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Summary:
– Partnership provides AI education for students and educators.
– Workforce programs expand with grants to local organizations.
– Thunder and Google promote tech innovation and entrepreneurship.
The Oklahoma City Thunder has always been an organization that looks forward. Whether it has been on the court or off, the franchise wants to be at the forefront of whatever is next.
The Thunder proved that again on Friday with their newest collaboration with Google. The two organizations announced they are teaming up to accelerate Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Oklahoma.
The collaboration is part of Google’s statewide $5 million commitment to equip Oklahoma’s students and its workforce with critical AI and job-ready skills.
More than 100 professionals took part in the AI Business Summit at the Paycom Center. (Photo by Michael Kinney, The Journal Record)
“Our attempt to make AI approachable,” said OKC Thunder Director of Fan Development Michelle Matthews. “To get to a point to where Oklahomans are a participant in AI and it’s not just happening around them.”
The collaboration was announced during an AI Business Summit hosted by Google and the Thunder Friday morning at the Paycom Center. The partnership includes sharing insights on both national and state AI initiatives and opportunities, practical AI tools for business productivity and innovation, and AI demos.
“When Google comes into a community, we want to be a good community partner, and there’s no bigger community partner than the Oklahoma City Thunder,” said MJ Henshaw, Google Head of Public Affairs in Oklahoma. “And so we came to them, we knew that they do stuff with businesses around the community and things like that, and so we came to them with an idea of like, hey, can we collaborate on AI education? That’s kind of the biggest need right now, is making sure people are educated and know how to use this stuff, and especially businesses, so they know how to adapt it within their businesses.”
The aim of both the Thunder and Google is to create a comprehensive AI-ready ecosystem across Oklahoma. Powered by funding from one of the biggest technology companies in the world, the Thunder will launch new AI sports programming for students, AI training for educators, and advance tech-forward solutions and emerging technologies while bolstering the entrepreneurial landscape, according to Will Syring, Thunder vice president of corporate partnerships.
“Google’s actually been a long-term partner of the team. They’ve been involved with Thunder Launchpad for many years,” said Syring. “And as we do with any partnership, it starts with a conversation, an idea of how can we bring, as thought leaders in our individual spaces, how can we bring each other together to really achieve a common goal. And the common goal here, again, was AI innovation and education, whether you’re a student or a business leader. And so those two ideas coming together took some time, but that’s the culmination of those efforts today.”
According to the Thunder, the funds will be used to help launch a new Master’s in AI at Oklahoma State University and expand workforce development programs with the Center for Employment Opportunities and Atlas School. The Tulsa Regional STEM Alliance’s new digital badging program will ensure students have verifiable credentials to track their skills and connect with future employment opportunities.
Demonstrations took place on how Google’s AI tools can help local businesses and schools. (Photo by Michael Kinney, The Journal Record)
“We actually had a grant through before,” said Jim Coleman, a representative with the Center for Employment Opportunities. “So when this came up, they called us and talked to us. We applied for the grant, and we’re going to be able to innovate the center for Employment Opportunities and help individuals get employed. We actually have been learning ourselves so we can teach the participants.”
More than 100 professionals representing various sectors, including business, education, health care and technology, took part in the summit.
According to Henshaw, the collaboration between the Thunder is a win-win for not just the two organizations, but most importantly, the communities in Oklahoma.
“Number one is they have an innovation lab that helps entrepreneurs and small businesses, and so that’s one place that we thought, you know, we can really make an impact with them,” Henshaw said. “We have, if you see our demos here, we’ve got Gemini, we’ve got Notebook LM, we have Google Ads, things like that, that can actually help small businesses really grow and entrepreneurs kind of get on their feet. The other one is they have a lot of connections to the education institutions in the community, and so we’re working with them on, you know, creating new curriculum through sports to help kids understand AI and how to use AI and things like that. So we have kind of K through 12 curriculum and kind of the education side going with them, and then we also have the business and entrepreneur side as well.”