The Conference Board Publishes Article by Camille Olson on Access and Learning in an AI-Driven, Skills-First Workforce

The Conference Board featured an article by Labor & Employment partner Camille Olson, “Access and Learning in an AI and Skills‑First World.” The piece, published on March 18, 2026 and co-authored with TCB's Allan Schweyer, examines how the federal government’s evolving AI and talent framework is reshaping workforce development, hiring practices, and employer accountability.

The article explores the administration’s shift toward skills‑first hiring, expanded apprenticeships, and AI literacy as core workforce priorities, while emphasizing the growing role of employers as co‑architects of talent pipelines. Olson highlights the opportunities, and risks, of moving away from credential‑based systems, underscoring the importance of rigorous, fair assessment tools and measurable outcomes to ensure access and equity are meaningfully advanced.

Olson notes:

“Skills‑based hiring only advances opportunity and access if assessment methods themselves are fair. Without a close review and analysis of assessment tools, skills-based hiring may simply relocate bias from the credential screening stage to the assessment stage."

The full article is available here.