SAN JOSE — The California State University system has teamed up with several major tech companies to launch a “landmark” quest to create an AI-powered higher education system.
San Jose State University and CSU East Bay in Hayward would be among the California state universities whose students and teachers could benefit from the artificial intelligence push.
Adobe, Google owner Alphabet, Nvidia, LinkedIn, Intel, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, IBM, OpenAI and Instructure are working with the universities to power the initiative.
“A rapidly growing creator economy and breakthrough AI technologies have increased the demand for AI literacy and creative skills across all industries,” said Brian Johnsrud, Adobe’s director of education, learning and advocacy.
The creator economy consists of people who use software to drive content directly to their customers. In California, it employed more than 800,000 people, or 4.6% of the state’s workforce, and supports nearly 875,00 local service jobs, according to Johnsrud.
“At SJSU, we are the Epicenter of the Future, already a leader in the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence,” San Jose State University President Cynthia Teniente-Matson said. “This system-wide announcement represents an exciting step forward, building on the AI work already taking place across CSU campuses.”
AI tools and training will be available to all 460,000 students and 63,000 faculty and staff across 23 universities, the California State University system said.
“All students will have access to tools like ChatGPT, ensuring they can engage with AI on their campuses and in their future careers while learning how to use them ethically,” Teniente-Matson said.
The impact would be profound, university and tech officials declared.
“This AI-powered higher education system could surpass any existing model in both scale and impact,” California State University and its tech partners said.
The university system expects to make the AI tools available within the next few weeks.
Besides state universities in San Jose and Hayward, the CSU system also has universities in San Francisco, Vallejo, Sonoma County and Monterey County.
“We are proud to announce this innovative, highly collaborative public-private initiative that will position the CSU as a global leader among higher education systems in the impactful, responsible and equitable adoption of artificial intelligence,” CSU Chancellor Mildred Garcia said.
CSU will also work with OpenAI to deploy ChatGPT Edu, a version of ChatGPT offering advanced tools, security, and controls for educational institutions.
“The latest AI technologies can be used in many contexts, from academia to the workforce,” said CSU Chief Information Officer Ed Clark. “We are excited to work with industry leaders to help the CSU build on our success in an AI-driven economy.”
More than 30 of the world’s top 50 AI firms are based in California. However, more than 50% of the AI workforce in the United States is international, according to CSU officials.
“We’re thrilled to see this momentum grow, given SJSU’s leadership in building industry partnerships and collaborations with the city of San Jose,” Teniente-Matson said. “This additional support from system-wide leadership will only further fuel our spirit of innovation.”
The state university system hopes the effort will help it to develop an AI workforce for California.
“The comprehensive strategy will elevate our students’ educational experience across all fields of study, empower our faculty’s teaching and research, and help provide the highly educated workforce that will drive California’s future AI-driven economy,” Garcia said.
Plenty of jobs are at stake. A potentially huge number of these jobs don’t exist yet.
“AI and accelerated computing are pivotal to a new industrial revolution,” said Louis Stewart, Nvidia’s head of strategic initiatives. “Working with CSU, Nvidia will train faculty and students to use these advanced technologies to help unlock economic opportunities and drive innovation.”
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