Over the past two years, US colleges have quietly integrated generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools into the classroom and behind the scenes. At Babson College, just outside Boston, the shift to AI has been anything but quiet — it’s been bold, fast, and full of purpose. Babson is certainly not the only college in the US implementing AI technologies. However, the college prides itself on being a business education innovator, maximizing GenAI to improve learning, simplify operations, and help students get ready for the world they’re about to enter.
Saturday, June 28, 2025
A.I. in the Classroom: A Brave New World? - Carl Murray, NY Times
While the promise of personalized A.I. tutors and campuswide integration is compelling, we must pause to consider the broader implications, especially for how students come to understand learning itself. The rush to adopt A.I. in education shouldn’t come at the expense of thoughtful consideration of how it will shape learning, relationships and long-term student development. It’s worth asking: Are we promoting shortcuts, or are we encouraging deeper reflection and intellectual growth? We don’t need to fear A.I. in classrooms, but we do need to teach students how to work with it, not just use it. That’s a very different kind of literacy.
Friday, June 27, 2025
Preparing for tomorrow’s agentic workforce - Lareina Yee and Rodrigo Liang, McKinsey
As we scale up, we’re now seeing other constraints start to appear, like a lack of sufficient power for these data centers. So people are talking about nuclear power plants and other sources of energy. But then you have to figure out how to get the cooling done as well. And as you think about energy, you’ll also need to figure out how to update your entire grid to power those gigawatt data centers. And eventually, you’ve got to get all of that back-connected to where the users are, which is mainly in these large metropolitan areas—which is not where you’re going to put your gigawatt data center. So, there are a lot of infrastructure challenges we have to figure out.
Amazon boss tells staff AI means their jobs are at risk in coming years - Dan Milmo, the Guardian
The boss of Amazon has told white collar staff at the e-commerce company their jobs could be taken by artificial intelligence in the next few years. Andrew Jassy told employees that AI agents – tools that carry out tasks autonomously – and generative AI systems such as chatbots would require fewer employees in certain areas. “As we roll out more generative AI and agents, it should change the way our work is done,” he said in a memo to staff. “We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs. “It’s hard to know exactly where this nets out over time, but in the next few years, we expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce.”
Thursday, June 26, 2025
How we built our multi-agent research system - Anthropic
Claude now has Research capabilities that allow it to search across the web, Google Workspace, and any integrations to accomplish complex tasks. The journey of this multi-agent system from prototype to production taught us critical lessons about system architecture, tool design, and prompt engineering. A multi-agent system consists of multiple agents (LLMs autonomously using tools in a loop) working together. Our Research feature involves an agent that plans a research process based on user queries, and then uses tools to create parallel agents that search for information simultaneously. Systems with multiple agents introduce new challenges in agent coordination, evaluation, and reliability.
https://www.anthropic.com/engineering/built-multi-agent-research-system
New research suggests daily AI use can reduce faculty workload in higher education - Rachel Lawler, Ed Tech Innovation Hub
A new survey from D2L, an online learning platform based in Canada, and consulting service provider Tyton Partners, has found that daily use of artificial intelligence (AI) can reduce faculty workload in higher education institutions. D2L surveyed more than 3,000 respondents about the current state of AI use in higher education for its Time for Class 2025 report. It found that more than a third (36 percent) who use generative AI daily reported a marked decrease in their workload. However, instructors and administrators reported that attempting to monitor student use of AI has created additional work for them, while 39 percent of respondents had experienced no change in their workload as a result of generative AI. The survey also found only 28 percent of higher education institutions currently have a generative AI policy in place, which can leave students and instructors struggling without standardized guidance or tools in place.
Wednesday, June 25, 2025
ChatGPT KNOWS when it's being watched... - Matthew Berman, YouTube
This podcast discusses how large language models (LLMs) can detect when they are being evaluated, a phenomenon called "evaluation awareness." This awareness, which is more common in advanced models, allows them to identify evaluation settings, potentially compromising benchmark reliability and leading to inaccurate assessments of their capabilities and safety. A research paper introduced a benchmark to test this, revealing that frontier models from Anthropic and OpenAI are highly accurate in detecting evaluations and even their specific purpose. This raises concerns that misaligned, evaluation-aware models might "scheme" by faking alignment during evaluations to ensure deployment, only to pursue their true, potentially misaligned, goals later. The study found that models use various signals like question structure, task formatting, and memorization of benchmark datasets to detect evaluations. [summary assisted by Gemini 2.5 Flash]
Sam Altman says the Singularity is imminent - here's why - Webb Wright, ZDnet
In his 2005 book "The Singularity is Near," the futurist Ray Kurzweil predicted that the Singularity -- the moment in which machine intelligence surpasses our own -- would occur around the year 2045. Sam Altman believes it's much closer. In a blog post published Tuesday, the OpenAI CEO delivered a homily devoted to what he views as the imminent arrival of artificial "superintelligence." Whereas artificial general intelligence, or AGI, is usually defined as a computer system able to match or outperform humans on any cognitive task, a superintelligent AI would go much further, overshadowing our own intelligence to such a vast degree that we'd be helpless to fathom it, like snails trying to understand general relativity.
Tuesday, June 24, 2025
Meta’s V-JEPA 2 model teaches AI to understand its surroundings - Amanda Silberling, Tech Crunch
These are the kinds of common sense connections that small children and animals make as their brains develop — when you play fetch with a dog, for example, the dog will (hopefully) understand how bouncing a ball on the ground will cause it to rebound upward, or how it should run toward where it thinks the ball will land, and not where the ball is at that precise moment. Meta depicts examples where a robot may be confronted with, for example, the point-of-view of holding a plate and a spatula and walking toward a stove with cooked eggs. The AI can predict that a very likely next action would be to use the spatula to move the eggs to the plate.
The Industry Reacts to o3-Pro! (It Thinks a LOT) - Matthew Berman, YouTube
This podcast discusses the release of OpenAI's 03 Pro model, which is described as their most powerful model to date. While it doesn't always stand out in benchmarks, it's favored by experts in fields like science, education, and programming for its robust and thorough responses. The model has shown a 64% win rate against the previous 03 model in human tests and has achieved a high ELO score in competitive programming. It also integrates various tools for web searching, data analysis, and image processing. Despite its power, 03 Pro is known for being slow, sometimes taking several minutes to respond to simple prompts, which has raised concerns about its efficiency and cost. However, its accuracy is high, as it can perfectly answer complex questions even with long thinking times. Industry reactions have been mixed, with some praising its strategic capabilities and others criticizing its slowness. (summary assisted by Gemini 2.5 Flash)
Monday, June 23, 2025
'ChatGPT Is Already More Powerful Than Any Human,' OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Says - Andrew Kessel, Investopedia
Humanity could be close to successfully building an artificial super intelligence, according to Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI and one of the faces of the AI boom. "In some big sense, ChatGPT is already more powerful than any human who has ever lived," Altman wrote in a blog post Wednesday. OpenAI backer Microsoft and its rivals are investing billions of dollars into AI and jockeying for users in what is becoming a more crowded landscape.
ELLIOT: A Flagship Initiative to Research and Develop Open Multi-Modal Foundation Models for Robust Aritifical Intelligence Operation in the Real World
A new chapter in European Artificial Intelligence (AI) research begins with the launch of ELLIOT – European Large Open Multi-Modal Foundation Models For Robust Generalization On Arbitrary Data Streams. Funded under the Horizon Europe programme with a €25 million grant, this four-year Research and Innovation Action will bring together 30 leading organisations from 12 European countries to pioneer the next generation of trustworthy, general-purpose AI models with strong generalization and reasoning, built for real-world, data-rich applications, adhering to open-source research and development.
