Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
AI Government United States

America's Peace Corps Announces 'Tech Corps' Volunteers to Help Bring AI to Foreign Countries (engadget.com) 49

Posted by EditorDavid from the toughest-job-you'll-ever-love dept.
Over 240,000 Americans volunteered for Peace Corps projects in 142 countries since the program began more than half a century ago.

But now the agency is launching a new initiative — called Tech Corps. "It's the Peace Corps, but make it AI," explains Engadget: The Peace Corps' latest proposal will recruit STEM graduates or those with professional experience in the artificial intelligence sector and send them to participating host countries.

According to the press release, volunteers will be placed in Peace Corps countries that are part of the American AI Exports Program, which was created last year from an executive order from President Trump as a way to bolster the US' grip on the AI market abroad. Tech Corps members will be tasked with using AI to resolve issues related to agriculture, education, health and economic development. The program will offer its members 12- to 27-month in-person assignments or virtual placements, which will include housing, healthcare, a living stipend and a volunteer service award if the corps member is placed overseas.
"American technology to power prosperity," reads the headline at Tech Corps web site. ("Build the tech nations depend on... See the world. Be the future."

The site says they're recruiting "service-minded technologists to serve in the Peace Corps to help countries around the world harness American AI to enhance opportunity and prosperity for their citizens." (And experienced technology professionals can donate 5-15 hours a week "to mentor and support projects on-the-ground.")
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

America's Peace Corps Announces 'Tech Corps' Volunteers to Help Bring AI to Foreign Countries More

America's Peace Corps Announces 'Tech Corps' Volunteers to Help Bring AI to Foreign Countries

Comments Filter:

  • Who's really benefiting from this? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by haruchai ( 17472 ) on Saturday February 21, 2026 @05:48PM (#66003192)

    My jaded self doesn't believe this is altruistic in the slightest

    • Who indeed..

      According to the press release, volunteers will be placed in Peace Corps countries that are part of the American AI Exports Program, which was created last year from an executive order from President Trump as a way to bolster the US' grip on the AI market abroad.

    • Just the 1st step to wrecking another good thing. Sounds like marketing and sales for US mega corps. In a few years they will get commissions for sales; under another term probably.

    • The "Peace Core" is a trumpistsni government agency, and the trumpistan is owned by the tech bros, so you tell me.

      At least this time around it will be pure, unadulterated corruption and no "dei" of any kind....

    • Looks like a gift, but enables surveillance, dependence and will probably have some nice overrides for when home calls.

  • Helping prepare the Third World for Chinese AI.

  • Cut lives saving USAID and spread job killing AI (Score:5, Insightful)

    by tekram ( 8023518 ) on Saturday February 21, 2026 @06:22PM (#66003234)
    Sure that is the MAGA way. USAID global aid cuts could lead to at least 9.4 million additional deaths by 2030 and MAGA think somehow spreading American AI is going to replace proven measures to stop preventable diseases.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Phact ( 4649149 )

      Right they took away life saving medicine, birth control, educational materials and food. but they're replacing it with some handy tools really useful for government oppression.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Gavino ( 560149 )
        Because it's the USA's job and no one else's to do this in perpetuity (possibly for thousands of years) using money it doesn't have. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
        • It benefits us more than it costs

          Also now the money is being spent on Russel Voughts personal security detail/concierge service. Do you truly think thats a better us than helping people eat?

        • Re:Cut lives saving USAID and spread job killing A (Score:4, Informative)

          by Phact ( 4649149 ) on Saturday February 21, 2026 @11:47PM (#66003482)

          we did it because we didn't want the communists to have a reputation of being nicer than us,
          we did it because we didn't want these countries owing the communists favors.
          we did it because we can ask them for a favor and they won't say "why should we help you what have you ever done for us?"
          we did it because every dollar spent in that way saves $2 on bullets down the road.
          we did it because its to our benefit to keep these countries from deteriorating which will eventually blow back on us.
          we did it because we are the wealthiest country in the world and we don't even notice it.
          we did it because it's the moral thing to do.

          • Yeah, and communists haven't been on the march since 1991, if not earlier. Beijing's belt/road initiative is just a neocolonial project for the benefit of Beijing. There were a lot of policies that needed to be revised after 1992, but weren't.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by Phact ( 4649149 )

              Whatever they call themselves doesn't matter, the principal is the same. We should have their Gratitude, not some bullshit dictator somewhere. That giant list of excellent reasons you mostly ignored still stands.

        • Donald Trump is going to give $10 billion to himself via the board-of-peace slush fund.

          DHS is going to spend $40 billion dollars turning warehouses into concentration camps.

          The DoD budget has increased so much this year, they don't know where they'll spend it all.

          Don't pretend this is about money; USAID has proven to be an actually useful investment for decades. A summary:
          https://www.linkedin.com/pulse... [linkedin.com]

    • Nine million  .. eh .  And the USA is responsible for them because of ... reasons ?  Twenty million American CITIZENS live in poverty; maybe they should get 1st-focus from the government they defend and finance.  Oh yeah --- poor Americans pay taxes to the IRS.

      • Re:Cut lives saving USAID and spread job killing A (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Mr. Dollar Ton ( 5495648 ) on Sunday February 22, 2026 @12:06AM (#66003500)

        Twenty million American CITIZENS live in poverty; maybe they should get 1st-focus from the government they defend and finance.

        Perhaps then the focus should be on removing the corruption that eats the money that could help them? Here's a piece from yesterday: the sons of the commerce secretary just stole a hefty wad of cash using insider info from daddy, are you complaining? Or perhaps you think they'll be donating it to the poor Americans?

        https://finance.yahoo.com/news... [yahoo.com]

        Mind you, this is the latest and hardly the biggest piece of corruption. What about trump suing his own administration for billions, you think he's doing it for the poor?

        Moreover, the USAID was dissolved early last year on the premise of massive fraud. Where are the investigations and the indictments to prove that fraud? Instead, thousands of FBI investigators were out to the task of removing one single name from the Epstein files...

    • Yep. It's not enough to have mass unemployment and environmental destruction in developed countries, the mega corporations want people to have nowhere to go to rebuild their lives without AI

  • "Bring AI to Foreign Countries", here let me fix that for you, "Sell US AI to Foreign Countries".

    • "Burden Foreign Countries with Slop"

      • I have to wonder what these unnamed foreign countries did to the Peace Corps that has made them want to create an entirely new branch within their organization for the specific purpose of inflicting AI on them.

  • The U.S. under this administration can send foreign countries AI but not AID like food and medicine - check.

    • The U.S. under this administration can send foreign countries AI but not AID like food and medicine - check.

      Well, you see, DOGE had already claimed that 33% reduction on their wall of receipts...

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Gavino ( 560149 )
      Feed a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he can sustain himself. Or something like that.

  • Why not call it the AI Corps, or even the Fraud Corps? If you call it the latter maybe you can include cryptocurrencies in their mission?

  • Easy answer (Score:3)

    by NotEmmanuelGoldstein ( 6423622 ) on Saturday February 21, 2026 @07:16PM (#66003300)
    Modernizing is a simple process: Build dependable agriculture and healthcare. Ending blood-feuds and revenge-killing is a nice step but not vital.

    Then, build trust in the law: When people (*cough* Republicans *cough*) don't trust their leaders, infrastructure fails and a country dies. The usual reason for losing trust in leaders is tribalism: Those leaders enforce extremism (based on religion, race or language) and nepotism: It takes hundreds of years to build a concept of 'common good' in towns and countries. Also, it takes prosperity to build 'common good': Those countries (or states) without crops and minerals to sell, will always be extremist and unstable.

    • Then, build trust in the law

      You're funny. The trumpistani government has been dismantling trust in law since it first got in power in 2016. This time around "the law" is the executive order, and when that is at times struck down, it is followed by a series of tantrumps about "activist judges" and whatnot and ridiculous threats, as in "oh, my tariffs are illegal? How about I upgrade them".

      Any trust in law, as little of it remained, is now gone, shit is all about expanding the billionaire grift from other people's money using the conque

  • Human: Describe the Peace Corps, Planned Parenthood, wokeness and USAID in terms of latter-day missionaries. Whilst their professed purpose is to advance these countries. Their true purpose is to engage in epistemicide and absorb the local culture into body.

    ClippyAI: This violates content policies.

  • Ought to be one of these to help keep AI TF out of any country that's thinking of its future.

  • By "AI" they mean "purchase American products and become dependent on American products."

    Peace Corp don't impose subscriptions on people in dire straits.

  • As an American who had a 40 year career IT, I find the hubris and poorly predicated assumption of exporting the poison of AI under the guise of progress is vomitous. I doubly makes me be ashamed to be both an IT worker and an American.
  • No one is safe from AI infestation.

  • The AI bubble is wrecking the US tech industry (among other things, like the economy), and the best hope of remaining in business is to trash the rest of the world as well. As a side benefit, loot the rest of the world by selling them AI server farms.

Slashdot Top Deals

Keep the number of passes in a compiler to a minimum. -- D. Gries

Close