A proposed resolution would see the ASUC enact measures to reduce and restrict spending on generative AI and LLM products and services. Pending approval from the Finance Committee, the resolution could be sent to the ASUC Senate floor for a vote next Wednesday.<\/p>\n
This is not the first time the ASUC has proposed a resolution that opposes AI usage. During the 2025-26 academic year, it passed Senate Resolution 25\/26-127, which restricted AI usage and condemned OpenAI, citing ethical concerns over the company\u2019s environmental impact and its work with the U.S. Department of Defense.<\/p>\n
With primary sponsorship from ASUC Eco-Senator Maddie Chesebro, the proposed resolution expresses similar concerns as AI companies are \u201cintegrating into UC Berkeley student life,\u201d according to the resolution document.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs data centers begin popping up across the nation, leading to widespread climate disaster and extended harm on marginalized communities, it is pertinent that UC Berkeley students unite and speak up against the harmful impacts that AI has already begun to have on our communities and climate,\u201d said Chesebro in an email.<\/p>\n
An early iteration of the resolution intended to cut ASUC funding to AI-focused registered student organizations, or RSOs. The resolution defined these RSOs as student groups whose primary focus is to promote AI usage, or who have been compensated by AI and LLM companies for completing contracted work.<\/p>\n
The draft resolution named various groups who have worked with AI companies, such as Generative AI at Berkeley and AI Entrepreneurs at Berkeley.<\/p>\n
The resolution claims these groups display \u201cfinancial security\u201d and that reducing financial support from ASUC would not hinder their professional development opportunities. The resolution recognised the presence of other university institutions that financially support AI-focused RSOs, such as Berkeley SkyDeck and the Berkeley Career Engagement Center.<\/p>\n
However, this first version of the resolution was revised in a Governance and Internal Affairs Committee meeting Monday evening after it was found to violate systemwide UC policy that prevents student governments from taking away funds from RSOs based on their viewpoints.<\/p>\n
Chesebro said the revised version of the resolution is now directed toward specific line items rather than RSOs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis bill\u2019s language has been shifted, but the resolution has retained a bold commitment as an Association to reduce funding for AI & LLMs,\u201d Chesebro said in an email. \u201cThe thought process behind this language is to encourage concern for the rising harms of AI on the environment, cognitive decline, and rising overreliance, as discussed in the whereas clauses.\u201d<\/p>\n
If passed, the revised resolution would see the adoption of SRFP-006, an addition to the ASUC\u2019s socially responsible financial practice bylaws that would restrict the spending of ASUC money on generative AI, according to the proposed resolution document.<\/p>\n
No ASUC funds would be allowed to be spent on products, services or companies \u201cwhose transaction is mainly regarding generative artificial intelligence or large language models,\u201d the resolution document states.<\/p>\n
It would be left up to the ASUC chief financial officer and Finance Committee to interpret how funds may be dispersed in accordance with these guidelines, according to the bylaw proposal document.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe resolution encourages RSOs, particularly those with a primary focus on uplifting AI\/LLMs, to include public language that provides guardrails pertaining to AI usage, promotes responsible usage \u2026 as well as uplifts explicit concerns for the environmental, social, and cognitive impacts of increased AI reliance and usage,\u201d Chesebro said in the email.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A proposed resolution would see the ASUC enact measures to reduce and restrict spending on generative AI and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":489353,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[2007,26927,191019,68176,191017,191016,124384,191015,191014,158786,143,145,144,3408,191018,191020,64363],"class_list":["post-489352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-ai","tag-asuc","tag-asuc-chief-financial-officer","tag-asuc-senate","tag-berkeley-career-engagement-center","tag-berkeley-skydeck","tag-finance-committee","tag-financial-committee","tag-llm","tag-maddie-chesebro","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-openai","tag-sr-25-26-127","tag-srfp-006","tag-u-s-department-of-defense"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489352","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=489352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/489353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}