Gen AI has the potential to completely change how employees work. Its natural language interface makes it easy to use, while its burgeoning reasoning and agentic capabilities allow it to perform increasingly complex tasks such as interpreting large volumes of information, coding, and answering queries. The most advanced agents are even starting to perform tasks such as creating spreadsheets and navigating web pages. And employees are clearly eager to use it; they are already doing so three times more than their leaders realize.2 But simply putting new technology into people’s hands does not ensure they will use it effectively, nor does it profoundly change the way a company works. Instead, CEOs need to deploy a novel change management approach that mobilizes their people, turning them from gen AI experimenters into gen AI accelerators. This is not a linear process. Change management in the gen AI age asks employees to become active participants rather than just users.
Friday, August 29, 2025
There are no entry-level jobs anymore. What now? - Dana Stephenson, the Hill
One recent report estimates that more than 90 percent of information technology jobs will be transformed by AI, and that nearly 40 percent of those roles will be at the entry level. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that about 1 million office and administrative support jobs will be lost by 2029 due to technological advancements. Once staples of a first job, tasks like drafting a press release, organizing information or conducting basic research are now increasingly handled by AI agents. As a result, today’s graduates face a steeper climb into meaningful, sustainable careers. It is no longer enough to be merely hireable. Students can’t even start on the ground floor — they’re expected to skip a level to get in the door.
Thursday, August 28, 2025
The Radical Changes AI Is Bringing To Higher Education - Nick Ladany, Forbes
AI in the form of a fully interactive, avatar professor, will equal and exceed the best versions of the best professors at any university; responsive, responsible, available day and night, informed with staggering amounts of knowledge, and demonstrate pedagogical approaches that match the personalized needs of any student. The fear that faculty jobs are at stake is a real one, and the roles of faculty members are sure to change. Rather than the sage on the stage, a professor’s role will be the guide on the side. Their job will be to provide community building among groups of students and offer additional personalized ways to introduce students to using AI in the workplace, such as using AI in health research. In this redefined role, professors will serve as subject matter experts and ensure that the AI professor’s responses are sound and don’t go off the rails. Finally, they will play a role, at least initially, in what the students will be assessed.
We must build AI for people; not to be a person: Seemingly Conscious AI is Coming - Mustafa Suleyman, Mustafa-Suleyman.ai
My life’s mission has been to create safe and beneficial AI that will make the world a better place. Today at Microsoft AI we build AI to empower people, and I’m focused on making products like Copilot responsible technologies that enable people to achieve far more than they ever thought possible, be more creative, and feel more supported. I want to create AI that makes us more human, that deepens our trust and understanding of one another, and that strengthens our connections to the real world. Copilot creates millions of positive, even life-changing, interactions every single day. This involves a lot of careful design choices to ensure it truly delivers an incredible experience. We won’t always get it right, but this humanist frame provides us with a clear north star to keep working towards.
Wednesday, August 27, 2025
Ex-Google exec says degrees in law and medicine are a waste of time because they take so long to complete that AI will catch up by graduation - Preston Fore, Fortune
“AI itself is going to be gone by the time you finish a PhD. Even things like applying AI to robotics will be solved by then,” Jad Tarifi, the founder of Google’s first generative-AI team, told Business Insider. Tarifi himself graduated with a PhD in AI in 2012, when the subject was far less mainstream. But today, the 42-year-old says, time would be better spent studying a more niche topic intertwined with AI, like AI for biology—or maybe not a degree at all. “Higher education as we know it is on the verge of becoming obsolete,” Tarifi said to Fortune. “Thriving in the future will come not from collecting credentials but from cultivating unique perspectives, agency, emotional awareness, and strong human bonds. “I encourage young people to focus on two things: the art of connecting deeply with others, and the inner work of connecting with themselves.”
At one elite college, over 80% of students now use AI – but it’s not all about outsourcing their work - Germán Reyes, Middlebury, The Conversation
Over 80% of Middlebury College students use generative AI for coursework, according to a recent survey I conducted with my colleague and fellow economist Zara Contractor. This is one of the fastest technology adoption rates on record, far outpacing the 40% adoption rate among U.S. adults, and it happened in less than two years after ChatGPT’s public launch. What we found challenges the panic-driven narrative around AI in higher education and instead suggests that institutional policy should focus on how AI is used, not whether it should be banned.
Tuesday, August 26, 2025
AI is already displacing these jobs - Madison Mills, Axios
Industries that are considered advanced adopters of AI see the nearest-term labor impact. Over 80% of executives surveyed within tech and media, the only two sectors that showed clear signs of AI disruption, anticipate reduced hiring volumes in the next two years. Still, most companies surveyed are currently backfilling workers with AI, for example, rather than replacing them. By the numbers: For now, companies aren't firing employees but just canceling contracts that involve outsourced labor, a strategy that's leading to financial gains. Back-office automations also have a higher return on investment, with $2 million to $10 million in BPO expenditures eliminated for the firms studied by MIT researchers.
