceDevelopment #FutureOfWork #Ascendium