Google is spending $1 billion on boosting AI training at US universities

Google pledges $1 billion in funding for AI education and training across the US
Eligible students also get 12 months’ Google AI Pro, with Gemini 2.5 Pro and more
The news comes just weeks after Microsoft announced a similar scheme, but at 4x the value

Google has confirmed a commitment to spend $1 billion over the next three years to support AI education and training across the US, targeting colleges, universities and nonprofits.

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai explained in a blog post more than 100 colleges and universities have already signed up to its AI for Education Accelerator program, which hopes to make AI and career training free for every college student in America.

Google’s training efforts add to its already extensive involvement within education – the company already runs schemes to get Chromebooks into the hands of students in multiple countries and regions.

Google wants to train America’s students in AI

In the post, Pichai explained his own personal motivation for the project: “Having regular access to computers in grad school changed my life, and led me on the path to Google. It’s my hope that bringing the best AI tools to college students will open up new worlds for them, too.”

The latest announcement sees eligible students across the US, as well as Japan, Indonesia, Korea and Brazil, able to sign up for a year’s free Google AI Pro plan with Gemini 2.5 Pro access, Deep Research via Gemini 2.5 Pro, Veo 3, higher limits for Jules, NotebookLM and 2TB of storage.

Boasting about its presence across the education sector, and offering a small dig at Microsoft which previously dominated the area, Pichai noted that more than four in five of the top 100 US universities now use Google Workspace for Education.

However, Google isn’t the only company investing in upskilling the current generation of students and our future workforce.

Microsoft President Brad Smith recently shared details of a $4 billion investment in AI and cloud technology for K-12 schools, community and technical colleges, and nonprofits. Other companies in this space, including Meta, OpenAI, Anthropic and Amazon have all pledged their own support, too.