Show Notes

• Episode Title: Did California Spend Nearly $17 Million on Confusion?
• Release date: July 24, 2026
• Hosts: Devin Silvia, Danny Caballero

Quick Summary

In this episode, Devin guides Danny through Linda Kinstler’s New York Times Magazine article on the California State University system’s $16.9 million AI deal with OpenAI. They explore how AI is being used as a “solution” in the middle of a budget crisis, what that means for faculty labor and governance, and how it sharpens the question of what public education is for in an AI age.

Resources Mentioned or Related

• New York Times Magazine (June 1, 2026): “California’s Public Universities Went All in on A.I. Now They’re Tearing Themselves Apart” by Linda Kinstler https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/01/magazine/ai-university-college-california.html
• Cal State Spent $16.9M on AI During a Faculty Layoff Crisis – AI Weekly https://aiweekly.co/alerts/cal-state-spent-169m-on-ai-during-a-faculty-layoff-crisis
• California University Chaos Caused by AI – The Patriot Post https://patriotpost.us/articles/128104-california-university-chaos-caused-by-ai-2026-06-05
• California Universities’ $16.9M AI Experiment Raises … – LinkedIn post https://www.linkedin.com/posts/johnbrondum_a-university-system-went-all-in-on-ai-now-activity-7467470936087130112-mKpM
• ASU and OpenAI expand collaboration, scaling AI to advance … – ASU Enterprise Technology https://tech.asu.edu/features/asu-and-openai-expand-collaboration-scaling-ai
• OpenAI, Arizona State University partner to expand AI in academia – Reuters https://www.reuters.com/technology/openai-arizona-state-university-partner-expand-ai-academia-2024-01-18
• Introducing ChatGPT Edu – OpenAI https://openai.com/index/introducing-chatgpt-edu

Recorded: July 17, 2026