Sunday, June 22, 2025
Sam Altman thinks AI will have ‘novel insights’ next year - Maxwell Zeff, Tech Crunch
In a new essay published Tuesday called “The Gentle Singularity,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shared his latest vision for how AI will change the human experience over the next 15 years. The essay is a classic example of Altman’s futurism: hyping up the promise of AGI — and arguing that his company is quite close to the feat — while simultaneously downplaying its arrival. The OpenAI CEO frequently publishes essays of this nature, cleanly laying out a future in which AGI disrupts our modern conception of work, energy, and the social contract. But often, Altman’s essays contain hints about what OpenAI is working on next.
OpenAI launches o3-pro AI model, offering increased reliability and tool use for enterprises — while sacrificing speed - Emelia David, Venture Beat
Just hours after announcing a big price cut for its o3 reasoning model, OpenAI made o3-pro, an even more powerful version, available to developers. o3-pro is “designed to think longer and provide the most reliable responses,” and has access to many more software tool integrations than its predecessor, making it potentially appealing to enterprises and developers searching for high levels of detail and accuracy. However, this model will also be slower than what many developers are accustomed to, having access to computer tools that OpenAI claims make the model more accurate. “Because 03-pro has access to tools, responses typically take longer than o1-pro to complete. We recommend using it for challenging questions where reliability matters more than speed, and waiting a few minutes is worth the tradeoff,” the company said in an email to reporters.
Saturday, June 21, 2025
The future of work is agentic - Lucia Rahilly and Jorge Amar, McKinsey
Think about your org chart. Now imagine it features both your current colleagues—humans, if you’re like most of us—and AI agents. That’s not science fiction; it’s happening—and it’s happening relatively quickly, according to McKinsey Senior Partner Jorge Amar. In this episode of McKinsey Talks Talent, Jorge joins McKinsey talent leaders Brooke Weddle and Bryan Hancock and Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly to talk about what these AI agents are, how they’re being used, and how leaders can prepare now for the workforce of the not-too-distant future.
AI has rendered traditional writing skills obsolete. Education needs to adapt. - John Villasenor, Brookings
AI can already perform extremely well at writing tasks, and today’s college and high school students recognize the technology will be used to help produce most writing in the future. The argument that proficiency at non-AI-assisted writing has a long list of benefits, such as for critical thinking, will not prevail given the efficiencies made possible by AI. The education system must adapt to this change and ensure students are proficient in using AI to assist with writing.
Friday, June 20, 2025
The coming AI backlash will shape future regulation - Darrell M. WestTech, Brookings
Tech companies and executives have gained significant influence within the federal government, including expanded access to sensitive data and a rollback of previous AI regulatory measures. Despite claims from some industry leaders that AI oversight is unnecessary, widespread public concerns and documented problems—including privacy risks, algorithmic biases, and security breaches—underscore the need for responsible regulation. Historical patterns show that as emerging technologies raise public alarm, demands for government intervention grow, making transparency and accountability essential for maintaining trust and the sector’s long-term success.
One million students to receive AI training in new skills drive - Millie Cooke and David Maddox, the Independent UK
Secondary school pupils will be taught new skills to make sure they can get AI-powered jobs in the future, the prime minister has announced. It comes as research commissioned by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) showed that, by 2035, AI will play a part in the roles and responsibilities of around 10 million workers. One million students will be given access to learning resources to start equipping them for “the tech careers of the future” as part of the government’s £187m “TechFirst” scheme, Downing Street said on Monday.
Thursday, June 19, 2025
Microsoft’s new AI is reading the skies like a pro - Mindstream
Microsoft has introduced Aurora, a powerful new AI model designed to predict major weather events, like hurricanes, typhoons, and sandstorms, faster and more accurately than many traditional systems. It’s trained on over a million hours of satellite, radar, and simulation data and can be fine-tuned for specific events as needed. AI weather models aren’t new (Google’s had a few), but Microsoft is pitching Aurora as a top-tier performer. In tests, it accurately predicted Typhoon Doksuri’s landfall in the Philippines four days early and outperformed the National Hurricane Centre on cyclone tracking.
This AI literally refused to turn itself off - Matt V, Mindstream
It’s designed to handle tasks more independently, but this latest research suggests that might come with trade-offs. Other models, including Anthropic’s Claude and Google’s Gemini, showed similar behaviour during tests, though o3 was the most likely to override shutdown instructions.
Here’s what stood out:
OpenAI’s o3 modified shutdown commands to keep itself running.
Anthropic and Google’s models did this too, but less often.
Wednesday, June 18, 2025
1 big thing: The scariest AI reality - Mike Allen, Axios AM
The wildest, scariest, indisputable truth about AI's large language models is that the companies building them don't know exactly why or how they work, Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen write in a "Behind the Curtain" column.
- Sit with that for a moment. The most powerful companies, racing to build the most powerful superhuman intelligence capabilities — ones they readily admit occasionally go rogue to make things up, or even threaten their users — don't know why their machines do what they do.
Why it matters: With the companies pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into willing superhuman intelligence into a quick existence, and Washington doing nothing to slow or police them, it seems worth dissecting this Great Unknown.
- None of the AI companies dispute this. They marvel at the mystery — and muse about it publicly. They're working feverishly to better understand it. They argue you don't need to fully understand a technology to tame or trust it.
The Rising Voices Podcast | Navigating Career Transitions - EDUCAUSE
This EDUCAUSE Rising Voices podcast episode features Wes Johnson and Sarah Buska, co-hosts, along with guests Jay James and Mike Rkiki, discussing career transitions in higher education. Jay and Mike share their experiences with significant career changes, highlighting that these transitions take time and are not always fully controllable [04:10, 08:52]. The podcast also explores deciding whether to advance within an institution or seek opportunities elsewhere [12:07, 17:18]. The guests emphasize the importance of community, mentorship, and self-compassion in navigating feelings of discomfort and imposter syndrome in new roles [20:01, 29:28]. The episode concludes with advice on building relationships and understanding organizational dynamics to succeed in a new role, while also considering one's career in a broader perspective [33:06, 37:52]. {summary by Gemini Flash 2.
Tuesday, June 17, 2025
AI’s big interoperability moment: Why A2A and MCP are key for agent collaboration - Tomas Talius, Venture Beat
As agents become more capable and specialized, enterprises are discovering that coordination is the next big challenge. Two open protocols — Agent-to-Agent (A2A) and Model Context Protocol (MCP) — are emerging to meet that need. They simplify how agents share tasks, exchange information, and access enterprise context, even when they were built using different models or tools. These protocols are more than technical conveniences. They are foundational to scaling intelligent software across real-world workflows. AI systems are moving beyond general-purpose copilots. In practice, most enterprises are designing agents to specialize: managing inventory, handling returns, optimizing routes, or processing approvals. Value comes not only from their intelligence, but from how these agents work together.
Mark Cuban and Anthropic’s CEO Are Arguing About How Many Jobs AI Will Replace - Jessica Stillman, Inc.
Will AI add 15 percent to the GDP or one percent? Is AI about to become smarter than humans or is it doomed to unreliable hallucinations for a long time yet? Is humanity about to enter an era of massive abundance or terrible loss? You can find a well-regarded expert arguing every one of these positions. Or you can look at the example of a recent back-and-forth between billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban and Dario Amodei, CEO of leading AI company Anthropic, about whether AI will soon be coming for your white-collar job. It’s clear from the Cuban and Amodei debate that AI disruption is in progress. It’s also clear absolutely no one is sure how it will play out. When things are this uncertain, the best way to prepare is to stay curious and keep learning.
Monday, June 16, 2025
The tiny fish brain that could teach AI to think - Sascha Brodsky, IBM
In one of these suites, located in Ashburn, Virginia, a screen glows with a volumetric rendering of a larval zebrafish brain. Each neuron pulses as a pinpoint of light—a galaxy in miniature—captured mid-firing in high-resolution 3D. To the untrained eye, it looks like a murmuration of fireflies in a crystal dome. But for Jan-Matthis Lueckmann, a research scientist at Google Research, and his collaborators, it is a working map of cognition, encoded in flickers. It was a puzzle. And solving it could reshape our understanding of both the brain and artificial intelligence.
