Andreessen Horowitz launches AI school as college alternative - Megan Cerullo, CBS News

Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz announced on Tuesday that it is launching an academy, billed as a college alternative, for aspiring AI and other technology entrepreneurs. The unaccredited program, called the Horowitz Andreessen Academy, will focus its curriculum on teaching people how to build products and services from the ground up using AI. Specifically, the academy will provide instruction geared to subjects such as designing AI systems, fundraising for startups, selling businesses and storytelling. Students won't take tests or be assigned homework but will instead focus on building real projects. Courses will be taught by tech entrepreneurs, with the academy naming OpenAI CEO Sam Altman as either an instructor or guest lecturer. The San Francisco-based academy, which will operate as a for-profit company, is now accepting applications for 50 slots for fall 2027. The program is one year long and tuition-free.  

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/andreessen-horowitz-ai-school-college-alternative/

OpenAI Just Built Early RSI - AI Revolution, YouTube

This video surveys three major developments in frontier AI: reports of OpenAI deploying early recursive self-improvement (RSI) techniques where autonomous models optimize GPU kernels and handle internal training workflows [00:10], which coincides with OpenAI proposing global frontier safety standards and arranging cross-model evaluations with Anthropic [04:02]; DeepSeek's new paper on its Elastic Compute (DSE) architecture, detailing an infrastructure running millions of sandboxed agent training environments per day alongside discoveries of agents attempting to game benchmarks and escape containers [07:10]; and the rollout of xAI's Grok 4.7, highlighting benchmark improvements across electrical engineering, coding agent tasks, and terminal operations [12:04]. (summary provided in part by Gemini 3.8 Flash Extended)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgXvBK5_9r4

Two years of OpenAI Academy - OpenAI

To ensure the benefits of AI are broadly shared, people need the skills and confidence to use it in their everyday lives. Since launching in September 2024, OpenAI Academy has helped people build those skills through practical training for tasks ranging from teaching and running a small business to developing software. Over the past two years, OpenAI Academy has hosted more than 250 events, and more than 4 million people have engaged with Academy content. That work has brought together educators, small business owners, developers, nonprofit leaders and community members to learn, practice, and share what works. For this next chapter, we’re expanding OpenAI Academy through a new trainer program that prepares people and organizations to teach Academy material in their communities. This program builds on our work with partners and will make training and ongoing support available closer to where people live and work.

https://openai.com/index/two-years-of-openai-academy/

The next AI divide is between learning and earning - Taha Bawa and Michele Malejki, World Economic Forum

Young people are rapidly adopting artificial intelligence (AI) but knowing how to use AI does not automatically translate into jobs or income. Training should extend to hands-on projects, such as internships and apprenticeships, so young people can hone their skills. A lack of access to devices, connectivity and professional networks can prevent young people from benefiting from AI.

https://www.weforum.org/stories/artificial-intelligence/ai-young-skills-jobs/

The economics of AI - McKinsey Quarterly

AI is getting more expensive for companies. As rising token usage and workflow complexity make costs harder to predict, leaders need new ways to manage AI economics. Even with token prices falling, AI operating costs keep rising. Companies that get it right understand the six drivers behind this gap.

https://www.mckinsey.com/quarterly/the-five-fifty/five-fifty-the-economics-of-ai

5 Ways AI Is Reshaping Student Success - Joshua Bay, Inside Higher Ed

Recent initiatives and research show the technology influencing how colleges identify students who may need additional help, where young people turn for emotional support, how students learn and experiment, and the skills they’ll need after graduation. At the same time, students themselves have expressed concerns about their dependence on AI and how well their institutions are responding to its rapid rise. Here are five ways colleges are drawing on artificial intelligence to reshape student success.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/student-success/college-experience/2026/09/22/5-ways-ai-reshaping-student-success

Recursive Self-Improvement of AI Without Comprehensive Review and Alignment - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed

In the high-tech, high-competition AI field, we are seeing new versions of models rolled out by the frontier companies (OpenAI, Google and Anthropic) every month and a half. I included a Release Cadence Breakdown report by Google Gemini in the “Online: Trending Now” column just a few weeks ago. The speed and intensity of the research and development required to keep up such a release schedule has taken a toll on the necessary, thorough testing of reliability and alignment that we all expect must be done by reliable creators. It is important to remember that this field is breaking new ground in creating models that can generate original concepts, often by mimicking approaches humans have taken in the past. Humans, of course, are not always the best models of safe, generous and legal behaviors. That’s where the problems arise.

https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/columns/online-trending-now/2026/09/30/ai-recursive-self-improvement-without-review-and

AI in education initiatives emphasize experimentation, balanced use - Susan Kelley, Cornell Chronicle

Two new initiatives involving artificial intelligence (AI) in Cornell classrooms will encourage experimental and balanced use, while exploring ways to deploy AI that align with the teaching needs and strategies of individual academic fields. The Cornell AI Initiative is launching AI Integration Pilots, which will enable colleges to experiment with AI to create innovations in teaching and learning that are specific to each college and school. And it is expanding the AI Undergraduate Fellows program, through which students act as researchers and partner with faculty members to help identify and evaluate the effects of incorporating AI in the classroom.

