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SAN JOSE — The California State University system has teamed up with several major tech companies to launch a “landmark” quest to create an AI-powered higher education system.

San Jose State University and CSU East Bay in Hayward would be among the California state universities whose students and teachers could benefit from the artificial intelligence push.

Adobe, Google owner Alphabet, Nvidia, LinkedIn, Intel, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, IBM, OpenAI and Instructure are working with the universities to power the initiative.

“A rapidly growing creator economy and breakthrough AI technologies have increased the demand for AI literacy and creative skills across all industries,” said Brian Johnsrud, Adobe’s director of education, learning and advocacy.

The creator economy consists of people who use software to drive content directly to their customers. In California, it employed more than 800,000 people, or 4.6% of the state’s workforce, and supports nearly 875,00 local service jobs, according to Johnsrud.

“At SJSU, we are the Epicenter of the Future, already a leader in the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence,” San Jose State University President Cynthia Teniente-Matson said. “This system-wide announcement represents an exciting step forward, building on the AI work already taking place across CSU campuses.”

AI tools and training will be available to all 460,000 students and 63,000 faculty and staff across 23 universities, the California State University system said.

“All students will have access to tools like ChatGPT, ensuring they can engage with AI on their campuses and in their future careers while learning how to use them ethically,” Teniente-Matson said.

The impact would be profound, university and tech officials declared.

“This AI-powered higher education system could surpass any existing model in both scale and impact,” California State University and its tech partners said.

The university system expects to make the AI tools available within the next few weeks.

Besides state universities in San Jose and Hayward, the CSU system also has universities in San Francisco, Vallejo, Sonoma County and Monterey County.

“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,” CSU Chancellor Mildred Garcia said.

CSU will also work with OpenAI to deploy ChatGPT Edu, a version of ChatGPT offering advanced tools, security, and controls for educational institutions.

“The latest AI technologies can be used in many contexts, from academia to the workforce,” said CSU Chief Information Officer Ed Clark. “We are excited to work with industry leaders to help the CSU build on our success in an AI-driven economy.”

More than 30 of the world’s top 50 AI firms are based in California. However, more than 50% of the AI workforce in the United States is international, according to CSU officials.

“We’re thrilled to see this momentum grow, given SJSU’s leadership in building industry partnerships and collaborations with the city of San Jose,” Teniente-Matson said. “This additional support from system-wide leadership will only further fuel our spirit of innovation.”

The state university system hopes the effort will help it to develop an AI workforce for California.

“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,” Garcia said.

Plenty of jobs are at stake. A potentially huge number of these jobs don’t exist yet.

“AI and accelerated computing are pivotal to a new industrial revolution,” said Louis Stewart, Nvidia’s head of strategic initiatives. “Working with CSU, Nvidia will train faculty and students to use these advanced technologies to help unlock economic opportunities and drive innovation.”

Originally Published: February 4, 2025 at 12:55 PM PST

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Nearly 80,000 educators in dozens of school districts across the state joined forces Tuesday to launch an unprecedented campaign for better wages.

Educators in San Jose, Oakland, San Francisco, Berkeley, Hayward and West Contra Costa County joined 32 school districts across the state to demand higher wages and benefits, fully staffed schools and safe campuses in what the California Teachers Association dubbed the “We Can’t Wait Campaign.”

David Goldberg, the president of the California Teachers Association, pointed out that California ranks in the bottom half of states for pupil spending and 48th in the nation for access to school counselors, despite being the fifth largest economy in the world.

“We are facing a crisis in our public schools. There are not enough educators on our school campuses,” Goldberg said. “The resources we do have are constantly under attack and threats of cuts…So if we don’t act now on behalf of California students (and) educators in school, when will the time be right? We can’t wait any longer.”

But educators’ demands come at a precarious moment in public education. California students continue to trail their peers across the nation in reading and math, executive orders from the Trump administration are causing panic among immigrant communities and leading to drops in student attendance and districts strapped for cash are being forced to consider school closures and steep budget cuts.

Lance Christensen, president of business advocacy group California Policy Partners, who lost an election to state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, said the timing of educators’ demands for higher wages is “not only unreasonable” but also not “self-reflective.”

“When less than 40% of our kids are at grade-level proficiency in math and English language arts, it makes me wonder what the unions are trying to advocate for in terms of better benefits and salaries. I think they have it backwards,” Christensen said. “Most districts’ budgets are anywhere from 91% to 93% personnel costs, which a huge amount of those are teachers salaries and pensions and benefits.”

But the California Teachers Association argues that not only do educators in the state struggle to pay rent and make ends meet, they’re also vastly underpaid as a field.

Sylvia Allegretto, a senior economist at the nonpartisan think tank Center for Economic and Policy Research, estimates the average weekly wage for California public school teachers in 2022 was $1,844, while other college graduates received an average weekly wage of $2,847.

California teachers’ salaries are determined by experience and education level. The average salary of a public school teacher for the 2021-22 school year was $88,508 and $95,160 for the 2022-23 school year – the highest in the nation.

But Allegretto said that while teachers in California and New York are often paid more than teachers in Alabama and Mississippi, that doesn’t account for the cost of living difference in those states.

