The University of Hawaii has partnered with Google to offer students and faculty across all 10 campuses free access to an online training course in artificial intelligence, Google’s “AI Essentials,” which also certifies anyone who completes it.
The “AI Essentials” course, part of the Google Career Certificate program, was first offered by UH in February. It takes about five hours to complete and teaches efficient and responsible use of AI. The online course allows people to work at their own pace using their UH username and password.
According to a news release, the Google Career Certificate program offers a foot in the door to employment with over 150 companies that consider Google Career Certificate graduates for roles related to their certifications.
“This is a valuable opportunity for our community to develop in-demand AI skills and stay ahead in today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape,” UH President Wendy Hensel said in a news release announcing the program.
Hawaii Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke said that learning about AI goes beyond keeping up with new technology.
“It’s about giving young Hawaii residents the competitive edge they need to thrive in today’s economy,” Luke said in the release.
More than 350,000 people across the country have received certifications through the Google Career Certificate program. Over 70% of those who complete a Google course report positive career outcomes including a new job, promotion or raise within six months of certificate completion, according to the release.
“Google is committed to helping students throughout Hawaii prepare for some of today’s most in-demand jobs,” Lisa Gevelber, the founder of Grow with Google, said in the release.
UH Manoa communications professor Jenifer Sunrise Winter took the course right away “because I was curious,” she told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
As someone who specializes in internet ethics and policy related to personal data and AI use,Winter said she wanted to get a firsthand look at the Google course. After completing “AI Essentials,” Winter believes a more detailed lesson on AI ethics is needed to caution users about sharing personal information when using AI.
“My research looks at the ways that we leak personal data through our everyday activities,” she said. “It’s very easy to be seduced by it and not realize that there could be consequences if people aren’t careful with how they interact with generative AI.”
Winter said she found the course to be generally informative on how to use AI for things like spreadsheets and increasing work productivity, so she wouldn’t discourage others from taking the course.
“I don’t think it’s wrong that the university offered the course,” she said. “People will need to know these things. I just wish there was a more widespread critical discussion.”
Garret Yoshimi, UH’s vice president for information technology and chief information officer, was one of the first to test the course before it became available to students, staff and faculty. He said UH partnering with Google will give students the chance to learn more about how AI can be used as a tool in their education and future careers.
“The opportunity to put AI essentials in front of all of our community was something really good for us to launch,” he said.“We’re still early in the process, but I think we’ve seen some really good adoption of the basic training. It’s helping to advance our project work across the board.”
Yoshimi supports Winter’s call for more conversation around protecting personal information and ethical use of AI.
“I totally agree with Jenifer that we need to continue that broad education process to make sure people are aware of not just the benefits, but the things we should be cautious about,” he said, noting the course does offer a few sections focusing on privacy and security.
To promote AI ethics awareness, Yoshimi said UH officials are reviewing a policy for how to responsibly use AI.
As AI becomes more integrated into everyday life — with tools like Google’s Gemini offering text suggestions and summaries through browser extensions — concerns are growing about the environmental impact of its high energy consumption.
Dana Alden, the William R. Johnson Jr. Distinguished Professor in the marketing department at the UH Shidler College of Business, understands concerns about AI’s environmental costs.
“The ‘dirty energy’ sources used to power AI are very impactful,” he said. “I think it’s very important that we go about using renewable energy sources as quickly as possible, using solar and wind-generated energy to electrify AI.”
When he’s not teaching, Alden works as editor-in- chief of the Journal of Sustainable Marketing and thinks AI could assist in climate research.
“It also has the potential to help us tremendously in terms of managing climate change,” Alden said. “A lot of scientists are using it now to map and track changes in phenomena, such as the Gulf Stream, due to things like global warming.”
Alden also is aware of the potential for plagiarism when AI is used to generate reports and other information.
“If we can learn more about it we’ll be able to better understand where to draw the line between using it as a resource and plagiarism,” he said.
While he hasn’t taken Google’s “AI Essentials” course himself, Alden thinks it’s a good opportunity for learning.
“Kudos to UH for offering free training,” he said. “I’m nothing but supportive.”
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Free AI training
University of Hawaii staff, faculty and students can take the free Google “AI Essentials” course by accessing the UH Google AI Essentials registration page Opens in a new tab at hawaii.edu/its/coursera/ Opens in a new tab and follow enrollment instructions.
