The UC launched a new initiative in July that encourages staff to learn more about how to use artificial intelligence tools.
The AI Buddy Program pairs UC Office of the President staff at differing levels of AI expertise to meet once or twice a week and learn from each other. The program sign-up form allows participants to select any AI tool they are interested in learning, such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini.
However, UCLA professors said they are concerned about the UC’s use of AI, including its impacts on teaching and learning, privacy and data protection. The University advised staff on its website to speak to their supervisors before participating in the program.
Tobias Higbie, the chair of external relations for the Council of UC Faculty Associations, said he believes the UC should be cautious when implementing AI tools because they can risk students’ data security.
“When you input information into most of these models, the companies use that information for further training,” said Higbie, a professor of history and labor studies. “The licenses that campuses have may limit some of that, and we don’t really have access to all of those licenses.”
The AI Buddy program is voluntary and aims to facilitate collaborative learning among University staff, a UC Office of the President spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
UCLA currently has licenses with OpenAI, Gemini, Copilot and NotebookLM – the latter three of which are offered to students and staff members for free, according to UCLA’s Digital and Technology Solutions website.
Higbie urged the UC to publicize its contracts with AI tools.
“We don’t really understand how much they’re paying for their licenses,” he said. “But every time they use it, it costs money.”
Hal Hershfield – a professor of marketing, behavioral decision-making and psychology at the UCLA Anderson School of Management – said while the new program encourages AI dependency, its specific impacts are uncertain.
“Whether that will have negative ramifications is harder to say,” Hershfield said. “Are we dependent on calculators now to do math? Yes. Is that a problem? I don’t know.”
Higbie said he believes the UC should hire more faculty and staff instead of spending money on AI.
“The AI buddy system really looks like a push to replace work and workers by using AI chatbots. … But the university does not seem to be aware of that,” he said.