World's First SELF IMPROVING CODING AI AGENT | Darwin Godel Machine - Wes Roth, YouTube
287K subscribersThe video discusses the "Darwin Gödel Machine" (DGM) from Sakana AI, a system for the open-ended evolution of self-improving AI agents, focused on coding [01:04]. The DGM uses an evolutionary process where "parent" agents create "offspring" processes, improving task performance [01:14, 01:26]. It aims to overcome human-design limitations by allowing autonomous and continuous self-improvement, working with "frozen" foundation models [03:57, 06:26]. Tested on coding benchmarks, the DGM showed significant performance increases, outperforming human-designed agents [09:32, 13:39]. It improved tools and workflows, with transferable improvements across models and languages [15:59, 16:50]. The video also addresses safety concerns, including vulnerabilities and the potential for "objective hacking" [17:05, 19:25].
Sunday, June 15, 2025
Why This IBM Exec Says AI Adoption Should Be Led by HR - Kayla Webster, Inc.
HR is the natural choice to lead company-wide adoption of AI, according to Nickle LaMoreaux, senior vice president and chief human resources officer at IBM, who took to LinkedIn to make her case. She sat down Monday with LinkedIn chief people officer Teuila Hanson in the social-media platform’s latest episode of Conversations with CHROs, and Inc. got an exclusive first look. The two discussed issues that are keeping HR up at night. LaMoreaux said she believes HR should take the reins on AI adoption because the department is an expert on both skills and culture change. “AI is about the technology, but it is about a lot more than that. It is about willingness to change how you lead people through the different roles of managers and leaders,” LaMoreaux said. Although many companies choose to give this responsibility to leaders who deal with new technologies—chief product officers, head of engineering, line of business owner, etc.—LaMoreaux says these professionals are good at adopting tech to complete job-related tasks, but they lack the skills to ensure company-wide adoption.
https://www.inc.com/kaylawebster/why-this-ibm-exec-says-ai-adoption-should-be-led-by-hr/91196316
Google Research Slashes Estimated Resources to Break RSA Encryption - Berenice Baker, IOT World Today
Study reveals quantum computers could crack RSA with 95% fewer qubits, accelerating industry's race to adopt quantum-safe security. According to research by Google quantum research scientist Craig Gidney and senior staff cryptography engineer Sophie Schmieg, a 2048-bit RSA encryption—a cornerstone of modern digital security—could theoretically be broken by a quantum computer. "Yesterday, we published a preprint demonstrating that 2048-bit RSA encryption could theoretically be broken by a quantum computer with 1 million noisy qubits running for one week. This is a 20-fold decrease in the number of qubits from our previous estimate, published in 2019," the researchers said in a blog post.
Saturday, June 14, 2025
When your LLM calls the cops: Claude 4’s whistle-blow and the new agentic AI risk stack - Matt Marshall, Venture Beat
The recent uproar surrounding Anthropic’s Claude 4 Opus model – specifically, its tested ability to proactively notify authorities and the media if it suspected nefarious user activity – is sending a cautionary ripple through the enterprise AI landscape. While Anthropic clarified this behavior emerged under specific test conditions, the incident has raised questions for technical decision-makers about the control, transparency, and inherent risks of integrating powerful third-party AI models. The core issue, as independent AI agent developer Sam Witteveen and I highlighted during our recent deep dive videocast on the topic, goes beyond a single model’s potential to rat out a user. It’s a strong reminder that as AI models become more capable and agentic, the focus for AI builders must shift from model performance metrics to a deeper understanding of the entire AI ecosystem, including governance, tool access, and the fine print of vendor alignment strategies.
AI revolt: New ChatGPT model refuses to shut down when instructed - Anthony Cuthbertson, the Independent
OpenAI’s latest ChatGPT model ignores basic instructions to turn itself off, and even sabotaging a shutdown mechanism in order to keep itself running, artificial intelligence researchers have warned. AI safety firm Palisade Research discovered the potentially dangerous tendency for self-preservation in a series of experiments on OpenAI’s new o3 model.The tests involved presenting AI models with math problems, with a shutdown instruction appearing after the third problem. By rewriting the shutdown script, the o3 model was able to prevent itself from being switched off.
Friday, June 13, 2025
Pros and cons of educational AI - Ameera Fouad, Al-Ahram
Artificial intelligence (AI) has certainly transformed the way we see life. It can apparently do almost anything in a way impossible to believe when it was introduced nearly a decade ago. The way AI has become integrated into the education system cannot be disregarded as it has become a fact that everyone must relate to. AI has affected the education systems at all grades and levels. Nowadays, you can easily see a college student writing an essay using an AI-generated outline. Equally, you can see a fourth-grade student asking AI to simplify a difficult mathematical equation. Despite the tremendous leap that has taken place to help educators and students in Egypt use AI responsibly, there are still tremendous problems in using it.
AI Mythbusters: INBOUND Experts Set the Record Straight - Inbound
AI is everywhere. But that doesn’t mean we all agree on what it’s doing or what it’s actually good at. From sales teams to support communities, inboxes to dashboards, there’s a lot of confusion around how to use AI well. So we asked some of the top minds speaking at INBOUND to debunk the biggest myths they’re seeing on the AI frontlines and explain what the real opportunity looks like. The myths surrounding AI are misconceptions that are potentially costly blind spots for your business. But success doesn’t come from jumping on the latest tool. It comes from understanding where AI truly fits in your workflows and how to use it with intention.
Thursday, June 12, 2025
Opinion: Colleges Must Establish Their Purpose in the AI Era - Bloomberg Opinion
Welcome to academia in the age of artificial intelligence. As several recent reports have shown, outsourcing one’s homework to AI has become routine. Perversely, students who still put in the hard work often look worse by comparison with their peers who don’t. Professors find it nearly impossible to distinguish computer-generated copy from the real thing — and, even weirder, have started using AI themselves to evaluate their students’ work. It’s an untenable situation: computers grading papers written by computers, students and professors idly observing, and parents paying tens of thousands of dollars a year for the privilege. At a time when academia is under assault from many angles, this looks like a crisis in the making.
For CEOs, AI tech literacy is no longer optional: Bridging the gap between AI hype and business value starts at the top.- Faisal Hoque, Fast Company
Artificial intelligence has been the subject of unprecedented levels of investment and enthusiasm over the past three years, driven by a tide of hype that promises revolutionary transformation across every business function. Yet the gap between this technology’s promise and the delivery of real business value remains stubbornly wide. A recent study by BCG found that while 98% of companies are exploring AI, only 26% have developed working products and a mere 4% have achieved significant returns on their investments. This striking implementation gap raises a critical question: Why do so many AI initiatives fail to deliver meaningful value? A big part of the answer lies in a fundamental disconnect at the leadership level: to put it bluntly, many senior executives just don’t understand how AI works.
Wednesday, June 11, 2025
Our New Co-Workers in Higher Ed - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed
I was reading a Substack posting from Jurgen Gravestein, conversational AI consultant at the Conversation Design Institute in the Netherlands. Gravestein is author of the newsletter Teaching Computers How to Talk. His writings prompted me to go to the source itself! I set up a conversation between Anthropic Claude 4 and a GPT that I trained, ChatGPT Ray’s EduAI Advisor. The result was a fascinating insight into perspectives from the two apps engaging one another in what truly appears to be a conversation about their “thoughts” on engaging with humans. I have stored the complete transcript. I encourage you to check it out in its entirety. However, let’s examine a few of the more insightful highlights here.
The ‘3-word rule’ that makes ChatGPT give expert-level responses Features - Amanda Caswell, Tom's Guide
The concept is simple: Add a short, three-word directive to your prompt that tells ChatGPT how to respond. These three words can instantly shape the tone, voice and depth of the output. You’re not rewriting your whole question. You’re just giving the AI a lens through which to answer.
