GitLab Foundation and OpenAI Host Second Annual AI for Economic Opportunity Demo Day
From AI-enhanced weather forecasts helping up to 100 million smallholder farmers adapt to a changing climate, to AI-powered legal guidance helping renters fight eviction, OpenAI and GitLab Foundation hosted their second AI for Economic Opportunity Day in Washington, D.C., highlighting AI's potential to radically change how we solve some of the world's biggest challenges.
The event featured 15 grantees selected from the fund's second cohort, including Foundation for California Community Colleges who shared a proposal that will make it easy for California Community College Students to navigate career pathways with the power of AI.
Kavitta Ghai, CEO of Nectir, presenting for Foundation for California Community Colleges
GitLab Foundation President and CEO Ellie Bertani opened the program by welcoming attendees and thanking partners who made the day come to life including OpenAI engineers who worked directly with grantees and the Annie E. Casey Foundation and Ballmer Group who provided additional funding.
Bertani framed the day simply: Demo Day shows what’s possible with collective action. The problems grantees are working to solve — evictions, wage stagnation and access to essential government benefits — are some of the biggest in our society, and the organizations presenting represent a broad set of viable and innovative solutions.
GitLab Foundation CEO and President Ellie Bertani welcomes guests
“Gatherings like this are important because they show what is possible when we foster a spirit of collective action. That collaborative spirit is even more important given the pace of change in the world these days, the significance of the social problems facing us, and the creativity of the social entrepreneurs around us.”
Bertani also addressed the broader landscape, noting that GitLab Foundation’s vision for AI-driven economic mobility outpaces the sector’s ability to fund it. Funding was available for only 15 of the 50 to 100 high-potential concepts surfaced by the Foundation this year. She urged philanthropy to adopt the private sector's urgency in embracing risk to build momentum for the social sector so individuals are not left behind.
Caroline Whistler, Board Chair of the GitLab Foundation, reinforced Ellie’s call to action while detailing the potential of AI to directly empower grantees. Furthermore, she highlighted that integrating AI-driven tools enables the Foundation to act swiftly while remaining firmly grounded in its ROI-focused strategy.
Chan Park, OpenAI's Head of U.S. and Canada Policy and Partnerships, spoke to the partnership between builders and funders in the room saying, “This moment calls for agility — working together to build the tools communities need when they need them, not after.” He also underscored OpenAI's responsibility to deploy those tools safely, so the people using them understand both how they can help and where they carry risk.
GitLab Foundation’s Matt Zieger, Chief Programs and Partnerships Officer, then kicked off the pitches and introduced the grantees for their demonstrations. Over the course of the program, the nearly 200 Demo Day attendees heard from:
Development Innovation Lab (DIL) — Delivering AI-enhanced weather forecasts to 100 million farmers across low- and middle-income countries to enable informed, climate-responsive farming decisions.
Per Scholas — Leveraging AI to scale training capacity to reach 15,000+ immersive learners annually, transforming the lives of low- to moderate-income individuals and communities by supporting 80% of alumni in attaining careers with wages averaging 2.5X their pre-training earnings.
Community Economic Defense Project — Preventing evictions at scale by giving renters AI-powered legal guidance, with potential reach to 3.6 million households and a direct response to the 84% of cases tenants lose by default.
MIT Media Lab — Identifying 18 million at-risk workers 12–18 months before displacement and helping them maintain wages — avoiding 15–25% post-layoff losses — through proactive reskilling.
Moses/Weitzman Health System — Replacing generic job boards with scalable, AI-driven longitudinal career mapping and personalized mentorship for 500,000+ workers over five years, leading to 5-8% wage growth in year one, and sustained career advancement.
Career Path Services — Serving 6,000+ job seekers annually with AI navigation tools, targeting a 10% higher job placement rate and 20% increase in training program enrollment.
NASWA / CESER — The National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA) (via its services arm, the Center for Employment Security Education and Research, or CESER), in partnership with the New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL), connecting 15,000+ students and job seekers annually to registered apprenticeships, with completers earning an $80,000 average starting salary.
National Domestic Workers Alliance — Testing whether AI can deliver training, legal information, professional coaching, and workplace support to complement and scale organizing for 220,000 domestic workers.
Colorado Thrives — Connecting 5,000 Coloradans to in-demand, living-wage careers through an employer-led, AI-powered career marketplace, projecting 1,000 job placements across business operations, construction and emerging tech.
SkillUp Coalition — Helping 500,000 job seekers navigate careers and financial challenges with AI-powered guidance, driving a projected 20% increase in employment and 15% higher wages.
Moms First — Connecting 75,000 low-income parents to $3,000–$8,000 in annual benefits they didn't know they qualified for.
Roadtrip Nation — Guiding 3,200+ underserved learners through AI-powered career exploration, building on a pilot that showed a 17.2% increase in career confidence.
Accion — Boosting incomes for 16,000 pharmacy professionals in Kenya by 21–33% through AI-powered business intelligence and clinical training tools, with pharmacy supply chain partner, Field.
Foundation for California Community Colleges — Helping 2.1 million California community college students each year identify high-wage pathways, with $12,000–$20,000 in projected annual earnings increases for completers. Learn more at www.foundationccc.org.
U.S. Digital Response — Improving language access for Maryland residents seeking benefits from Medicaid, SNAP, WIC, and TANF and the future paid family and medical leave program.
National Domestic Workers Alliance pitched alongside 14 other members of the AI for Economic Opportunity Fund cohort
Between the first and second half of the pitches, Ellie hosted a fireside chat to reflect on the impact of these tools once they reach communities. She was joined by Alex Nawar from OpenAI's Global Affairs Staff, along with AI for Economic Opportunity Fund alumni Paige Swanstein, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Student Basic Needs Coalition and Dustin Palmer, Executive Director of U.S. Programs at GiveDirectly.
In closing, Zieger highlighted the impact 15 dedicated organizations can achieve. “AI models will continue to surprise us with their capability,” he said. “Projects like those we’ve seen today can dramatically improve the lives of millions.” GitLab Foundation is proud to support these initiatives, and invites agile, forward-thinking funders to partner with them in driving progress at the pace today’s challenges require.
Matt Zieger, Chief Programs and Partnerships Officer at GitLab Foundation, closes out Demo Day
The conversation continued after closing remarks. At a reception following the program, each grantee team hosted its own table, giving funders and attendees the chance to see the tools up close, ask questions directly and start the kinds of connections that turn a strong pitch into new partnerships with committed funders.
Read more about this cohort’s projects and ROI here and learn about GitLab Foundation’s North Star and ROI methodology here.
