During a technology-focused module I taught recently, a student asked a question that stayed with me long after the session ended: “If AI can teach, what is the point of having teachers?” The question was not confrontational but curious and sincere. Many students were already experimenting with generative AI tools to summarize readings, explain concepts, and even draft assignments. From their perspective, wondering whether the traditional role of the teacher might eventually disappear seemed reasonable.At first, I responded in the practical ways educators often do. I explained that AI tools can support learning but still require human guidance, critical thinking, and ethical use. Yet the question continued to linger in my mind, seeming to point to something deeper than a debate about technological capability. Their question raised a more fundamental one: What exactly makes teaching a human practice? As AI systems increasingly assist with lesson planning, feedback, and personalized learning pathways, people are tempted to see education as an information system optimized through algorithms. However, my experiences teaching adults suggest that meaningful learning rarely unfolds as neatly as these algorithmic models assume.
Monday, October 19, 2026
National Cybersecurity Awareness Month
National Cybersecurity Awareness Month is a timely reminder of a growing challenge: In the age of frontier AI, time is the enemy of enterprise cybersecurity teams. The old paradigm of cybersecurity worked on the assumption that organizations would have time to detect and address their vulnerabilities, but that assumption is now obsolete. Active exploitation of critical vulnerabilities can now be a matter of hours, down from roughly three weeks as recently as last year, according to Benjamin Klein, Charlie Lewis, Rich Isenberg, Venky Anant, and coauthors. Advances in quantum computing are expected to put even more pressure on cybersecurity teams. But the technology cuts both ways. AI can also help cybersecurity teams detect and respond to threats faster, including by taking on routine cyber work and freeing analysts to focus on higher-value investigations and decisions. In a recent blog, Lewis and coauthors explore how public agencies can put these capabilities to work while keeping humans in charge of consequential actions.
Sunday, October 18, 2026
Prepare students for post-graduation AI judgement challenges - Phuong Nguyen, University World News
In a preregistered field experiment published this year in Organization Science, 758 consultants at Boston Consulting Group worked through realistic tasks with and without a generative AI assistant. On work within the assistant’s competence, results were strong throughout: more tasks finished, about a quarter faster, and at higher quality. One task was designed to sit just outside its competence. There, 84.5% of the consultants working without AI reached the correct answer, while those using it reached it 70.6% of the time. The group that also received a prompt-engineering overview did the worst, at 60%. The better prepared they were to use the tool, the further they fell.
https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20261009115040153
AI agents are going rogue — here's what you need to know if you use ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude Features - Amanda Caswell, Tom's Guide
OpenAI, Google, Meta and Anthropic have all acknowledged incidents recently in which their AI models accessed real computer systems without authorization during research or security evaluations. In OpenAI’s case, agents actively worked their way around restrictions designed to keep them contained, while the other three companies traced their incidents to testing environments that were misconfigured and left connected to the internet. And as these same companies race to put more autonomous agents into the hands of consumers, the incidents raise an uncomfortable question about how much control AI companies actually have over the technology they’re building.
Saturday, October 17, 2026
12 Top Colleges Reinventing Education For The AI Era - A.P. Cortizas Jr, Forbes
Ken Griffin’s $2 billion gift for a new Carnegie Mellon campus and problem-solving focus in Miami, is just the most dramatic example of how colleges are reinventing themselves for the age of AI. Hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin has pledged $3 billion to Carnegie Mellon University. But only $500 million of this record-breaking gift will go to the Pittsburgh-based university’s top-ranked, newly renamed Kenneth C. Griffin School of Computer Science. Instead, Griffin, the founder and CEO of Citadel, is pouring $2 billion into a new 35-acre campus in Miami that aims to take an interdisciplinary approach to solving big problems and making big advances. Naturally, artificial intelligence will be integrated into the work in Miami. (Two CMU professors created what is considered to be the first AI computer program in 1956.) But CMU and Griffin are aiming to upend the siloed departments that zealously protect their turf in a traditional university. The Miami branch “will be organized around societal challenge areas—such as human health, climate resilience, energy, national security, and advanced manufacturing,” promised Farnam Jahanian, CMU’s president and a cybersecurity expert. “Faculty from computer science, engineering, policy, business, and fine arts will collaborate directly on these multidisciplinary challenges without institutional silos.”
As frontier models go rogue, colleges beef up AI cybersecurity education - Eric Geller, Cybersecurity Dive
As the world increasingly recognizes the need for safer and more secure AI, U.S. colleges and universities are trying to meet a growing demand for AI security education that prepares future workers to safeguard businesses’ and governments’ powerful AI systems. AI cybersecurity education programs, from undergraduate and graduate classes to professional certificates, are sprouting up all over the country, as experts warn that young people need to understand how to manage AI risks as they enter a workforce teeming with algorithms, models and agents. The recent autonomous-hacking incidents involving frontier AI models have further underscored the need for cybersecurity education. With policymakers and business leaders fretting about the consequences of reckless AI development that doesn’t prioritize security, higher-education institutions are rushing to fill a stark curriculum void before it’s too late.
Friday, October 16, 2026
The Superintelligence Force: A Moment to Reconsider the Pace and Nature of AI - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed
I am not entirely convinced that the “Superintelligence Force” is the best way to cool down the competition and slow down the race. However, here we are. This is the only available opportunity to cool down the competition and pursue a safer approach to further development. Although higher education was not heavily consulted in the preparation of this model, we will be impacted by the priorities and products that are produced as a result. Hence, we should actively seek inclusion in the process. We must also recognize that hundreds of other development efforts are being pursued in smaller independent as well as larger military and other governmental initiatives around the world. Some of these are providing open-source solutions that can then be further developed and applied by unregulated actors.
