The California state Senate approved a bill last week that would prevent community colleges from replacing instructors with artificial intelligence.
If signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, Assembly Bill 2370 will specifically amend the Education Code to require that the instructor of record for a community college course be a human who meets minimum qualifications for the position. It would go into effect Jan. 1.
In a news release this week, the bill’s sponsor, Assemblymember Sabrina Cervantes, D-Riverside, said she worked with the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges (FACCC) in drafting the legislation.
“While there is room for artificial intelligence to contribute to community college classrooms, human faculty remain best suited to teach our students,” she said in a public statement. “Assembly Bill 2370 will help provide guardrails on the integration of AI in classrooms while ensuring that community college students are taught by human faculty.”
Endorsing the bill in a public statement, FACCC President Wendy Brill-Wynkoop said it provides “reasonable safeguards” to prevent colleges from displacing faculty.
The news release said language in the bill would not preclude instructors from using AI for specific tasks such as grading, tutoring or creating educational materials.
California’s AB 2370 is not the first reaction to that possibility in the U.S. In March, for example, striking graduate student workers at Boston University expressed outrage on social media after a dean sent an email to faculty mentioning AI as a possible tool for coping with staffing shortages during the strike. The student union posted on X, formerly called Twitter, accusing the university of “suggesting that professors use AI to scab for graduate workers.” A university spokesman firmly denied that characterization.
This article first appeared in Government Technology, sister publication to Industry Insider — California.