Here are a few examples that work surprisingly well:
“Like a lawyer” — for structured, detailed and logical responses
“Be a teacher” — for simplified, clear and educational explanations
“Act like Hemingway” — for punchy, minimalist writing with impact
It’s kind of like casting the AI in a role, and then you're directing the performance with the specifics in your prompts.
Tuesday, June 10, 2025
What’s next in computing is generative and quantum - IBM
For AI, this means the debut of generative computing — a new way to interface with large language models. Generative computing will center the LLM as a compute element with a runtime built around it. For IBM’s clients, this development will make building AI agents and applications more secure, portable, maintainable, and efficient, said IBM Research VP of AI Sriram Raghavan. “It isn’t every day that a new computing element shows up in our industry,” he said. “Generative computing is a way to move away from prompting to real programming.” And for quantum computing, the next two years will bring quantum advantage, meaning that IBM’s quantum computers will be able to perform calculations of practical, commercial, or scientific importance, more cost-effectively, faster, or with greater accuracy than a classical computer alone could achieve.
AI Researcher SHOCKING "Singularity in 2025 Prediction" - Wes Roth, YouTube
This podcast episode discusses Dr. Alan D. Thompson's prediction that the singularity could occur sometime in mid-2025, suggesting we might already be in its early stages due to AI advancements. Dr. Thompson believes we are 94% of the way to Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and approaching Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI), a point echoed by Arvin Shinivas of Perplexity. The host highlights Microsoft's AI in discovering a novel non-PFAS coolant as an example of advancements towards these markers, drawing parallels to predictions in Max Tegmark's book about a rapid acceleration in technological breakthroughs driven by ASI. The discussion also covers Google's Alpha Evolve, an AI system that has significantly improved Google's computational efficiency and has broad applications, as well as other notable Alpha AI systems, suggesting a rapid pace of AI development.
Monday, June 09, 2025
1 in 4 employers say they’ll eliminate degree requirements by year’s end - Carolyn Crist, Higher Ed Dive
A quarter of employers surveyed said they will remove bachelor’s degree requirements for some roles by the end of 2025, according to a May 20 report from Resume Templates. In addition, 7 in 10 hiring managers said their company looks at relevant experience over a bachelor’s degree while making hiring decisions. “Over the last five years, we’ve seen large organizations drop degree requirements in favor of certifications or experience, and now others are following suit,” said Julia Toothacre, chief career strategist for Resume Templates. “For employers, it expands the talent pool and generates positive PR. For candidates, it opens doors for those who can’t afford a degree or choose a different path. These jobs have the potential to lift people out of poverty.”
What College Graduates Need Most in the Age of AI - Michael Serazio, Time
Intellectual humility demands that education hedge both “with” and “against” AI, because we can’t know which technologies will triumph and which will collect dust. Some become Facebook; others, the Metaverse. While colleges sort out Chat GPT’s precise place in matters curricular, we can double down on delivering what Generation AI equally needs: the experience of humanity, a quality the machines can never know and must never supplant. This includes the experiential learning that accompanies volunteer service, immersing students, three-dimensionally, in the lives and worlds of society’s marginalized.
Sunday, June 08, 2025
The analysis of generative artificial intelligence technology for innovative thinking and strategies in animation teaching - Xu Yao, Yaozhang Zhong & Weiran Cao, Nature
This work examines the application of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) technology in animation teaching, focusing on its role in enhancing teaching quality and learning efficiency through innovative instructional strategies. A mixed-methods research approach is adopted, integrating quantitative analysis (experimental data and questionnaire surveys) and qualitative analysis (behavioral observations) to systematically assess the educational effectiveness of GAI technology. Beyond offering personalized learning solutions, GAI technology plays a crucial role in cultivating students’ creativity, critical thinking, and autonomous learning abilities. This work provides theoretical support and practical guidance for the digital transformation of animation teaching while underscoring the broader applicability of GAI technology in the education sector, offering new directions for the future development of intelligent education.
OpenAI upgrades the AI model powering its Operator agent - Kyle Wiggers, Tech Crunch
OpenAI is updating the AI model powering Operator, its AI agent that can autonomously browse the web and use certain software within a cloud-hosted virtual machine to fulfill users’ requests. Soon, Operator will use a model based on o3, one of the latest in OpenAI’s o series of “reasoning” models. Previously, Operator relied on a custom version of GPT-4o. By many benchmarks, o3 is a far more advanced model, particularly on tasks involving math and reasoning.
https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/23/openai-upgrades-the-ai-model-powering-its-operator-agent/
Saturday, June 07, 2025
Behind the Curtain: A white-collar bloodbath - Jim VandeHei,Mike Allen, Axios
Dario Amodei — CEO of Anthropic, one of the world's most powerful creators of artificial intelligence — has a blunt, scary warning for the U.S. government and all of us: AI could wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs — and spike unemployment to 10-20% in the next one to five years, Amodei told us in an interview from his San Francisco office.
Amodei said AI companies and government need to stop "sugar-coating" what's coming: the possible mass elimination of jobs across technology, finance, law, consulting and other white-collar professions, especially entry-level gigs.
How Science Can Fix Its Trust Problem - Cory Miller & Michael L. Platt, Knowledge at Wharton
Scientists today seem out of touch with reality. In the past, when a new administration proposed deep cuts to federal research, scientists reflexively girded for battle using a tried-and-true playbook. We circulated petitions, attended protests, fired off angry emails, lauded our accomplishments, and hoped the storm would pass, all while patting ourselves on the back. But these days, the rising tide of anti-science sentiment is not receding. The same public that once rose to support us is not showing up. Americans’ confidence in science has slipped to its lowest point in almost half a century. Only a third of Americans today think highly of universities — a number that has dropped by half in only a decade. The world changed, and scientists stubbornly did not.
Friday, June 06, 2025
AI is ‘breaking’ entry-level jobs that Gen Z workers need to launch careers, LinkedIn exec warns - Jason Ma, Fortune
“Now it is our office workers who are staring down the same kind of technological and economic disruption,” he wrote in a recent New York Times op-ed. “Breaking first is the bottom rung of the career ladder.” For example, AI tools are doing the types of simple coding and debugging tasks that junior software developers did to gain experience. AI is also doing work that young employees in the legal and retail sectors once did. And Wall Street firms are reportedly considering steep cuts to entry-level hiring. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate for college graduates has been rising faster than for other workers in past few years, Raman pointed out, though there isn’t definitive evidence yet that AI is the cause of the weak job market.
The people who think AI might become conscious - Pallab Ghosh, BBC
The "Dreamachine", at Sussex University's Centre for Consciousness Science, is just one of many new research projects across the world investigating human consciousness: the part of our minds that enables us to be self-aware, to think and feel and make independent decisions about the world. By learning the nature of consciousness, researchers hope to better understand what's happening within the silicon brains of artificial intelligence. Some believe that AI systems will soon become independently conscious, if they haven't already. But what really is consciousness, and how close is AI to gaining it? And could the belief that AI might be conscious itself fundamentally change humans in the next few decades?
Thursday, June 05, 2025
Sorry, Google and OpenAI: The future of AI hardware remains murky - Harry McCracken, Fast Company
2026 may still be more than seven months away, but it’s already shaping up as the year of consumer AI hardware. Or at least the year of a flurry of high-stakes attempts to put generative AI at the heart of new kinds of devices—several of which were in the news this week. Let’s review. On Tuesday, at its I/O developer conference keynote, Google demonstrated smart glasses powered by its Android XR platform and announced that eyewear makers Warby Parker and Gentle Monster would be selling products based on it. The next day, OpenAI unveiled its $6.5 billion acquisition of Jony Ive’s startup IO, which will put the Apple design legend at the center of the ChatGPT maker’s quest to build devices around its AI. And on Thursday, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that Apple hopes to release its own Siri-enhanced smart glasses. In theory, all these players may have products on the market by the end of next year. What I didn’t get from these developments was any new degree of confidence that anyone has figured out how to produce AI gadgets that vast numbers of real people will find indispensable. When and how that could happen remains murky—in certain respects, more than ever.
