State universities launch “landmark” AI quest for students and profs

SAN JOSE — The California State University system has teamed up with several tech titans to launch a “landmark” quest tocreate 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 the tech companies that are working with the state universities to power the initiative.

AI tools and training will be available to all 460,000 students and 63,000 faculty and staff, the California State University system 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 availability of the AI tools is expected to be widespread.

“The CSU’s unprecedented adoption of AI technologies will make trainings, learning, and teaching tools, including ChatGPT, available across all 23 CSU universities,” the school system stated.

The university system expects to make the AI tools available within the next few weeks.

Besides the 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 Mildren 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.

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,” CSU Chancellor Garcia said.