The State of California today announced its first-ever AI education initiative in collaboration with NVIDIA.
This public-private partnership will support the state’s workforce training and economic development goals by providing California universities, community colleges, and adult education programs with resources to build skills in generative AI.
“AI will continue to evolve and become more important across all sectors, and California has a responsibility to support and prepare our students and teachers,” said California Department of Government Operations Secretary Amy Tong. “As the global leader in AI computing, NVIDIA is a natural partner in preparing California’s workforce for the future.”
Collaboration with California universities
This initiative enables California educators to earn certification through the NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute University Ambassador Program, which provides instructors with high-quality teaching kits, workshop content and NVIDIA GPU-accelerated workstations in the cloud.
“It’s always good to educate professors and teachers because, as mentors to young people, they are in the best position to help shape students’ career paths,” Tong said.
The initiative will equip educators across the state with the latest AI technologies and NVIDIA GPUs to prepare full-time students for the workforce and train working professionals who are expanding their skills through community college and adult education courses.
“We want to train the workforce of the future and also inspire students and adults who are out of the workforce about future opportunities,” said California Workforce Development Secretary Stewart Knox.
State agencies are also looking at ways to give students hands-on experience in AI skills through internships and apprenticeship programs.
Stepping up efforts to close the digital divide
NVIDIA is already working on multiple projects across California to make AI more accessible to students from diverse backgrounds. The company’s education initiatives and cross-industry collaborations are helping students and professionals in fields like biotechnology and life sciences, advanced manufacturing, and media and entertainment develop the skills to use AI to support their jobs, increase productivity and drive innovation.
San Jose State University is evaluating whether the NVIDIA Omniverse development platform can support the creation of a digital twin — a 3D virtual representation of real-world systems — for the city of San Jose. During the university’s annual Black Engineer Week in June, NVIDIA hosted dozens of students for a day-long program of tech demos and career advice discussions.
NVIDIA is launching several workforce, climate and community-based projects in collaboration with the University of California and schools in the California State University system, including one to train students on underwater data center technology and another in collaboration with California Black Media to train large-scale language models on nearly a century of journalism by Black journalists in the state.
The NVIDIA GTC AI conference in San Jose earlier this year featured several sessions exploring how educators can integrate generative AI and NVIDIA technology into their curricula, as well as a panel discussion on the need for equitable access to AI education and resources.
Learn more about NVIDIA’s AI education resources.