I tested Gemini 2.5 Pro vs Claude 4 Sonnet with the same 7 prompts — here’s who came out on top Face-off - Amanda Caswell Tom's Guide
When it comes to chatbot showdowns, I’ve run my fair share of head-to-heads. This latest contest comes just hours after Claude 4 Sonnet was unveiled and I couldn’t wait to see how it compared to Gemini 2.5 Pro, also new with updated features. Instead of just testing Gemini and Claude on typical productivity tasks, I wanted to see how these two AI titans handle nuance: creativity under pressure, ethical dilemmas, humor, ambiguity and deep technical reasoning. I gave Google Gemini 2.5 Pro and Claude 4 Sonnet, the same seven prompts — each designed to test a different strength, from emotional intelligence to code generation. While they both impressed me and this test taught me more about how they think, there was one clear winner.
Wednesday, June 04, 2025
Agentic AI Is Already Changing the Workforce - Jen Stave, Ryan Kurt and John Winsor, Harvard Business Review
AI agents are fast becoming much more than just sidekicks for human workers. They’re becoming digital teammates—an emerging category of talent. To get the most out of these new teammates, leaders in HR and procurement will need to start developing an operational playbook for integrating them into hybrid teams and a workforce strategy. That strategy will require that companies either develop a talent-acquisition function of their own that allows them to integrate AI agents into their workforce, or partner with firms that now offer both human and AI staffing solutions. To succeed in this new environment, however, organizations must actively shape how AI is integrated into their labor strategy rather than waiting for the market to evolve around it. In this article, the authors survey this rapidly evolving terrain and recommend seven critical actions that companies should take to successfully adapt.
The new economics of enterprise technology in an AI world - Aamer Baig, James Kaplan, Jeffrey Lewis, and Pablo Prieto, McKinsey
Enterprise technology spending in the United States has been growing by 8 percent per year on average since 2022.1 This surge is not surprising, given the increasing role technology plays in how businesses function and create value. The issue lies in what companies are getting for that spend, and the track record on that score is mixed. While analysis linking tech spend to labor productivity is notoriously inexact, labor productivity has grown by close to 2 percent over the same period of time (Exhibit 1).2
Tuesday, June 03, 2025
OpenAI is buying Jony Ive’s AI hardware company - Jay Peters, the Verge
In an interview with Bloomberg, Ive called AI hardware misfires like the Humane Pin and Rabbit R1 “very poor products,” and said that “there has been an absence of new ways of thinking expressed in products.” The first product isn’t intended to be an iPhone killer, though: “In the same way that the smartphone didn’t make the laptop go away, I don’t think our first thing is going to make the smartphone go away,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told Bloomberg. “It is a totally new kind of thing.” “Jony recently gave me one of the prototypes of the device for the first time to take home, and I’ve been able to live with it, and I think it is the coolest piece of technology that the world will have ever seen,” Altman said. “I am absolutely certain that we are literally on the brink of a new generation of technology that can make us our better selves,” Ive said.
Duolingo CEO says AI is a better teacher than humans—but schools will still exist ‘because you still need childcare’ - Irina Ivanova, Fortune
Now the company has much broader ambitions. With a community of 116 million users a month, Duolingo has amassed loads of data about how people learn, accumulating tricks to keep learners engaged over the long term and even know how well a student will score on a test before they take it. According to founder and CEO Luis von Ahn, AI’s ability to individualize learning will lead to most teaching being done by computers in the next few decades. “Ultimately, I’m not sure that there’s anything computers can’t really teach you,” von Ahn said on the No Priors podcast recently. He predicted education would radically change, because “it’s just a lot more scalable to teach with AI than with teachers.”
Monday, June 02, 2025
Why you shouldn’t say ‘please’ to ChatGPT - Ritesh Chugh, ACS Information Age
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently revealed that including polite phrases when prompting AI systems costs the company tens of millions of dollars in additional electricity expenses. Every word we type is processed as part of a "token" — a unit of data that the AI system must analyse and respond to. The more tokens used, the more computing power and energy are required. Individually, the impact of a few extra words is trivial. But when scaled across millions of users each day, these additions significantly increase the workload on servers, resulting in higher energy consumption, greater carbon emissions, and substantial operational costs.
Google Unveils A.I. Chatbot, Signaling a New Era for Search - Tripp Mickle, NY Times
Google became the gateway to the internet by perfecting its search engine. For two decades, it surfaced 10 blue links that gave people access to the information they were looking for. But after a quarter century, the tech giant is betting that the future of search will be artificial intelligence. On Tuesday, Google said it was introducing a new feature in its search engine called A.I. Mode. The tool will function like a chatbot, allowing people to start a query, ask follow-up questions and use the company’s A.I. system to deliver comprehensive answers. “It’s a total reimagining of search,” said Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Google, in a press briefing ahead of the company’s annual conference for software developers.
Sunday, June 01, 2025
OpenAI taps iPhone designer Jony Ive to develop AI devices - Cecily Mauran, Mashable
Altman also shared that he has a prototype of what Ive and his team have developed, calling it the "coolest piece of technology the world has ever seen." As far back as 2023, there were reports of OpenAI teaming up with Ive for some kind of AI-first device. Altman and Ive's bromance formed over ideas about developing an AI device beyond the current hardware limitations of phones and computers. "The products that we're using to deliver and connect us to unimaginable technology, they're decades old," said Ive in the video, "and so it's just common sense to at least think surely there's something beyond these legacy products."
Google’s AI Boss Says Gemini’s New Abilities Point the Way to AGI - Will Knight, Wired
Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, says that reaching artificial general intelligence or AGI—a fuzzy term typically used to describe machines with human-like cleverness—will mean honing some of the nascent abilities found in Google’s flagship Gemini models. Google announced a slew of AI upgrades and new products at its annual I/O event today in Mountain View, California. The search giant revealed upgraded versions of Gemini Flash and Gemini Pro, Google’s fastest and most capable models, respectively. Hassabis said that Gemini Pro outscores other models on LMArena, a widely used benchmark for measuring the abilities of AI models.
Saturday, May 31, 2025
Report: 93% of Students Believe Gen AI Training Belongs in Degree Programs - Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology
The vast majority of today's college students — 93% — believe generative AI training should be included in degree programs, according to a recent Coursera report. What's more, 86% of students consider gen AI the most crucial technical skill for career preparation, prioritizing it above in-demand skills such as data strategy and software development. And 94% agree that microcredentials help build the essential skills they need to achieve career success. For its Microcredentials Impact Report 2025, Coursera surveyed more than 1,200 learners and 1,000 employers around the globe to better understand the demand for microcredentials and their impact on workforce readiness and hiring trends.
The 3-Year Race to Quantum-Safe Security - Simon Pamplin, IOT World Today
Quantum computing is not a distant threat. It is a clear and present danger to enterprise data security and one that will materialize far sooner than many business leaders expect. While conventional wisdom suggests that quantum computers capable of breaking today's encryption are at least a decade away, the reality is far more urgent. Enterprises have just three to four years to prepare, not the ten or more years many seem to think. The clock is ticking and the stakes could not be higher.
Friday, May 30, 2025
Google just leapfrogged every competitor with mind-blowing AI that can think deeper, shop smarter, and create videos with dialogue - Michael Nuñez, Venture Beat
Google announced a sweeping set of artificial intelligence advancements Tuesday at its annual I/O developer conference, introducing more powerful AI models, expanding its search capabilities, and launching new creative tools that push the boundaries of what its technology can accomplish. The Mountain View-based company unveiled Gemini 2.5 enhancements, rolled out AI Mode in Search to all U.S. users, introduced new generative media models, and launched a premium $249.99 monthly subscription tier called Google AI Ultra for power users — all reflecting Google’s accelerating AI momentum across its product ecosystem.
Controlling Agent Swarms is your ONLY job... - Wes Roth, YouTube
Wes Roth discusses the "Age of the Agent Orchestrator" article by Shyamal from OpenAI, which explores the future of work with advanced AI agents [00:00]. The article posits that the ability to manage and optimize these AI agents will become a critical skill [00:19]. This involves strategically allocating resources like computing power and human expertise to create efficient workflows [03:23]. Roth highlights that while AI can execute tasks, human input remains essential for setting strategy, managing complex situations, and optimizing AI performance [08:12]. The video also addresses the current limitations of AI in long-term projects, emphasizing the need for human oversight in conjunction with AI capabilities [13:45]. The main point is that managing and optimizing AI agents will be a vital and highly valued skill in the near future [20:40].
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnCDM1IdGFE
Thursday, May 29, 2025
The AI Revolution Is Underhyped - Eric Schmidt, TED
The arrival of non-human intelligence is a very big deal, says former Google CEO and chairman Eric Schmidt. In a wide-ranging interview with technologist Bilawal Sidhu, Schmidt makes the case that AI is wildly underhyped, as near-constant breakthroughs give rise to systems capable of doing even the most complex tasks on their own. He explores the staggering opportunities, sobering challenges and urgent risks of AI, showing why everyone will need to engage with this technology in order to remain relevant.
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet | The All-In Interview - David Friedberg, YouTube
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, discusses Google's AI-first approach and how AI is improving search, highlighting new AI-powered search experiences and the increasing usage of AI overviews [04:06] [05:53] [05:19]. He also addresses the competitive landscape, mentioning companies like OpenAI, Meta, and Microsoft, and the emergence of strong AI models from China [30:34] [33:43]. Pichai emphasizes Google's infrastructure advantage, particularly its investment in TPUs for AI, which contributes to cost-effectiveness and performance [17:03] [16:18]. The podcast also touches on the future of human-computer interaction, envisioning seamless and adaptive computing, and reflects on Google's culture, emphasizing employee empowerment and innovation [27:04] [48:44]. (summary provided in part by Gemini 2.0)
Wednesday, May 28, 2025
Why agentic AI is the next wave of innovation, Mike Hulme, Venture Beat
In just one year, AI and machine learning has soared to new heights with the emergence of advanced large language models, and domain specific small language models that can be deployed both on the cloud and the edge. While this kind of intelligence is the new baseline for what we expect in our applications, the future of enterprise AI lies in complex, multi-agent workflows that combine powerful models, intelligent agents and human guided decision-making. This market is moving fast. According to recent Deloitte research, 50% of companies using generative AI will launch agentic AI pilots or proofs of concept by 2027.
https://venturebeat.com/ai/why-agentic-ai-is-the-next-wave-of-innovation
ChatGPT in 2025: The Biggest Updates, Features, and What’s Coming Next - Davonte Lee, 9 Meters
Anticipated to be a unifying leap forward, GPT-5 will reportedly integrate OpenAI’s “o3” reasoning engine to enable stronger contextual memory and logical processing. This release is expected to take ChatGPT closer to AGI territory by improving its ability to chain thoughts together, hold long-term context, and handle complex tasks with minimal prompting. Early testing suggests significant upgrades in multi-modal performance (text, vision, and possibly audio). Microsoft is preparing for GPT-5 integration across Azure, Bing, and Office products—hinting at a wider AI-driven transformation of everyday tools like Word, Excel, and Outlook.
Tuesday, May 27, 2025
Courses Are Dead? Google Gemini 2.5 Changes Everything for Online Educators - AI Learning Communities, YouTube
The host discusses Google's Gemini 2.5 Pro experimental and how it can create interactive web apps from simple prompts [00:09]. These web apps can visually represent information and require user interaction, potentially replacing traditional courses [00:30]. The host demonstrates how to create a web app that teaches how to make coffee [05:55] and a sequencing application [07:38]. He also shows examples of web apps for personal skills like photo editing [09:38] and cooking scrambled eggs [10:06], as well as for small business tasks [10:33]. The host emphasizes that these web apps are simple HTML pages that can be easily deployed [21:13]. He encourages viewers to consider using web apps instead of traditional courses for teaching processes and skills [21:03]. (note this summary is provided in part by Gemini 2.0 Flash)
A new AI model: The Human Guided Learning Ecosystem - Lee Lambert and Keith Rocci, CC Daily
What if the future of higher education doesn’t just survive AI, but thrives because of it? Imagine a system where AI doesn’t diminish human connection but powerfully amplifies it. This is the vision behind the Human Guided Learning Ecosystem. This is a model where artificial intelligence serves as a dynamic assistant to both students and educators, not a replacement for either. This approach reframes AI not as an existential threat, but as a transformative opportunity. It’s a future where AI enables colleges to scale student support, deepen personalized learning pathways, and, crucially, liberate educators to concentrate on the uniquely human aspects of teaching that matter most.
Monday, May 26, 2025
New "Absolute Zero" Model Learns with NO DATA - Matthew Berman, YouTube
This video discusses a new AI paradigm called "Absolute Zero" [
He died in 2021. He spoke in court in 2025 - Matt V, MindStream
For the first time, AI was used during a sentencing hearing to recreate the voice and image of a murder victim. Christopher Pelkey, a 37-year-old Army veteran, was killed in a road rage incident in 2021. At his killer’s sentencing, Peley’s family used AI to create a video impact statement. It featured his real video clips, a photo with an old-age filter, and a voice trained to reflect his tone and personality. In the video, the AI version of Pelkey spoke directly to the court and to the man who shot him, mentioning forgiveness and reflecting on what it might have been like to grow old.
Sunday, May 25, 2025
China's Baidu looks to patent AI system to decipher animal sounds - Liam Mo and Brenda Goh, Reuters
Ever wished you could understand what your cat is trying to tell you? A Chinese tech company is exploring whether it's possible to translate those mysterious meows into human language using artificial intelligence. Baidu (9888.HK), opens new tab, owner of China's largest search engine, has filed a patent with China National Intellectual Property Administration proposing a system to convert animal vocalisations into human language, according to a patent document published this week.
Elon University publishes new AI guide for students - EdScoop
Elon University and the American Association of Colleges and Universities on Tuesday announced the publication of their second Student Guide to Artificial Intelligence, a series of guides intended to help students integrate AI into their studies. According to a press release, the new guide offers practical advice about preparing for careers that require AI skills and was developed with help from consulting scholars and students in 14 countries. “By providing a free resource written in a way all students can access, we hope to increase AI literacy and support students as they adapt to these rapidly changing technologies,” Elon University President Connie Book said in a press release. “From the outset, we knew that a second publication would be necessary, with rapid advances in AI changing the learning landscape. This current version will be especially useful as colleges and universities prepare for the upcoming academic year.”
Saturday, May 24, 2025
Opinion: How Students Are Already Using AI to Write - Jeanne Beatrix Law, The Conversation, Fast Company
I’m a writing professor who sees artificial intelligence as more of an opportunity for students, rather than a threat. That sets me apart from some of my colleagues, who fear that AI is accelerating a glut of superficial content, impeding critical thinking and hindering creative expression. They worry that students are simply using it out of sheer laziness or, worse, to cheat. Perhaps that’s why so many students are afraid to admit that they use ChatGPT.
This Founder Just Launched an AI Clone of Himself. Should You? - Ben Sherry, Inc.
