The White House has announced a new “Tech Corps” program within the Peace Corps to send tech-skilled volunteers overseas to support the adoption of American artificial intelligence systems, a move that links U.S. diplomacy with efforts to expand influence in AI as competition with China intensifies.
The Peace Corps is an independent U.S. government agency that sends American volunteers abroad to support development projects in areas such as education, health, agriculture, and economic growth. The new Tech Corps will follow a similar structure but will focus on recruiting, training, and deploying volunteers with technical backgrounds, including engineers and graduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
What The Tech Corps Will Do
According to the White House and the Peace Corps, Tech Corps volunteers will provide what the program calls “last-mile” support for implementing American AI solutions, with a focus on the application layer rather than core model development. A website for the Tech Corps has launched and is accepting applications on a rolling basis.
In its announcement, the Peace Corps said the AI tools deployed by the new group would be used to address “real-world grassroots problems” in sectors that include agriculture, education, health, and economic development.
Where Volunteers Will Be Deployed
Volunteers will be sent to countries that participate in the American AI Exports Program, which was announced in July under a Trump administration executive order aimed at maintaining U.S. leadership in advanced technologies. While a full list of participating countries has not been released, India is expected to be among them, and the Commerce Department welcomed its participation last week.
The executive order aligns with broader U.S. efforts to counter the spread of Chinese technology platforms in developing nations. Chinese companies have gained traction in some markets by offering open-source or open-weight models that are inexpensive, customizable, and able to run on local infrastructure, including systems such as Qwen3 and Deepseek.
Announcement At The India AI Impact Summit
The Tech Corps was first announced by Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, at the inaugural India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi. The announcement came as India also joined the U.S.-led Pax Silica initiative, a Trump administration effort focused on securing the global supply chain for silicon-based technologies. Other core members include Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, Israel, the United Kingdom, Australia, Qatar, and the UAE.
At the summit, Kratsios said that expanding access to U.S. AI technology was central to narrowing the gap in adoption between developed and developing economies. He said that “real AI sovereignty means owning and using best-in-class technology for the benefit of your people.” AI sovereignty was a major topic at the conference and refers to a country’s ability to develop, control, and govern AI systems within its own legal, economic, and strategic framework.
The event also saw several U.S. technology companies announce new investments in India’s AI infrastructure, building on investments disclosed last year and aligning with the goals of the Tech Corps.
How The Program Will Operate
Tech Corps volunteers will serve for periods ranging from 12 to 27 months or take part in virtual service placements. On-the-ground deployments are expected to begin in fall 2026. As with the Peace Corps, participants will receive housing, healthcare, a living stipend, and service awards upon completion.
Richard E. Swarttz, acting director of the Peace Corps, said in the announcement that the United States, through the Tech Corps, would take a leading role in delivering the benefits of AI abroad.
Related Export And Financing Efforts
Alongside the Tech Corps, the White House announced other initiatives during the India summit. These include a National Champions Initiative to integrate leading foreign AI companies into customized American AI export stacks. The White House said partners need opportunities to build their own technology industries and that facilitating this will be part of the exports program.
The administration also said it plans to work with institutions such as the World Bank and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation to help partner countries address financing challenges as they import American AI systems.
Featured image credits: Pexels
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