Host Mark McNees welcomes FSU CIO Jonathan Fozard and Google Public Sector account representative John Breed to discuss Florida State University’s partnership with Google’s AI initiative, including Gemini and campus access to tools like NotebookLM. They explain the CIO’s role across FSU’s technology ecosystem, why Google selected FSU as an R1 partner, and how the collaboration aims to provide AI resources to faculty, staff, and students across the FSU system. The conversation covers Google’s $1B higher-education commitment, goals around equitable access to cutting-edge tools, and the importance of guardrails, data sovereignty, and protections for intellectual property, FERPA, and HIPAA. Jonathan describes FSU’s AI governance approach, including ai.fsu.edu, vetted tool listings, and guidelines for ethical use. They address adoption challenges and classroom policy differences, emphasizing communication in syllabi, disclosure, and using AI as an assistant rather than a shortcut. Practical use cases include research acceleration, administrative productivity, student study support via NotebookLM (summaries, flashcards, podcasts), and the rise of agentic AI for automation. They discuss evolving workforce expectations, shifting skill needs from coding to problem-solving, changes to internships, and how FSU will measure success through adoption, training outcomes, and faster research and innovation. The episode concludes with calls to action for the FSU community to get started, fail forward, and bring use cases to university leadership.

00:00 Welcome + Meet the Guests (FSU CIO & Google Public Sector)

00:37 What a CIO Does at FSU: Tech Across the Entire University System

01:01 Google’s Role: Supporting Florida Agencies & FSU with AI Solutions

01:29 How the FSU x Google Gemini AI Partnership Came Together

02:59 Why Google Chose FSU: R1 Research, Efficiency, and Proximity to the Capitol

04:11 Google’s $1B Higher-Ed AI Bet: Access, Equity, and Policy Guardrails

06:09 FSU’s Vision for AI: Faster Research, Better Teaching, Student Success

08:07 Security & IP Protection: Policies, ai.fsu.edu, and Vendor Vetting

10:03 Google’s Public-Sector Security Lens: Data Sovereignty & Owning the AI Stack

13:07 Compliance in Practice: FERPA, HIPAA, and Keeping Up with Changing Rules

14:06 Rolling Out AI at Scale: Adoption, Confusion, and Classroom Policy Differences

20:31 Ethics vs. Plagiarism: Disclosure, Purpose of Assignments, and Real-World Use

27:35 Upskilling for an AI-First Workforce: Changing Skills, Metrics, and Exponential Growth

30:05 AI Isn’t Replacing Coders—It’s Multiplying Output

31:04 Internships, Entry-Level Work & Why Higher Ed Matters More

32:23 From “Learn to Code” to “Learn to Problem-Solve” (Student Interns)

33:17 Vibe Coding in the Real World: Building a Volleyball Stats App

34:17 AI as a Toolset: The Evolution from No-Code to Prompting

36:45 Deep Dive: Why NotebookLM Is a Game-Changer for Teaching & Learning

42:41 What’s Next: Agentic AI and Your New ‘Virtual Assistant’ at Work

45:43 FSU x Google Partnership: Multi-Year Roadmap & Use-Case Driven Innovation

47:48 Measuring Success: Adoption, Outcomes, and Cross-University Feedback Loops

53:26 Final Call to Action: Get Started, Fail Forward, and Bring Use Cases