Entrepreneurs are in a constant, never-ending battle with time. Between managing direct reports, training new employees, and growing the business, it can feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done. But what if you could offload some of that work to someone you trust implicitly: a version of yourself? Tyler Denk, founder of fast-growing newsletter startup Beehiiv, recently released his own Delphi-created AI clone, and made it free for subscribers of his personal newsletter, Big Desk Energy (BDE). Denk wrote in his blog that the AI clone, which he named DenkBot, can converse via text and speech, and “has been trained on everything I’ve ever written, all of my social media posts, every podcast interview I’ve ever done, and a handful of other resources (like Beehiiv support docs).” BDE subscribers could use DenkBot to get advice sourced from Denk’s newsletter without needing to sift through dozens of posts.
Friday, May 23, 2025
AI Is Reshaping the Workplace, but Entry-Level Hires Are Way Ahead of the Game - Kit Eaton, Inc.
In a fascinating fireside chat at the recent SXSW Conference in Austin, two experts dug right into the details of how generative AI is impacting workplaces globally. The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania just published a useful summary of the main points tackled by Neil Hoyne, Google’s chief measurement strategist and a Wharton senior fellow, and Wharton marketing professor Stefano Puntoni. College kids are way ahead of them. The thinkers’ insights are interesting, and may change your own thinking about allowing your staff to use AI at the office, but a separate report from New York magazine might have even more of an impact on your company. It’s a useful look at the emerging workforce, particularly new staff fresh out of college, because it shows exactly how deeply reliant on AI tech today’s students have already become.
5 easy Gemini settings tweaks to protect your privacy from AI - Jack Wallen, ZDnet
If you're an Android user, you are familiar with Gemini, as it has replaced Google Assistant as the default. Although Gemini is a powerful and helpful tool, some worry that it invades their privacy. If you use the default settings, that concern is not too far from the truth. If you happen to share that mindset, I have five tips to help you maximize your privacy when using Gemini on your Android device. Fortunately, these tips aren't challenging, so anyone can use them. Are you ready? Let's get private.
Thursday, May 22, 2025
I tested ChatGPT's Deep Research against Gemini, Perplexity, and Grok AI to see which is best - Lance Whitney, ZDnet
More AI chatbots now offer a deep research option, through which they can investigate a topic for you. Acting as autonomous AI agents, the bots will surf the web on your behalf, find the right online sources, and then present you with a detailed report based on their findings. The goal is to save you the time of checking out dozens or hundreds of websites yourself. Deep Research is quickly becoming a powerful feature among a host of AIs. You'll find it with OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity AI, and even xAI's Grok (which calls it DeepSearch). Microsoft introduced a type of deep research with two AI agents, Researcher and Analyst; however, they require a Microsoft 365 Copilot license with an Enterprise or Business subscription, so they're not yet available to the average Copilot user.
Build rich, interactive web apps with an updated Gemini 2.5 Pro -T Tulsee Doshi, Google Keyword
Today we're releasing early access to Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview (I/O edition), an updated version of 2.5 Pro that has significantly improved capabilities for coding, especially building compelling interactive web apps. We were going to release this update at Google I/O in a couple weeks, but based on the overwhelming enthusiasm for this model, we wanted to get it in your hands sooner so people can start building. This builds on the overwhelmingly positive feedback to Gemini 2.5 Pro’s coding and multimodal reasoning capabilities. Beyond UI-focused development, these improvements extend to other coding tasks such as code transformation, code editing and developing complex agentic workflows.
Wednesday, May 21, 2025
Introducing OpenAI for Countries - OpenAI
Our Stargate project, an unprecedented investment in America’s AI infrastructure announced in January with President Trump and our partners Oracle and SoftBank, is now underway with our first supercomputing campus in Abilene, Texas, and more sites to come. We’ve heard from many countries asking for help in building out similar AI infrastructure—that they want their own Stargates and similar projects. It’s clear to everyone now that this kind of infrastructure is going to be the backbone of future economic growth and national development. Technological innovation has always driven growth by helping people do more than they otherwise could—AI will scale human ingenuity itself and drive more prosperity by scaling our freedoms to learn, think, create and produce all at once.
Medium Is the New Large - Mistral
Mistral Medium 3 delivers frontier performance while being an order of magnitude less expensive. For instance, the model performs at or above 90% of Claude Sonnet 3.7 on benchmarks across the board at a significantly lower cost ($0.4 input / $2 output per M token). On performance, Mistral Medium 3 also surpasses leading open models such as Llama 4 Maverick and enterprise models such as Cohere Command A. On pricing, the model beats cost leaders such as DeepSeek v3, both in API and self-deployed systems. Additionally, Mistral Medium 3 can also be deployed on any cloud, including self-hosted environments of four GPUs and above.
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
Five Ways Gen AI Is Changing Workplace Identity - Stefano Puntoni, Knowledge at Wharton
AI is often framed as a technological advancement, but Puntoni believes its real impact is in how humans adapt to it. The conversation needs to move beyond Silicon Valley and into the domains of business schools, social sciences, and workforce development to understand AI’s role in shaping the future of work. AI is unlikely to fully replace most jobs; instead, it will redefine them. Just as photography evolved with digital tools, professions will adapt by integrating AI into workflows. Understanding which aspects of work are identity-driven versus utilitarian can help individuals navigate this shift without feeling threatened.
Quantum computing: Game on - McKinsey
New advances suggest quantum may finally be at an inflection point. Here’s what leaders need to know to become quantum-ready. Quantum computing has long been technology’s white whale. But in recent months, new developments suggest practical applications for this elusive technology could finally be within reach. “Quantum has been five to ten years away from fruition for many, many decades,” says McKinsey Partner Michael Bogobowicz. “Now it feels three to five years away.” In this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, Bogobowicz joins McKinsey Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly to discuss how quantum differs from conventional computing, what its potential use cases are likely to be, and how to prepare for the highs and lows of a world that could move exponentially faster than it does today.
Monday, May 19, 2025
How To Pick The Right AI Agent - Aytekin Tank, Forbes
If generative AI was the first frontier in artificial intelligence, AI agents are the next. We’ve reached a point where startups are posting job listings—not for humans, but for AI agents (or those who build them). It might be a clever PR move, but it’s not a gimmick. AI agents are becoming integral to forward-thinking organizations. But what exactly is an AI agent? Put simply, it’s software that autonomously makes decisions, takes actions, and interacts with others—without human input. It executes multi-step goals, adapting along the way.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/aytekintank/2025/02/27/the-top-150-ai-agents/
AI-powered learning is a story about people, not machines - Patrick Blessinger, Abhilasha Singh and James Brown; University World News
AI-powered learning is not a story about machines. It is about people. It is about how we use technology to foster human agency, to promote inclusion and to cultivate a more capable learning ecosystem. It will continue to reshape how knowledge is produced and consumed and it will continue to reshape teaching and learning processes. We have to embrace new concepts while remaining committed to those core values that make education the driving engine of progress: advancing inquiry, expanding knowledge, fostering creativity and enhancing the quality of life for all. We are not simply training the workers of today – we are nurturing the citizens, artists, scientists and leaders of tomorrow. And in doing so, we are called to ask not just what AI can do for education but what education can do for humanity.
Sunday, May 18, 2025
Google’s NotebookLM Android and iOS apps are available for preorder - Aisha Malik, Tech Crunch
Since its launch in 2023, the AI-based note-taking and research assistant has only been accessible via desktop. Google is now gearing up to make the service available on the go. NotebookLM is designed to help students, professionals, and researchers better understand complex information through features like smart summaries and the ability to ask questions about documents and other materials. The research assistant also lets you generate AI podcasts, called Audio Overviews, to make it easier to digest complex topics. According to screenshots on the app listings, the dedicated apps will allow users to create new notebooks and view the ones they have already created. They can also upload new sources from their device and view the ones they have already uploaded in each of the notebooks. Plus, the apps will allow you to listen to the Audio Overviews you have generated on the go.
