LONG BEACH, CA (February 4, 2025) Today, the California State University (CSU), the largest and most diverse public four-year university in the country, announced a first-of-its-kind public-private initiative with some of the world’s leading tech companies, including Adobe, Alphabet (Google), AWS, IBM, Instructure, Intel, LinkedIn, Microsoft, NVIDIA, OpenAI, and the Office of California Governor Gavin Newsom that will leverage the power of artificial intelligence to create an AI-powered higher education system that could surpass any existing model in both scale and impact.
The CSU’s unprecedented adoption of AI technologies will make trainings, learning, and teaching tools—including ChatGPT—available across all 23 CSU universities, ensuring that the system’s more than 460,000 students and 63,000 faculty and staff have equitable access to cutting-edge tools that will prepare them to meet the rapidly changing education and workforce needs of California. The CSU expects to make these tools available within the next few weeks.
“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,” said CSU Chancellor Mildred García. “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.”
The CSU’s contribution to California’s workforce and economy underscores its vital role in shaping the state’s future as the CSU awards nearly half of the state’s bachelor’s degrees, and helps create more than 209,000 jobs annually, and one in 10 employees in California is a CSU alum. But while over 30 of the top 50 AI firms in the world are based in California, over 50% of the AI workforce in the United States is international. The CSU is taking a bold step to develop the AI workforce for California.
At the heart of this groundbreaking effort is the AI Workforce Acceleration Board, a collaboration with nearly a dozen of the world’s leading tech companies and Governor Newsom’s Office that will identify and advocate for AI skills needed in California’s workforce and its economy. The advisory board will also include CSU representatives who will collectively work to foster innovation and drive interdisciplinary practical applications of AI by organizing a series of AI challenges. These events will be guided by the advisory board and encourage CSU students and faculty to work together on pressing issues such as climate change and housing affordability, leveraging AI technologies to create impactful solutions. The CSU expects to add more tech companies to the advisory board in the coming months.
The CSU will also work with OpenAI to deploy ChatGPT Edu, a version of ChatGPT offering advanced tools, security, and controls for educational institutions. This effort ensures that all 23 campuses within the nation’s largest public four-year university system—from Cal Poly Humboldt in Northern California to San Diego State University in the south—will have equitable access to ChatGPT, enabling students, faculty, and staff to use AI to accelerate learning, optimize workflow efficiency, and foster cross-departmental collaboration.
“The latest AI technologies can be used in many contexts, from academia to the workforce and we are excited to work with industry leaders to help the CSU build on our success in an AI-driven economy,” said Ed Clark, CSU’s Chief Information Officer. “At the CSU, we have two imperatives: to equip our students with the skills to leverage these powerful tools, and to transform our own institutional practices through AI to better serve the largest public university system in the nation.
Key CSU AI Strategies:
