California launched a micro-credential program in artificial intelligence literacy at San Diego State University last month.
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The first-in-the-nation effort, called AI-Ready California, will provide free online access to artificial intelligence tools and education. CSU’s AI Workforce Acceleration Board developed this initiative with SDSU, the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency, the Governor’s Innovation Council, California Community Colleges, Amazon Web Services, Instructure, and the James Irvine Foundation.
SDSU launched the pilot about a month ago with 500 participants from the San Diego Community College District and the city’s Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment program. After SDSU collects data during the pilot, AI-Ready California will open to all Californians. CSU has not yet set a date for when enrollment will be available to the public.
About 250 users have accessed the program, as of Friday, July 31, according to Leslie Kennedy, CSU’s assistant vice chancellor of academic technology services.
“We hope to continue to invite more groups for the next several weeks, giving them an opportunity to complete (it), and us an opportunity to review all of the feedback surveys and other completion data,” Ian Gibson, dean of SDSU Global Campus, said in an interview. “When we open this up more broadly in the near future, it’ll be an even better version than it is today.
CSU and its partners designed the program for beginners with little to no experience with generative AI, including working adults, job seekers and community college students. AI-Ready California teaches AI literacy, not technical expertise, Gibson said.
“We’re giving people this credible starting point,” he said, “hopefully reducing fear and confusion about these tools and helping them figure out how to use them to better their judgment.”
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The curriculum, organized as a series of modules, will teach learners what AI is and how the tools work, including its limitations and risks, such as bias, ethics and sharing sensitive information. Not only will the program focus on workplace readiness but also on how to use AI as a civic good, Gibson said, regardless of the user’s age, or educational and career background.
“This program,” Gibson said, “provides a structured learning experience that includes responsible use, content, the institutional credibility of a public university like ours, and ultimately, culminates in a micro-credential, which is something that the free AI-related content online rarely does.”
CSU’s contract with OpenAI provides students, faculty and staff with a paid, enterprise-level version that protects their data. Students can participate in hackathons to practice using AI models, and CSU offers training with platforms like OpenAI, Anthropic and Google.
In 2023, SDSU administered an AI survey, asking students what they expect from their university regarding AI education. SDSU has replicated the survey each year since then, and the rest of the CSU system adopted the survey, along with other partner institutions. Collectively, the survey has received more than 100,000 responses.
The survey drew SDSU’s attention to the digital divide among students and encouraged efforts to make AI tools more equitable. This research is likely what led to SDSU being the home campus for AI-Ready California, Gibson said.
“We want to make sure that our students have the foundational skills for the changing environment as AI is impacting it,” Kennedy said in an interview, “whether it’s responsible use of it, ethical use of it and also gaining some skills in it so that they’re prepared for future work.”
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