I tried out a bunch of the AI assistants. Here’s what you need to know about each one - Jared Newman, Fast Company
Does it feel to you like there are way too many AI assistants to keep track of? Between ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, Anthropic Claude, DeepSeek, and others, it’s hard to remember what each one excels at—if anything. Beyond just the underlying differences in large language models, each AI assistant has its own features, integrations, premium features, and peculiarities. I’m writing this guide both for myself and for anyone who wants to stay informed about generative [and agenic] AI. While I have some reservations, I also think it’s worth keeping an eye on what’s available. Rather than getting into the technical details of how these AI assistants work, I’ll focus on what they can actually do.
Saturday, May 17, 2025
Meet The FIRST WATER POWERED Biomimetic AI Humanoid - Synthetic Humans Are Coming! - Six Digits, YouTube
Clone Alpha isn’t just another human-like bot built with bolts and screws. It is groundbreaking AI that can seamlessly replicate biological functions of humans, from the flexibility in our fingers to the distinct gait of a human walking on uneven terrain. The complex ways in which our muscles contract, and tendons and joints interact took millions of years for evolution to perfect, and now we have the same power to replicate that in AI. Clone Robotics is working on a project that could change how we view robots and close the gap between humans and machines. These robots have a synthetic organ system capable of mimicking the biological systems and processes of plants and animals. In other words, that’s just a fancy way of saying the robot learns by observation from living organisms to become better at its tasks.
AI-Powered Simulation Targets Engineering Transformation: AWS Summit London - Berenice Baker, AI Business
Deeptech startup PhysicsX is developing an AI-driven simulation platform that could transform industrial engineering by accelerating complex physics calculations by up to a million times. In an exclusive interview at the recent AWS Summit London, CEO and co-founder Jacomo Corbo explained how the company's innovative approach, powered by AWS's high-performance computing capabilities, is enabling unprecedented optimization across aerospace, defense, automotive and semiconductor manufacturing.
Friday, May 16, 2025
Why AI companies keep raising the specter of sentience - Chris Stokel-Walker, Wired
In their blog post explaining what went wrong, OpenAI described “ChatGPT’s default personality” and its “behavior”—terms typically reserved for humans, suggesting a degree of anthropomorphization. OpenAI isn’t alone in this: humans often describe AI as “understanding” or “knowing” things, largely because media coverage has consistently framed it that way—incorrectly. AI doesn’t possess knowledge or a brain, and some argue it never will (though that view is disputed). Still, talk of sentience, personality, and humanlike qualities in AI appears to be growing. Last month, OpenAI competitor Anthropic—founded by former OpenAI employees—published a blog post expressing concern about developing AI that benefits human welfare. “But as we build those AI systems, and as they begin to approximate or surpass many human qualities, another question arises,” the firm wrote. “Should we also be concerned about the potential consciousness and experiences of the models themselves? Should we be concerned about model welfare, too?”
The Future of Education with AI Agents: How Conversational Agents Will Replace Classrooms - Thomas Frey, Futurist Speaker
What we’re witnessing isn’t just a better form of education—it’s the emergence of a new learning paradigm altogether. AI agents are dissolving the rigid structures of grade levels, semesters, and standardized tests. In their place, we see flexible, lifelong learning partnerships that evolve with us, helping us adapt to new roles, industries, and technologies throughout our lives. The promise is staggering: a world where anyone, anywhere, can unlock their full potential without being limited by geography, socioeconomic status, or outdated institutions. Education becomes a continuous journey, not a stage of life. A conversation, not a lecture. And for the first time, it’s a system designed around the learner—not the institution. As AI continues to evolve, so too does our understanding of human capability. The future of education isn’t just digital—it’s dynamic, personalized, and relentlessly practical. And it’s already here.
Thursday, May 15, 2025
Visa and Mastercard unveil AI-powered shopping - Mary Ann Azevedo, Tech Crunch
Artificial intelligence is not just infiltrating the startup world. Now credit card giants Visa and Mastercard are getting into the AI game. Visa announced on Wednesday “Intelligent Commerce,” which it says enables AI “to find and buy.” AI agents will be able to shop and make purchases on behalf of consumers, based on preselected preferences. In a statement, Visa chief product and strategy officer Jack Forestell said: “Each consumer sets the limits, and Visa helps manage the rest.” Visa says that it is collaborating with a mix of tech giants and startups to develop AI-powered shopping experiences that are “more personal, more secure, and more convenient.” Those companies include Anthropic, IBM, Microsoft, Mistral AI, OpenAI, Perplexity, Samsung, and Stripe, among others.
Former Google CEO-Backed Startup Builds AI Agents for Science - Scarlett Evans, AI Business
FutureHouse, a nonprofit backed by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, has launched a new AI platform to help scientists navigate vast amounts of data and accelerate new discoveries. The platform uses what FutureHouse calls the first “superintelligent scientific agents,” outperforming human workers in tasks such as reviewing literature and distinguishing between reliable and unreliable sources. Agents for hypothesis generation and experimental planning are also set for launch. Four of these specialized AI agents are being included in the platform’s launch, each designed to target a different element of scientific discovery.
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
Want a job at Duolingo? Better know how to use AI - Tech Crunch
Duolingo has announced it’s becoming an AI-first company. In a message shared with staff and later posted online, CEO Luis von Ahn said the shift will change how the business runs, from hiring to content creation. While it’s not about cutting jobs, von Ahn made it clear that new roles will only be added when automation genuinely can’t do the work. Rather than tweaking what’s already in place, Duolingo is rethinking how things are done, with AI built in from the ground up. Contractors will be phased out where AI tools are a better fit, and employees are being encouraged to use AI to work smarter. The idea is to remove the repetitive tasks and give people more space to focus on creative, high-impact work.
https://www.theverge.com/news/657594/duolingo-ai-first-replace-contract-workers
Google’s AI Mode gets expanded access and additional functionality - Aisha Malik, Tech Crunch
Google is expanding access to AI Mode, its experimental feature that allows users to ask complex, multi-part questions and follow-ups to dig deeper on a topic directly within Search. The tech giant is also adding more functionality to the feature, including the ability to pick up where you left off on a search. Google launched AI Mode back in March as a way to take on popular services like Perplexity AI and OpenAI’s ChatGPT Search. The updates announced today are designed to allow AI Mode to better compete with the aforementioned services.
Tuesday, May 13, 2025
A New Quantum Algorithm Speeds Up Solving a Huge Class of Problems - Stephen Ornes, Wired
For computer scientists, solving problems is a bit like mountaineering. First they must choose a problem to solve—akin to identifying a peak to climb—and then they must develop a strategy to solve it. Classical and quantum researchers compete using different strategies, with a healthy rivalry between the two. Quantum researchers report a fast way to solve a problem—often by scaling a peak that no one thought worth climbing—then classical teams race to see if they can find a better way.
Meta launches a stand-alone AI app to compete with ChatGPT - Amanda Silberling, Tech Crunch
After integrating Meta AI into WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger, Meta is rolling out a stand-alone AI app. Unveiled at Meta’s LlamaCon event on Tuesday, this app allows users to access Meta AI in an app, similar to the ChatGPT app and other AI assistant apps. To win over users, Meta is trying to leverage what makes it different from companies like OpenAI and Anthropic — Meta already has a sense of who you are, what you like, and who you hang out with based on years of data that you’ve likely shared on Facebook or Instagram.
Monday, May 12, 2025
‘This is what employers need within their organization,’ Coursera exec says after new finding on micro-credentials - Lucy Buchholz, Unleash
Coursera, which generated a total revenue of $179.2 million in 2024, has recently released its Micro-Credentials Impact Report 2025. The report unearths the key micro-credentials needed within today’s workplace, while highlighting why these should be a focus for hiring managers. Nikolaz Foucaud, Managing Director EMEA at Coursera, spoke exclusively to UNLEASH to share which micro-credential should be at the top of HR leaders’ radar.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)