Google said that it is launching a course designed to teach one million Americans how to use technologies from artificial intelligence.

Along with the launch, the tech behemoth disclosed that $75 million in grants for AI skill training to residents in underprivileged and rural regions have been allocated by Google.org, its philanthropic arm.

The statement was made a week after Google removed the requirements that the staffing companies and suppliers it partners with offer competitive compensation and benefits to their employees.

Additionally, the business fired thousands of people in February while posting record earnings, which stoked concerns that AI might eventually replace human labor at Google.

Even with breakthroughs in AI and growing income, major tech businesses like Google still fire people.

The new AI skills course will cost $49 on the for-profit online learning platform Coursera.

It will instruct students on how to 'Use generative AI technologies to help produce ideas and content, make better-informed decisions, and speed up daily work activities,' in a responsible manner, according to the course description.

Additionally, the course guarantees that students will 'Develop ways to keep up-to-date in the expanding world of AI.'

A Google representative stated that 'best-in-class workforce development and education organizations' will receive the $75 million in awards from the AI Opportunity Fund.

Some of the training funding will be distributed to organizations like Goodwill Industries International, whose mission is to "empower Americans to leverage AI technology to boost productivity and prepare them for the jobs of tomorrow."

In the past, Goodwill's career support programs have received recognition for their ability to assist employees in obtaining long-term positions with competitive pay and benefits.

However, the company continues to pay handicapped workers less than the minimum wage in the name of job skills training, a scheme that the US Department of Labor has approved.

Under this exception, certain handicapped workers make less than $1 per hour.

And only a week ago, Google said that it was rescinding the regulations that mandated its business partners pay livable wages to their employees. 

Up until last Friday, Google had mandated that companies it entered into contracts with pay their workers a minimum of $15 per hour and offer perks and health insurance.

But the US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) declared that Google was a "joint employer" of such workers as it was exerting some influence over them.
As a result, the IT giant would have to negotiate with the unions, something it is infamously reluctant to do.

Much closer to home, at YouTube, which it controls, Google has declined to engage in collective bargaining with unionized staff.

Last year, when YouTube employees unanimously voted to become members of the Alphabet Workers Union and demanded to negotiate better working conditions with Google, the internet giant declined.

In January of this year, the NLRB declared that this rejection was illegal.

Furthermore, they are not singular occurrences. According to the Economic Policy Institute, Google has been charged with illegally terminating employees for organizing, interfering with protected activities, and generally acting illegally to prevent its employees from exercising their right to organize for improved working conditions.

Google's recent announcement of new charity initiatives follows a series of well-publicized layoffs.