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As competition with China intensifies, the US government is turning to the Peace Corps, the linchpin of US soft power and diplomacy, to expand its global influence in artificial intelligence.
The White House on Friday announced a “Tech Corps” initiative within the Peace Corps aimed at advancing U.S. AI abroad and helping partner nations deploy cutting-edge systems.
The Peace Corps is an independent U.S. government agency that sends American volunteers overseas to support community development projects such as education, health, agriculture, and economic growth.
The new Tech Corps will be structured similarly, but will recruit, train and deploy volunteers with technical skills, including engineers and graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, to provide “last mile” support for the implementation of U.S. AI solutions overseas, particularly at the application layer.
The Tech Corps website has been opened and is accepting applications, and applications will be accepted on a rolling basis.
The Peace Corps said in an announcement that the AI solutions the new group will deploy will be directed at “real-world, grassroots problems” in key areas such as agriculture, education, health and economic development.
The volunteers will be sent to countries participating in the U.S. AI Export Program, announced in July under a Trump administration executive order aimed at maintaining America’s lead in advanced technology worldwide.
This executive order is consistent with broader U.S. efforts to counter the influence of Chinese technology globally, including in developing countries.
Chinese companies are gaining traction in some developing countries by offering open-source or open-weight models such as Qwen3 and Deepseek that are inexpensive, highly customizable, and run on local infrastructure.
AI sovereignty
The complete list of countries participating in the AI export program remains unclear, but India is expected to be included, and the Commerce Department welcomed India’s participation last week.
The statement was issued ahead of the 1st India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi, where White House Director of Science and Technology Policy Michael Kratsios announced Tech Corps for the first time.
India is also a core member of the US-led Pax Silica Initiative, a Trump administration initiative aimed at securing global supply chains for silicon-based technologies, along with Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, Israel, the UK, Australia, Qatar and the UAE.
At the summit, Kratsios argued that expanding access to U.S. AI technology is central to closing the gap in global AI adoption between developed and developing countries. “True AI sovereignty means owning and using best-in-class technology for the benefit of our people,” he said.
AI sovereignty, which was a key topic of discussion at India’s AI conference, refers to a country’s ability to develop, control and govern artificial intelligence systems within its own legal, economic and strategic framework.
At the summit, a number of American technology companies announced major investments in India’s AI infrastructure, building on billions of dollars announced last year, in line with Tech Corps goals.
“AI is the future, and as the undisputed world leader in AI technology, the United States will be at the forefront of delivering these benefits through the Corps of Engineers,” said Peace Corps Acting Director Richard E. Swartz.
Volunteers in the Corps of Engineers will serve 12 to 27 months overseas or participate in virtual service activities, with ground deployment expected to begin in fall 2026. Similar to the Peace Corps, volunteers receive housing, medical care, a living allowance, and a service award upon completion.
In addition to Tech Corps, the White House also announced other initiatives during the India AI Summit, including the National Champions Initiative to integrate large foreign AI companies into a customized U.S. AI export stack.
The White House said it “recognizes that our partners need opportunities to build their own technology industries and believes facilitating this will be an important part of our export program.”
It also announced new initiatives to help partner countries “overcome financing barriers to importing U.S. AI stacks” through other soft power institutions such as the World Bank and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation.
