Alvin Lang
Aug 09, 2024 15:42
California announces an AI education initiative with NVIDIA, aimed at equipping universities and community colleges with generative AI skills.
The State of California has unveiled a groundbreaking AI education initiative in collaboration with NVIDIA, a global leader in AI computing. This public-private partnership aims to provide universities, community colleges, and adult education programs with the necessary resources to develop skills in generative AI, according to the NVIDIA Blog.
Working With California Colleges and Universities
As part of this initiative, California educators will have the opportunity to gain certification through the NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute University Ambassador Program. This program connects instructors with high-quality teaching kits, workshop content, and NVIDIA GPU-accelerated workstations in the cloud.
“AI will continue to become more advanced and more prominent in all sectors, and California has the responsibility to support and prepare our students and faculties,” said Amy Tong, secretary of the California Government Operations Agency. “As a world leader in AI computing, NVIDIA is a natural partner to prepare the future of California’s workforce.”
By empowering educators with the skills to harness the latest AI technologies and NVIDIA GPUs, the initiative aims to prepare full-time students entering the workforce, as well as train working professionals expanding their skills through community college or adult education courses.
“We want to train a workforce of the future, and also excite students and adults who are out of the workforce about opportunities for the future,” said Stewart Knox, secretary of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency.
State agencies are also exploring how internship and apprenticeship programs can offer students hands-on experience with AI skills.
Bolstering Efforts to Bridge the Digital Divide
NVIDIA is already engaged in multiple projects across California to make AI more accessible and understandable for students from diverse backgrounds. The company’s educational initiatives and industry-spanning collaborations are helping students and professionals in fields such as biotechnology, advanced manufacturing, media, and entertainment to gain proficiency in AI, enhancing their productivity and driving innovation.
San José State University is evaluating how the NVIDIA Omniverse development platform could support the creation of digital twins—3D virtual representations of real-world systems—for the city of San José. During the university’s annual Black Engineer Week in June, NVIDIA hosted dozens of students for a daylong program featuring tech demos and career advice discussions.
NVIDIA is also embarking on several workforce, climate, and community-based projects with schools in the University of California and California State University systems. One project plans to train students on underwater data center technology, while another is working with California Black Media to train a large language model on nearly a century of journalism by Black journalists in the state.
The NVIDIA GTC AI conference, held earlier this year in San José, featured several sessions for educators to explore how to integrate generative AI and NVIDIA technologies into their curricula. The conference also included a panel discussion about the need for equitable access to AI education and resources.
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