California colleges strengthen ties with Big Tech over AI offerings. Here's what schools get

California leaders announced Thursday new partnerships between tech industry giants and the state’s public higher education system, high schools and middle schools.

At Google's San Francisco headquarters, a slew of companies that include Adobe, Amazon Web Services, IBM, Google and Microsoft said they will make their products available, at “no cost to the state,” according to the governor’s office.

Why the deal?

To succeed in the workforce, it’s essential for students to become “AI-fluent,” said California Community Colleges Chancellor Sonya Christian.

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Gov. Gavin Newsom noted that even careers that were recently very lucrative, like software engineering, have rapidly transformed, in part because AI can do the work that recent grads were traditionally hired to take on.

"The world we invented is now competing against us,” he said, “and we've got to step up our game.”

It’s unclear if data supplied by users will be used to train the companies’ products. LAist has reached out to Newsom’s office for comment.

What are some of the services that will be available? 

• Google will provide AI courses for those who teach eighth through 12th grade. According to Matthew Schneider, Google Public Sector’s managing director of education, state and local government, this will enable them to personalize their instruction and create “more dynamic” lesson plans. 
• Moving forward, the state’s community colleges will give credits to students who earn Google certificates. 
• The CSU, which announced an AI initiative involving several tech industry leaders earlier this year, is now working on a portal that will connect students across the state with hands-on internship opportunities at those companies.