{"id":209254,"date":"2026-03-07T17:40:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T17:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/209254\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T17:40:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T17:40:14","slug":"san-jose-sjsu-collaborate-on-new-ai-center-for-civic-good-the-mercury-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/209254\/","title":{"rendered":"San Jose, SJSU collaborate on new AI Center for Civic Good \u2013 The Mercury News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Artificial intelligence is all around us \u2014 and it\u2019s not going away, especially here in Silicon Valley. But a lot of people don\u2019t know what AI tools are out there, how they can be used and how they will be shaping our lives in the future.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where the AI Center for Civic Good comes in. The new center at the downtown Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library is a collaboration between the city of San Jose and San Jose State University, along with a grant from Adobe, to bring more AI literacy to the city\u2019s residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the beginning, our goal was clear: Create a space where innovation meets accessibility, supporting the public good,\u201d City Manager Jennifer Maguire said. \u201cThrough thoughtful planning, collaborating and strong partnership, we develop a center that offers hands-on training, AI literacy programs and opportunities for both San Jose State University students and residents to build practical skills.\u201d<\/p>\n

The grand opening Tuesday of the center on the library\u2019s ground floor was a showcase of AI tools and demonstrations from San Jose State students, city departments and partners like LEGO Education, with fun stuff like robots on display.<\/p>\n

\"Officials<\/p>\n

Officials from the city of San Jose and San Jose State University cut the ribbon on the AI Center for Civic Good at the MLK library in downtown San Jose on Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (Sal Pizarro\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"Next-gen<\/p>\n

Next-gen robots were among the displays at the grand opening of the AI Center for Civic Good at the downtown Dr. Martin Luther King Library in San Jose on Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (Sal Pizarro\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

San Jose State Professor Melinda Jackson learns about an AI-based bias detection tool from Sharesly Rodriguez, left, and Nick Szydlowski at the AI Center for Civic Good at the MLK library in downtown San Jose on Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (Sal Pizarro\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

San Jose State President Cynthia Teniente-Matson, left, and SJSU Library Dean Michael Meth listen to a presentation at the AI Center for Civic Good at the MLK library in downtown San Jose on Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (Sal Pizarro\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

San Jose State Library Dean Michael Meth talks about some of the features at the new AI Center for Civic Good at the MLK library in downtown San Jose on Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (Sal Pizarro\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 5<\/p>\n

Officials from the city of San Jose and San Jose State University cut the ribbon on the AI Center for Civic Good at the MLK library in downtown San Jose on Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (Sal Pizarro\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

There will be special programs in the coming weeks including one on women who are leading the way in AI in Silicon Valley on March 23 and one aimed at seniors in May, with companies like Anthropic, Open AI and Google providing training in person and online.<\/p>\n

The AI Center will be available for open lab work during the week beginning April 6, and all you need to use it is a SJSU Tower Card or a San Jose Library card.<\/p>\n

Michael Meth, dean of the SJSU King Library, said the AI Center is a great example of the power of the city and the university\u2019s library partnership, though he wishes we could come up with a better \u201ca\u201d for \u201cAI,\u201d like \u201caugmenting\u201d or \u201cassisting\u201d to be more accurate for how people can work with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough our collaboration the library is leading the way in providing the SJSU community and the entire city of San Jos\u00e9 access to state-of-the-art AI tools and resources,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

You can get more information on the AI Center for Civic Good, as well as check for schedule updates, at www.sjlibrary.org\/AIcenter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

FIGHTING WORDS: If you\u2019re a fan of opera or ballet, you might be less of a fan of \u201cMarty Supreme\u201d star Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet after he took a swipe at the two performance art forms.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to be working in ballet or opera where it\u2019s like, \u2018Hey, keep this thing alive, even though no one cares about this anymore,\u2019 \u201d Chalamet said in a recent interview with fellow actor Matthew McConaughey.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, Opera San Jose fans don\u2019t seem to agree. Opera San Jose General Director and CEO Shawna Lucey said audiences turned out in big numbers for the company\u2019s recent doubleheader production of \u201cCavalleria Rusticana\u201d and \u201cPagliacci.\u201d And supporters gave big at \u201cLa Dolce Vita,\u201d Opera San Jose\u2019s Feb. 21 gala honoring the 10th anniversary season of Maestro Joseph Marcheso.<\/p>\n

The gala, which was held at the California Theatre in downtown San Jose, brought in more than $300,000 to support the opera\u2019s programs. There were plenty of performances at the event, as well as a moving speech by Marcheso, but it was tough to top celebrated composer and conductor Alma Deutscher. The young musical genius requested four notes from the audience and spent just a minute crafting an intricate fugue on the spot using those four notes as a theme.<\/p>\n

Maybe the title should be \u201cRequiem for Chalamet.\u201d<\/p>\n

ACT ONE, BEER THREE: Silicon Valley Shakespeare is bringing its latest Shakesbeerience production to a new venue, Narrative Fermentations in San Jose, on Friday. Just in time for the ides of March, the play is Shakespeare\u2019s \u201cJulius Caesar,\u201d and if you\u2019ve been to one before you know it\u2019s an abridged staged reading with a lot of fun extras. And there should be plenty of beer available at Narrative\u2019s brewhouse at 101 E. Alma Ave.<\/p>\n

The beer will cost money but admission is free, and the festivities start at 6:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

COMING UP AT THE TRITON: The deadline is fast approaching for submissions to \u201cSalon at the Triton,\u201d the Triton Museum of Art\u2019s annual 2D art competition and exhibition.<\/p>\n

Artists need to submit their entries by March 13 in five categories: painting, drawing, printmaking, photography and mixed media. Submission rules are available at www.tritonmuseum.org\/salon-2026<\/a>, though it\u2019s worth noting that the Best in Show gets a solo exhibition at the Santa Clara museum.<\/p>\n

The Salon exhibition is set to open May 2, which \u2014 by no coincidence \u2014 is the same day as the Triton\u2019s big fundraiser, \u201cDestination Santa Clara, a Gala Voyage.\u201d You can get more information about the evening, which will include international cuisine and cross-cultural entertainment, at www.tritonmuseum.org\/gala<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Artificial intelligence is all around us \u2014 and it\u2019s not going away, especially here in Silicon Valley. But…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209255,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[417,2080,184,7,4978,181,23,419,88,90,89,6345,198,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-209254","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-around-town","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-bay-area","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-downtown-san-jose","13":"tag-latest-headlines","14":"tag-local-news","15":"tag-news-columnists","16":"tag-san-jose","17":"tag-san-jose-headlines","18":"tag-san-jose-news","19":"tag-san-jose-state-university","20":"tag-santa-clara-county","21":"tag-south-bay"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}