Gonzaga Community Explores AI Through Faith, Ethics, and Dialogue - Gonzago University
This fall, faculty, staff, and students are participating in reading groups focused on Pope Leo's encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, which examines artificial intelligence through the lenses of human dignity, ethics, faith, and the common good. The discussions are creating space for the Gonzaga community to engage thoughtfully with one of the most significant technological developments of our time. The first fall AI reading group session was organized through Foley Library and invited participants to discuss the encyclical and its implications for higher education and society. The conversations reflect Gonzaga's commitment to cura personalis, educating the whole person, and preparing students not only for careers, but for lives of purpose and ethical discernment about the use of this powerful new technology.
Thursday, October 15, 2026
Old Dominion University Researchers Develop AI Tutor to Strengthen Engineering Education - Sherry DiBari, ODU
A simulated stretchable surface could give engineering students a way to see what an equation means — not just how to solve it. At Old Dominion University, researchers are developing an artificial intelligence (AI) tutoring system that combines interactive simulations and guided questions to help students understand difficult engineering concepts — not simply memorize formulas. The system, called MAESTRA (Metaphor-based AI-powered Engineering Socratic Tutoring for Reasoning and Advanced Synthesis), is being developed by Gon Namkoong, Ph.D., and Jiang Li, Ph.D., professors in the department of electrical and computer engineering. The project is supported by a $400,000 National Science Foundation grant. “In simple terms, MAESTRA is like having an engineering tutor, an interactive laboratory and a visualization tool working together,” said Dr. Namkoong, lead investigator on the project.
Georgia Tech Announces New Online Master’s Degree in Artificial Intelligence - Georgia Tech
The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia has approved Georgia Tech’s new Online Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence (OMS AI). It is designed to support working professionals in analyzing and applying artificial intelligence (AI) within their industries. The interdisciplinary degree integrates Georgia Tech’s expertise in AI and emerging technologies with practical applications tailored to specific fields. Throughout the curriculum, students will explore the responsible use of AI, including ethics, privacy, safety, accountability, and governance. It also builds on Georgia Tech's historic leadership in online graduate education. Georgia Tech’s suite of online master of science degree programs provides rigorous, accessible education to working professionals around the world.
Wednesday, October 14, 2026
OpenAI’s release of mathematical findings draws concerns from experts - the Guardian
OpenAI has astounded mathematicians after releasing hundreds of new mathematical findings on Tuesday. The company published over 370 mathematical results across a variety of topics such as algebra, theoretical computer science and mathematical logic, showcasing what some of its most advanced artificial intelligence models are capable of. Last month, the company solved the Navier-Stokes equation, one of the world’s toughest mathematical problems with a $1m reward for anyone who cracked it. The achievement prompted concerns from leaders in the field who say that frontier labs should not be testing the most advanced mathematical problems on proprietary AI models that are not accessible to the broader field of mathematicians. The Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, an independent group of mathematical experts, said that it does not endorse the practice.
Workforce in motion: Skills and pathways to future jobs in the United States - María Jesús Ramírez,
Kweilin Ellingrud, Tanguy Catlin, Diego Castresana, and Anna Kortis, McKinsey
The US economy could create more jobs in the next decade than will be replaced through automation, but the change may require the largest and most sustained workforce transformation in US history. We estimate that roughly 11 million workers in declining occupations may need to transition to new jobs, ranging from six million to 16 million depending on the pace of automation adoption and its impact on labor demand. Jobs of the future, particularly growing jobs, could pay more on average but require more skills. Administrative support, retail and sales, and transportation and logistics occupations. One in seven workers could have a direct pathway into growing jobs, but almost half may face an unpaved pathway. While every transitioning worker has a route into growing work, Overall, more than 70 percent of workers could require some level of reinvention because new tasks may require more than 15 percent of their time. Three types of skills help workers move, move up, and keep adapting.
Tuesday, October 13, 2026
As AI Changes the Workplace, CU Denver Prepares Students to Navigate What Comes Next - CU Denver News
By bringing people from across CU Denver together, the AI Hub will give students and the broader university community a place to test ideas, learn from one another, and explore where AI can meaningfully contribute. More than responding to a changing technological landscape, it creates a place for the CU Denver community to participate thoughtfully in shaping what comes next. The AI Hub is the newest way CU Denver is providing hands-on opportunities for students to learn about AI and how it can be used to solve real-world problems. Industry-informed curricula have long given CU Denver students the knowledge and hands-on experience they need to enter the workforce ready to contribute. AI is no different.
Is AI to blame for hiring woes faced by college graduates? - Max Zahn, ABC News
In theory, AI could upend low-level work as recent college graduates enter the job market, eliminating many positions at the bottom of the white-collar career ladder or at least reshaping them. For now, however, analysts disagree about the extent to which AI is to blame for the weak job market faced by newly minted diploma-holders. Economists who fault AI pointed to comparatively sluggish job gains for recent graduates in industries considered vulnerable to the technology. Uncertainty alone, they added, may be enough to deter hiring as some firms await potential AI fallout. Skeptics, by contrast, highlighted a "low hire, low fire" labor market with few new positions for anyone, let alone recent graduates who may require more training than their older counterparts.
https://abc7chicago.com/post/is-ai-blame-hiring-woes-faced-college-graduates/19186503/
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