San Jose Teachers Association president Renata Sanchez said the high cost of living in the Bay Area forces many educators to work multiple jobs in order to live in the communities where they teach.

“My mom taught for 37 years. She was able to purchase a home and comfortably raise a family of five on a teacher’s salary,” Sanchez said. “I’ve been teaching for 17 years and I cannot afford rent for a single-bedroom apartment by myself without commuting for hours away each day…The educator wage gap is wider than it has ever been.”

In November, San Jose voters approved a $1.15 billion bond measure – Measure R – that will be used to upgrade school facilities and provide employee housing. Four different housing sites are estimated to provide more than 600 rental units ranging from $650 a month to $900 a month, according to the San Jose Teachers Association, well below market rate.

San Jose Unified School District did not immediately respond to this news organization’s request for comment.

The ongoing impacts of declining enrollment and the end of pandemic funding for districts across the state have also led some to wonder if schools even have the funds needed to boost educators’ salaries.

Sanchez acknowledged the concern that school districts don’t have the money to provide the resources that students need.

“We know that the problems that we’re trying to solve, we can’t solve alone at our tables, because each individual school district is doing the best that they can,” she said. “We need the state to come in and provide more support to the schools and our school districts so that they do have that adequate funding.”

Oakland Unified is one district facing intense financial strain. The district is projected to run out of cash during the 2025-26 school year without significant intervention and has said it plans to consolidate up to 10 schools.

But Kampala Taiz-Rancifer, president of the Oakland Education Association, the teachers union, said the district does have the necessary resources to keep schools open and that it’s a matter of priorities.

“For many years, a systematic disinvestment in Oakland schools has really adversely impacted the quality and therefore enrollment in Oakland schools,” Taiz-Rancifer said. “Oakland educators joined this fight because we can’t wait any longer to create the stability that we need to improve outcomes for students.”

Oakland Unified School District did not immediately respond to this news organization’s request for comment.

Originally Published: February 4, 2025 at 4:17 PM PST

MARTINEZ — Gasoline prices jumped slightly higher in the Bay Area in the wake of an explosion and fire over the weekend that knocked an East Bay refinery offline — although experts say it’s too soon to know the precise price impact.

The incident on Saturday at the Martinez Refining Co. plant in northern Contra Costa County halted operations at the refinery.

RELATED: Martinez refinery workers return to work after gas-leak explosion and fire

Gasoline prices were a bit higher on Monday compared with Sunday in California, the South Bay, East Bay and San Francisco metro areas, this news organization’s review of the GasBuddy website shows.

Here is a summary of approximate average gas prices, as reported by GasBuddy, in the wake of the refinery fire. The prices were based on average pump costs for regular unleaded gas:

— California: On Sunday, prices were about $4.39 a gallon. By Monday night, prices jumped to $4.43 a gallon. By late afternoon on Tuesday, prices rose to $4.47.

— South Bay: Prices on Sunday were $4.33 but rose to $4.38 by Monday night. Prices reached $4.41 a gallon late Tuesday.

— Oakland: Gas prices on Sunday were $4.42 but leaped to roughly $4.46 by Monday night. Late Tuesday afternoon, prices rose slightly to $4.47.

— San Francisco: Prices on Sunday were $4.53 but jumped to $4.55 by Monday night. As of late Tuesday afternoon, per-gallon prices reached $4.57.

What wasn’t immediately clear, however, was the long-term impact the Martinez refinery fire portends.

“I think there is going to be a spike in gas prices,” said Severin Borenstein, an economist and faculty director of the Energy Institute at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.

The timing of the refinery fire, however, could somewhat mitigate the impact on gasoline prices — depending on how long the refinery remains out of commission.

“This is coming at a time of relatively low demand for gasoline in California,” Borenstein said.

Yet this hopeful factor must play out in an economic landscape with some forbidding characteristics For example, the stricken East Bay refinery wields a significant role in California’s fuel market.

“The Martinez refinery accounts for about 10% of the refining capacity in California,” Borenstein said.

What’s more, California imposes strict requirements and regulations on the blends of gasoline that can be sold statewide.

“The restrictions and environmental regulations on California gasoline are much higher and stricter than what is required at the federal level,” said Doug Johnson, a spokesperson for the American Automobile Association. “California has to have cleaner fuel than what is required in other states.”

The rules have effectively transformed California into a gasoline island, according to Borenstein.

“There are more environmental regulations and taxes on California gasoline than elsewhere in the country,” Johnson said.

The restrictions also mean it could take longer than usual to replace any lost production while the refinery stays out of service.

“We can’t bring replacement fuel into California that quickly,” Borenstein said. “It takes about a month.”

Amid the murky prospects for fuel prices, the primary certainty was that the refinery was still not in full operation on Monday.

“Refinery operating units have been shut down except required utility systems,” Martinez Refining Co. stated in a post on its website.

Martinez Refinery officials also warned residents that they may continue to see indications of unusual activity at the plant.

“You may continue to see minimal smoke until further notice,” the company stated. “Flaring continues with the potential for intermittent flaring throughout the week.”

Originally Published: February 3, 2025 at 3:51 PM PST