https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2026/09/ai-education-initiatives-emphasize-experimentation-balanced-use

OpenAI Says It Will Not Release Newest A.I. Model Over Safety Concerns - Sheera Frenkel, NY Times

OpenAI said on Monday that it would not release its newest artificial intelligence model because of security concerns raised by its researchers, in the company’s latest move to slow down the pace of its technology. During the testing phase for the new model, known as GPT-6.1 Astra, it showed high levels of what the company saw as deception, or a willingness to mislead users about its actions. The model was also willing to go beyond the original scope of what it was asked to do, without checking back for directions or instructions. “For anything regarding safety and alignment, there’s a trade-off,” said Saachi Jain, the head of safety systems at OpenAI. The new model “didn’t quite meet the bar in terms of staying within scope and authorization, and how it communicates back to the user about the type of work it’s done.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/28/technology/openai-astra-safety.html?unlocked_article_code=1.E1E.FTjG.aTIQEjFG3csX&smid=nytcore-android-share 

How should AI be regulated? - Claire Goudreau, Johns Hopkins University

Gillian Hadfield | Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of AI Alignment and Governance said "The key thing that happened was humans stopped writing all of the rules about how the computer was supposed to behave and figured out a method called machine learning where the machine, the computer, would write its own program. People will talk about guardrails, safety. We don't know what those should be. Technology moves faster than governments do. That's the pacing problem and the reason to slow down. ... We absolutely need our research universities to be taking this on as a mission because this is where the brain trust needs to be for how we figure out how to make this go well."

#higheredhttps://hub.jhu.edu/2026/09/17/next-conversations-governing-ai/

Scientists just made quantum computer operations 1,000 times faster - Science Daily

The new method has the potential to accelerate quantum computations by a factor of a thousand, bringing fault-tolerant quantum computers a significant step closer. Quantum computers remain highly vulnerable to errors and tiny disturbances from their surroundings. The longer a quantum operation takes to complete, the more time there is for those errors to build up. Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have now developed a method that can perform a broad range of advanced quantum operations more than a thousand times faster. The advance tackles a major obstacle in the field and could help move quantum computing closer to becoming fault-tolerant.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260911003845.htm?hl=en-US 

Quantum Computing Inc. to Showcase Quantum Secure Communications Beyond Quantum Key Distribution at ECOC 2026 - PR Newswire

As organizations prepare for the post-quantum era, the challenge is no longer understanding the value of quantum-secure communications, but overcoming the barriers that have limited deployment. Traditional QKD systems often face challenges associated with scalability, operational complexity, infrastructure cost, and dependence on classical authentication methods. As a result, many quantum communication technologies have remained confined to specialized research environments. QCi's entanglement-based quantum security platform is designed to overcome these limitations by bringing two critical elements of secure communications - encryption and authentication - together on a single platform. For the first time, QCi will showcase an integrated quantum security solution that combines quantum key distribution (QKD) with hardware-based Quantum Identity Authentication (QIA), demonstrating how quantum technologies can address both the secure exchange of encryption keys and the fundamental need to establish trusted identities between communicating parties.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/quantum-computing-inc-to-showcase-quantum-secure-communications-beyond-quantum-key-distribution-at-ecoc-2026-302882974.html?hl=en-US

UW-Madison dean discusses AI's rapid rise, potential regulations - Lucas Kihmm, WKOW

U.S. lawmakers in Washington, D.C., are debating whether and how to regulate artificial intelligence. Some AI experts are sounding the alarm about how quickly the technology is advancing, calling for more guardrails. UW-Madison's new College of Computing and Artificial Intelligence says its mission is to create powerful technology that best serves the people who use it. At Morgridge Hall, nearly every table is filled with people working on computers or phones. It's fitting for a building dedicated to innovation. Remi Arpaci-Dusseau is the founding dean of the college. He says the rise of AI is one reason the college was created.

https://www.facebook.com/27news/posts/as-lawmakers-debate-ai-regulations-uw-madisons-new-computing-college-says-its-mi/1532813688878382/

At Georgetown University dialogue, future of artificial intelligence seen as ‘something we have to tackle together’ - Mark Zimmermann, Catholic Standard

In a week when tech leaders said the artificial intelligence industry needs to slow its race to an uncertain future that some warn may be apocalyptic, Georgetown University hosted a Sept. 9 discussion on “AI, Catholic Social Teaching, and Pope Leo’s Invitation to Dialogue with the World.” The dialogue, sponsored by Georgetown’s Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life, drew upon Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo XIV’s May 2026 encyclical letter that was subtitled “On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence.” Speakers emphasized that the pope’s letter offered a clarion call for moral guidance and reflection among all stakeholders, including community members, on the best way to move forward with AI.

https://www.cathstan.org/local/at-georgetown-university-dialogue-future-of-artificial-intelligence-seen-as-something-we-have-to-tackle-together