California Briefs: Governor Urges Restriction of Cell Phoces in Schools and State Launches AI Collaboration

Governor Newsom Urges Schools to Restrict Cell Phones in the Classroom Ahead of School Year

SACRAMENTO — In a letter to California schools, Gov. Gavin Newsom Aug. 8 called on every school district to restrict smartphone use in classrooms as the new academic year begins. In his letter, the Governor applauds districts that have already implemented cell phone restrictions, like Los Angeles Unified, and reminded education leaders of the mental health, scholastic and social risks of cell phone use in classrooms. 

In 2019, Governor Newsom signed AB 272 (Muratsuchi) into law, which grants school districts the authority to regulate the use of smartphones during school hours. Building on that legislation, he is working with the California Legislature to further limit student smartphone use on campuses. In June, the Governor announced efforts to restrict the use of smartphones during the school day. 

Details: Find a copy of the letter here.

California, NVIDIA Launch AI Collaboration

SACRAMENTO — California is partnering with NVIDIA on a new initiative to collaborate on AI efforts and provide students, educators and workers with access to this technology.
The initiative, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang, aims to: Train students, educators and workers; Support job creation and promote innovation; Use AI to solve challenges that may improve the lives of Californians

Among other goals, it strives to bring new AI resources into community colleges from NVIDIA – including curriculum and certifications, hardware and software, AI labs and workshops, and more – to open pathways for students, educators and workers to learn new skills and advance their careers.

This initiative builds off of Gov. Newsom’s executive order, which called for the state to utilize AI to best serve Californians. This year, the state unveiled a state worker training program, held a GenAI summit, issued a GenAI toolkit for state procurement, launched pilot projects to explore how GenAI could help address challenges like traffic congestion and language accessibility, and more.

Harness AI to grow the economy & create jobs

• NVIDIA aims to provide technical guidance, mentorship, and access to advanced AI hardware and software resources to support cutting-edge research initiatives.
• California will explore opportunities to support early-stage AI startups and public-private partnerships to create AI innovation zones and job creation hubs.
• NVIDIA strives to explore hackathons or design sprints that showcase practical applications of AI in California.

Training for students, educators, and workers

• California and NVIDIA plan to collaborate on creating AI laboratories in higher education facilities that can be equipped to meet the evolving needs of AI education and research.
• California will fund AI worker training initiatives across educational institutions and industries and work with NVIDIA to develop faculty programs to improve AI literacy and curriculum.
• NVIDIA aims to create pipelines and learning paths for AI talent and industry-recognized certifications for AI in specific sectors, including train-the-trainer programs for faculty.
• California will adopt skills and training for state careers, including new roles for AI specialists in government.

Promote statewide innovation, real-world applications

• NVIDIA and California will support initiatives to use AI technologies to address local  challenges, including opportunities for students to work on real-world AI projects.
• NVIDIA to help enable access to cutting-edge AI hardware, software, and cloud computing resources for educational and research initiatives.

Direct collaboration with Community College system

• Integrate AI concepts into curriculum for students to learn how to use AI applications to help them get jobs in high-demand sectors.
• Organize AI workshops and bootcamps relevant to in-demand local jobs and collaborate with regional employers to build up an in-demand skilled workforce.

Identify faculty for AI ambassador programs and faculty development programs, expand AI certificate programs across colleges to meet local employer needs.

California is issuing a call to action encouraging other AI and tech stakeholders to join future partnerships to ensure California continues to be a global leader in education, innovation, research, and preparing the workforce of the future and today. California’s University of California and California State University systems will also partner with the state on these efforts in the future.