Moorpark College’s October 22 announcement of a $3 million applied AI initiative could open useful training opportunities for workers across Ventura County. However, a new certificate designed around large organizations would miss the practical needs of smaller communities and employers, including those in Fillmore. The letter below argues that the planned employer advisory board should solicit realistic tasks from small businesses, and assess student skill in verification and judgment rather than software use alone. I connect that local grant announcement to the October 21 Charter AI Pulse findings about worker agency. This letter is offered exclusively to the Fillmore Gazette.
I am a behavioral scientist and the author of the best-selling, peer-reviewed book, The Psychology of AI Adoption at Work: From Resistance to Results, published by Georgetown University Press https://press.georgetown.edu/Book/The-Psychology-of-AI-Adoption-at-Work My commentary has appeared regularly in The New York Times, The Guardian, Time, Scientific American, and many others https://disasteravoidanceexperts.com/media
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FILLMORE SHOULD HAVE A VOICE IN VENTURA COUNTY’S NEW AI TRAINING
Moorpark College announced a $3 million applied AI initiative on October 22, with a new cross-disciplinary certificate, faculty development and an advisory board involving regional employers. Communities such as Fillmore should have a meaningful voice in how that training develops.
A student planning to work at a small business needs different examples from someone entering a large corporate technology department. The skill that matters across both settings is recognizing an unreliable AI answer before it causes harm.
The college could ask employers in agriculture, services and local retail to contribute realistic, anonymized problems. A student might check an automatically drafted customer message against a written business policy. Another might spot a mistaken quantity or invented claim in a product description. A third could explain why an uncertain recommendation needs a supervisor’s review.
October 21 Charter research found that workplace AI experiences are closely associated with employee agency and management practices. Employers should therefore help evaluate whether students challenge and correct AI output, rather than merely produce quick results.
The proposed employer advisory board has an opportunity to make that principle measurable. A small set of tasks, a shared scoring rubric and before-and-after student work samples would make the program useful to hiring managers and graduates alike.
Regional AI training should reflect the full range of Ventura County work, including smaller communities such as Fillmore.
Gleb Tsipursky
Columbus, Ohio
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Gleb Tsipursky, PhD, a behavioral scientist, CEO of Disaster Avoidance Experts, and author of The Psychology of AI Adoption at Work: From Resistance to Results (Georgetown University Press, 2026). https://disasteravoidanceexperts.com/aibook