More than a year after the California State University system spent $17 million to give all students, faculty and staff access to ChatGPT Edu in the name of workforce readiness, thousands don’t want the system to renew its contract with OpenAI. While they’re skeptical of the product’s ability to enhance teaching and learning and worried about its potential to worsen working conditions and student mental health, the CSU system’s ongoing financial troubles are driving the pushback. In January, faculty wrote a petition asking Chancellor Mildred García not to renew the CSU’s contract with OpenAI, which expires June 30, and instead “use the savings to protect jobs at CSU campuses facing layoffs.”
