01
Contextualized analytics
A region-specific read on AI exposure and worker mobility, built on established Brookings and Opportunity@Work models — not national averages.
AI Readiness Lab · Opportunity@Work × Brookings
Helping regions turn the AI transition into expanded opportunity.
The AI Readiness Lab (AIRLab) is a six-month initiative that moves regional leaders past national headlines toward localized action. As AI reshapes the work, learning, and earning pathways regions depend on, those disruptions could trigger a regional economic crisis — or be steered toward expanded opportunity. The Lab helps leaders shape that outcome now.
Inaugural cohort forming
14 regions applied nationwide
Inaugural cohort starting in July 2026
A partnership of
Opportunity@Work × Brookings
Now inviting national funders & philanthropic partners
What is AIRLab
Built for the AI era.
AI is reshaping the economy fast — but its effects will land unevenly across geographies. AIRLab focuses on the regional middle: the business-led organizations working to understand how AI is changing their own regional industries, jobs, and pathways into work.
Whether those changes expand or constrain economic mobility — especially for STARs — depends on how regional leaders and institutions choose to shape their economies now. AIRLab gives them the data, peers, and playbook to choose well.
6 mo
Guided program
14
Regions applied
6
Pilot regions in the inaugural cohort
AIRLab helps regional leaders answer four critical questions about AI readiness:
1
What is AI changing in our regional economy?
2
Which workers, roles, and pathways are most exposed — and why?
3
Where are the biggest risks, and the most actionable opportunities for mobility?
4
What should regional leaders do differently now to shape better outcomes?
What Regions Receive & Co-Create
From national headlines to local action.
Every region works alongside Brookings and Opportunity@Work analysts to build — and contribute to — four shared assets they carry into regional decision-making.
02
A national peer network
A cohort of business-led regional organizations learning and responding together — honest benchmarking and shared solutions instead of building from scratch.
03
A strategic playbook
A framework and menu of strategic responses, identified by and co-created with regional leaders — the bridge between insight and the actions employers and institutions can actually take.
04
Communications & activation
A toolkit and hands-on support to translate findings into narratives and momentum — so the work moves regional decisions, not a report on a shelf.
National Demand
Demand from coast to coast.
Regions across the country applied to join the first AIRLab — a signal that leaders nationwide see AI readiness as urgent, local, and shared.
Meet the inaugural AIRLab cohort.
In partnership with Brookings, we've selected six business-led regional organizations from across the country to join the first AIRLab:
- Birmingham Business Alliance — Birmingham, Alabama
- CenterState CEO — Syracuse & Central New York
- Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP) — Indiana
- Greater Cleveland Partnership — Ohio
- GREATER MSP — Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Minnesota
- San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation — San Diego, California
LEARN MORE
Join the Regional Leadership Exchange.
Not in the AIRLab? The Regional Leadership Exchange is your way in — a national network of leaders building skills-first, AI-ready economies, with early access to AIRLab insights, tools, and convenings.
Sign Up — It's Free
Program Roadmap
A six-month arc to shared insight.
Each AIRLab moves from kickoff to a public release of cross-region insights and tools. Timeline subject to refinement with participating regions.
JULY 2026
AIRLab Kickoff Now
Virtual workshop launching the inaugural cohort and aligning on shared questions.
July–August
Fieldwork & data analysis
Regional teams engage key stakeholders while Brookings and Opportunity@Work build region-specific analytics.
September
Preliminary sensemaking
Virtual workshop to interpret early findings together and surface regional patterns.
October
Peer exchange
Cohort convenes to share and refine insights at the National Talent Collaborative Meeting.
Late Oct–Nov
Validation & strategy
Findings tested with local stakeholders; regions shape their menu of strategic responses.
December
Final workshop & synthesis
Cohort consolidates regional strategies and prepares shared outputs.
Dec – Q1 2027
Public release
Cross-region insights and tools published for the broader field of regional leaders.
Why It Matters
What six months can set in motion.
The AI transition will be decided region by region. AIRLab is built so that what starts with six pilot regions compounds — for their economies, their workers, and every region that follows.
Decisions made on evidence, not headlines
A shared local fact base and strategy, so employers, educators, and civic institutions act on how AI is actually changing their economy.
AI transitions steered toward mobility
Pathways protected and created for STARs — the roughly half of the workforce skilled through alternative routes, who have the most at stake in how AI reshapes work.
A playbook any region can pick up
Published insights and tools multiply what the pilot cohort learns — so the next region doesn't start from scratch.
An Invitation to Funders
Fund the regions shaping the AI transition.
AIRLab is delivered to participating regions regardless of what we raise — but philanthropy is what lets us reach more of the regional middle, faster, and stand up future labs. It's a model primed for catalytic, test-and-learn grantmaking.
The regional middle is underserved
National AI narratives skip the business-led regions where the future of work will actually be decided. AIRLab meets them with local data and a path to action.
Rapid testing, impact, and learning
A six-month cycle produces real insight, peer learning, and published tools — systems-change grantmaking with visible momentum along the way.
STARs at the center
Nine of fourteen applicants named STARs unprompted — evidence the framing is landing with regional leaders and that workers without four-year degrees stay central to the work.
Built with Brookings
A trusted research partner brings rigor and credibility, helping bring regional leaders to the table and turning applications into action.
Help us reach the next region.
We're actively building support for this cohort and the labs that follow. If your foundation is investing in regional economies, workforce, or the AI transition, let's talk about where your priorities and these regions overlap.
Get Involved
Let's build AI-ready regions — together.
Whether you lead a region ready to act or a foundation exploring where to invest, this is the front door. Tell us who you are and we'll follow up.
Regional leaders
Join the Regional Leadership Exchange for early access to AIRLab insights, tools, and convenings.
Funders
Explore backing the inaugural cohort and the labs that follow — and request the full overview.