The gift — from Mark Stevens and his wife, Mary — will rename USC's School of Advanced Computing to the USC Mark and Mary Stevens School of Computing and Artificial Intelligence. It will also fund a campuswide effort to make USC a national center of AI scholarship, including in film and the arts. And it's a major, early win for USC President Beong-Soo Kim, who was appointed in February.
The Stevens gift is the latest in a surge of nine-figure AI-related donations to major universities. In April, the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation gave $750 million to the University of Texas at Austin for a new medical center, including AI initiatives in health. Last month, the University of Wisconsin-Madison also received $100 million in donations for a new College of Computing and Artificial Intelligence.
In an interview, Kim said the donation comes during "an incredibly significant period of time" because AI is moving quickly from technical labs into "nearly every corner" of society. USC, he said, is positioned to compete by applying the technology across fields where the university already has strengths.
"It's that intersection between AI and these other fields that we think is a perfect fit for USC," Kim said, adding that the goal is for the money to help the university use AI for "positive societal impact."
Kim said the gift will help USC recruit "world class AI talent," but not only researchers focused on AI development. The university is seeking scholars who can use AI to accelerate work in medicine, cybersecurity, national security, business, entertainment and other fields, he said.
The president did not disclose how many faculty or researchers could be hired but said the areas would include arts, social sciences, engineering, computing and health.
In health sciences, Kim pointed to USC research in regenerative medicine, neuroimaging and Alzheimer's disease, saying AI is helping scientists understand disease at a cellular level and identify earlier interventions. He said one of the "biggest and most exciting" areas for AI will be "medical discovery and drug development."
USC is also pitching AI as a creative tool, a sensitive claim in Los Angeles, where writers, actors, musicians and other workers have raised fears about automation. Kim said the School of Cinematic Arts has been "leaning into this new technology" and that AI is affecting fields including music, dance and dramatic arts — though he cautioned that the focus at USC is not to replace human creativity.
"What's so critical to me as the leader of USC is making sure that as we provide these tools and as we extend our research prowess, we're always centering on human values and agency," Kim said.
For Stevens, who is a trustee and an alumnus, the gift marks a major addition on top of his years-long support for USC.
Stevens, 66, is a managing partner at S-Cubed Capital, an investment holding company based in Menlo Park. As of Tuesday, his net worth totaled more than $11 billion, according to Forbes. He is a former partner at Sequoia Capital and sits on the board of several tech firms, including Nvidia. Much of his wealth comes from his stake in the chipmaker. Before entering venture capital, Stevens worked in sales at Intel and as a technical staff member at Hughes Aircraft.
In an interview, Stevens said USC's strengths in computer science, medicine, engineering, business and the arts make the university a strong place to expand AI.
"The gift is really aimed at sort of infusing AI techniques and tools technologies into all of those disciplines," Stevens said. "With AI, we're only in the first inning is what I tell people. And the world, 10 years from now, will be unrecognizable to us."
In 2004, Stevens donated $22 million to establish what became the USC Stevens Center for Innovation. In 2015, he gave $50 million for the USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute. USC launched the School of Advanced Computing, which is now named after him and his wife, in 2024.
Stevens said universities risk falling behind if they do not invest quickly in AI, especially because some major recent advances have come from private companies rather than academic labs.
"I think a lot of American universities are in danger of getting left behind if they don't invest and raise money to further the AI revolution," Stevens said.
Stevens also acknowledged the risks. "AI in the wrong hands ... can be very destructive," he said. "I think one of the jobs of universities in America is to understand, have a balanced approach, understand the guardrails and the safeguards that need to be adhered to as AI proliferates."
Amy Eguchi, a teaching professor in the Department of Education Studies at UC San Diego who studies AI, said the gift fits into wider trends at U.S. campuses.
Universities are responding to AI in two ways, Eguchi said: by giving students and employees access to tools such as ChatGPT, and investing in AI research and applications across fields. The donation to USC, she said, reflects the second approach, even as campuses struggle with what the technology means for teaching and learning.
"The biggest issue AI creates for us as educators is that it's harder to figure out what to do with this tool and what to do with students, because we don't know what they need to learn at this point about AI because it's changing so fast. And we need to focus on the best ways to use AI while not losing critical thinking skills," Eguchi said. "Universities teach students to ask what does it mean to be human, right? But AI is complicating that question."
Kim said a USC AI committee has been developing recommendations for classroom use, curriculum, academic integrity and ethics. He said the university is considering AI resources and courses for students in every major, along with coursework on AI's impact on society, human values and ethics.
Some USC faculty say that expansion should proceed carefully. Sanjay Madhav, an associate professor of technology and applied computing practice, said the gift presents an opportunity, but also raises difficult teaching questions.
"In my classes, students are increasingly using tools like ChatGPT to offload their critical thinking skills," Madhav said. "I honestly am unsure how to best continue to educate my students in a world where these AI tools exist."
Madhav said AI policies should not be imposed uniformly across campus. "Ultimately, regardless of what university-wide initiatives may come from this gift, I think it's important that faculty continue to be able to make domain and class-specific decisions on AI use," he said.
The debate mirrors broader concerns about whether AI will deepen learning or encourage students to outsource reasoning and problem-solving. Faculty and students have also raised worries about bias, creativity, accuracy and whether AI systems will replace forms of intellectual and professional work that colleges have long trained students to perform.
Kim acknowledged concern about the threats AI poses to human judgment, creativity and critical thinking, but said he believes USC is up to the task.
"While we see enormous opportunities for AI to enhance and save lives and address major societal problems, it also raises a number of important challenges that we need to address as a community and as a society," Kim said. "And it's our ambition not simply to be a university that leads in using AI... but also to be the most thoughtful university in terms of how to use AI in an ethical and responsible way."
Times staff writer Queenie Wong contributed to this report.
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