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Trump launches 'Tech Corps' to boost American AI globally
To enhance its global AI presence and compete with China, Washington has unveiled the 'Tech Corps'
As the rivalry with China grows, Washington is leaning on a pillar of American diplomacy to broaden its reach in artificial intelligence: the Peace Corps.
On Friday, the White House revealed the "Tech Corps" initiative within the Peace Corps.
This program aims to spread American AI abroad and assist partner countries in embracing advanced systems.
The Peace Corps is a standalone US government body that dispatches American volunteers overseas to contribute to local development tasks across education, health, agriculture, and economic progress.
The envisioned Tech Corps will follow a similar setup, recruiting, training, and assigning tech-savvy volunteers, including engineers and STEM graduates, to deliver critical "last-mile" aid in the deployment of American AI practices abroad, particularly at the application stage.
A website for the Tech Corps has been started and is open for applications, which are reviewed continuously.
In a declaration, the Peace Corps announced that AI solutions by this new team would tackle "real-world grassroots issues" in essential areas like agriculture, education, health, and economic growth.
Volunteers will be stationed in countries that are part of the American AI Exports Program, launched in July through a Trump administration directive focused on maintaining US leadership in advanced technologies on the global stage.
This directive is part of broader US strategies to counteract the global spread of Chinese technology, especially in developing areas.
Companies from China have made significant inroads in some developing regions by providing open-source or customisable models that are affordable and capable of running on local systems, such as Qwen3 and Deepseek.
Though a comprehensive list of countries in the AI Exports Program is not available, India is expected to participate, with the Commerce Department acknowledging its involvement recently.
This was announced ahead of the first-ever India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi, where Michael Kratsios, head of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, first introduced the Tech Corps.
Tech Corps volunteers will engage abroad for periods ranging from 12 to 27 months or may choose virtual roles, with initial deployments anticipated in fall 2026.
As is standard with the Peace Corps, participants will receive housing, healthcare, a living stipend, and rewards for their service upon fulfilling their missions.
Besides the Tech Corps, the White House unveiled several other initiatives during the India AI summit, including a National Champions Initiative designed to integrate prominent foreign AI companies into specially tailored American AI export modules.