In conclusion
In an attempt to equip Californian students for a changing industry, Google, Microsoft, Adobe, and IBM will provide AI-related resources to the state’s colleges and institutions.
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Universities and community colleges in California are providing students with a glimpse of hope as entry-level occupations are being replaced by artificial intelligence: free AI training that will teach them how to become proficient in the new technology.
During a news conference Thursday from the seventh floor of Google’s San Francisco building, Governor Gavin Newsom stated, “You’re seeing in certain coding spaces significant declines in hiring for obvious reasons.”
He brought attention to the recent layoffs at Microsoft, Alphabet, the parent company of Google, and Salesforce Tower, which is home to the tech giant that remains the largest private employer in the city, while flanked by representatives from California’s higher education systems.
Some of those businesses, including Google and Microsoft, will now provide Californian colleges and universities with a free suite of AI services. The businesses might be able to reach millions of new users in exchange.
Shortly before education officials and tech executives signed deals on artificial intelligence, Newsom stated that the state’s community colleges and its California State University campuses are the foundation of our workforce and economic development.
The new agreements are the most recent in a flurry that started in November 2022 when OpenAI made its free AI tool ChatGPT available to the public, prompting educational institutions to adjust.
An AI chatbot was introduced by the Los Angeles Unified School District last year, but it was canceled three months later without providing an explanation. According to CalMatters, teachers at San Diego Unified began utilizing AI software that recommended grades for kids. A few members of the district’s board were ignorant that the software had been purchased by the district.
The company that manages Canvas, a learning management system that is widely used in Californian colleges and universities, announced last month that it would incorporate interactive discussions in an environment similar to ChatGPT into its software.
Many K–12 and college districts are utilizing a new plagiarism detection tool from the software company Turnitin to tackle any AI-related cheating, but a CalMatters investigation revealed that the program accused kids who completed actual work instead.
Mixed signals?
According to Stephanie Goldman, president of the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges, these agreements are delivering conflicting messages. AI detection software was already costing districts a lot of money. When it’s integrated into the software they’re using, what do you do?
The community college system’s senior adviser, Don Daves-Rougeaux, acknowledged the possible contradiction but explained that it’s a part of a larger attempt to stay up with the quick advances in artificial intelligence. According to him, Turnitin and all other AI technologies will be regularly reassessed by the community college system.
Despite receiving the least amount of state financing per student, California’s community college system is in charge of providing the majority of the state’s job training.
We are frequently viewed as a smaller system during these discussions, Daves-Rougeaux remarked. Together, the 116 community colleges in the state instruct almost 2.1 million students.
The community college system will collaborate with Google, Microsoft, Adobe, and IBM to provide more AI training for educators as part of the agreements revealed Thursday. According to Daves-Rougeaux, the system has also inked agreements that will let students utilize Google’s AI research tool, Notebook LLM, and its unique versions of Gemini, ChatGPT’s competitor. Although he was unable to give a precise amount, Daves-Rougeaux said that these technologies will save community colleges hundreds of millions of dollars.
Faculty are in a difficult position, Goldman added. Although AI is extremely essential, the question of how to use it in the classroom without letting students use it as a crutch—who are still developing their critical thinking skills—keeps coming up.
She stated that one worry is that teachers might no longer have control over the use of AI in the classroom.
Cal State University and the K–12 system are negotiating their own technology agreements. According to Cal State system spokesperson Amy Bentley-Smith, the university is collaborating on its own AI initiatives with companies including Google, Microsoft, Adobe, and IBM, as well as Amazon Web Services, Intel, LinkedIn, Open AI, and others.
The agreement with Adobe, according to Angela Musallam, a spokesman for the state government operations agency, includes California high schools and intends to advance AI literacy—the notion that teachers and students should possess the fundamental knowledge necessary to recognize and utilize artificial intelligence.
According to Musallam, any agreement would require approval from each K–12 district, much like the community college system, which is run by local districts.
Will deals make a difference to students, teachers?
According to experts, it is too soon to predict the true effectiveness of AI training.
An like frenzy occurred 20 years earlier when educators attempted to teach computer literacy, according to Justin Reich, an associate professor at MIT. We don’t know how to apply AI literacy or how to teach with it. Reich added, “And we probably won’t for many years.”
Although the tech businesses gain from the state’s new agreements with Google, Microsoft, Adobe, and IBM, he claimed that the lessons learned aren’t tried-and-true.
“Tech companies claim that these tools can save teachers time, but they have a very poor track record,” Reich added. Right now, you can’t expect schools to do more. They have reached their maximum.
Erin Mote, CEO of InnovateEDU, a nonprofit organization dedicated to education, stated that while she agrees that state and education authorities should critically examine the effectiveness of the tools provided by digital companies, schools still have a responsibility to take action.
Many rungs on the job ladder are going extinct, she acknowledged. Waiting and pausing is the biggest error we educators can make.
The California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office and NVIDIA, a technological infrastructure business, inked a deal last year to provide AI training that is comparable to the courses that Google, Microsoft, Adobe, and IBM will offer.
The state won’t release data regarding the success of the NVIDIA program since the cohort of participating instructors is currently too small, said to Melissa Villarin, a spokesman for the chancellor’s office.
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