{"slug": "california-state-university-system-uses-ai-as-a-money-incinerator", "title": "California State University system uses AI as a money incinerator", "summary": "The California State University (CSU) system spent $17 million to provide ChatGPT access to all students and staff, but sign-ups lagged expectations, prompting the university to commit an additional $39 million to OpenAI. This spending comes as CSU faces a $2.3 billion budget deficit and campus layoffs and cuts.", "body_md": "The cash-strapped university system spent $17 million to give everyone ChatGPT, watched sign-ups come in far more slowly than expected, and responded by committing another $39 million to it.\n\nAs its campuses struggle with layoffs, cuts, and a $2.3 billion budget deficit, the CSU system is dumping money into OpenAI. — [Read the rest ](https://boingboing.net/2026/08/24/cal-state-chatgpt-ai-millions.html)\n\nThe post [California State University system uses AI as a money incinerator](https://boingboing.net/2026/08/24/cal-state-chatgpt-ai-millions.html) appeared first on [Boing Boing](https://boingboing.net).", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/california-state-university-system-uses-ai-as-a-money-incinerator", "canonical_source": "https://boingboing.net/2026/08/24/cal-state-chatgpt-ai-millions.html", "published_at": "2026-08-24 17:13:47+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-24 17:42:43.341700+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-products", "ai-policy"], "entities": ["California State University", "OpenAI", "ChatGPT"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/california-state-university-system-uses-ai-as-a-money-incinerator", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/california-state-university-system-uses-ai-as-a-money-incinerator.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/california-state-university-system-uses-ai-as-a-money-incinerator.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/california-state-university-system-uses-ai-as-a-money-incinerator.jsonld"}}