One company studied saved $8 million a year by spending $8,000 on an AI tool.
Smarter Support: How to Use AI in Online Courses and Teach Your Students to Use It Too - Joel Greene, Faculty Focus
Whether we were ready or not, AI is in the room. And if you’re teaching online, you’ve probably already seen it at work in discussion posts, essays, or that strangely perfect email. Instead of panicking or pretending it’s not happening, we’ve got a better option. We can help students learn how to use AI responsibly, because it’s not going away. Honestly, some of them are relying on it more than we realize (Colvard 2024). If you’re going to teach with AI, you’ve got to know what it can (and can’t) do. I’m talking about tools like ChatGPT, Grammarly, QuillBot, or even Microsoft Copilot. Give yourself a little “playtime” with them. Open one up and ask it to write a discussion post. Then see what it gets right and what falls flat.
Monday, August 25, 2025
'This stuff is moving so quickly': Utah Tech leaders discuss AI, unveil new cybersecurity degree - Nick Fiala, St. George News / KSL
Utah Tech University spent part of its recent Fall Academic Convocation discussing the evolving use of artificial intelligence in both business and academia and how best to implement it in the future. The university also announced on Wednesday that it will be launching a new program this fall for students to acquire a bachelor of science degree in cybersecurity. The new cybersecurity degree will reportedly offer coursework in areas including ethical hacking, cloud and IoT security, cyber law and infrastructure defense. The university added that the program anticipates enrolling 35 students by its third year. "IoT" refers to "Internet of Things," meaning devices equipped to exchange data over the internet.
Does GenAI provide the opportunity for creativity to take centre stage? - Ioannis Glinavos, Times Higher Education
For centuries, universities have delivered scarce expertise. We stacked programmes like layer cakes: first theory, then practice, finally – if there was time – a sprinkle of creativity. Generative AI flips that order. Because routine skills are on tap, the bottleneck shifts upstream to ideation: spotting problems worth solving and framing them so the machine can help.
How should assessors use AI for marking and feedback?
An insider’s guide to how students use GenAI tools
Three reasons to harness AI for interdisciplinary collaboration
That demands divergent thinking, curiosity and ethical judgement – qualities our assessment regimes often squeeze out. We need to treat creativity as a core literacy, not a decorative extra. Don’t get me wrong, skills are not irrelevant – they just look different. Prompt craft, data stewardship and model critique replace manual citation and calculator drills. But they are means, not ends.
Sunday, August 24, 2025
AI’s Rapid Integration into Higher Education Transforming Student Experiences and Faculty Challenges - SSB Crack News
A college senior entering the new academic year has experienced nearly their entire undergraduate journey alongside the rise of generative AI. The landscape shifted dramatically with the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, coinciding with this student’s freshman year. Faculty and administration at institutions like Washington University in St. Louis have witnessed this rapid transformation. Fast forward three years, and the reliance on AI tools is startling. Reports indicate that nearly two-thirds of Harvard undergraduates were using generative AI at least once a week as of spring 2024. In a UK survey, 92% of full-time university students acknowledged employing AI in some manner, with a significant portion believing that AI-generated content could earn good grades in their subjects. Alarmingly, about 20% of those surveyed have experimented with AI to complete assignments, a trend expected to grow.
A scaffolded approach to teaching with GenAI - Rena Beatrice Alcalay, Times Higher Education
As GenAI continues to reshape higher education, this four-phase framework by Rena Beatrice Alcalay offers educators ways to guide students to use these tools critically and ethically, fostering agency, bias awareness and deeper engagement in philosophical writing assignments. This pedagogical stance emphasises agency: students learn to critically assess what to include or exclude from AI-generated suggestions and to distinguish between factual repetition and genuine conceptual development. At the heart of this approach is a commitment to helping students articulate ideas that reflect their values, a central goal in philosophy education.
Saturday, August 23, 2025
Claude Opus 4 and 4.1 can now end a rare subset of conversations - Anthropic
We recently gave Claude Opus 4 and 4.1 the ability to end conversations in our consumer chat interfaces. This ability is intended for use in rare, extreme cases of persistently harmful or abusive user interactions. This feature was developed primarily as part of our exploratory work on potential AI welfare, though it has broader relevance to model alignment and safeguards. In pre-deployment testing of Claude Opus 4, we included a preliminary model welfare assessment. As part of that assessment, we investigated Claude’s self-reported and behavioral preferences, and found a robust and consistent aversion to harm. This included, for example, requests from users for sexual content involving minors and attempts to solicit information that would enable large-scale violence or acts of terror. Claude Opus 4 showed:
A strong preference against engaging with harmful tasks;
A pattern of apparent distress when engaging with real-world users seeking harmful content; and
A tendency to end harmful conversations when given the ability to do so in simulated user interactions.
AI Is Designing Bizarre New Physics Experiments That Actually Work - Anil Ananthaswamy, Wired
Although AI has not yet led to new discoveries in physics, it’s becoming a powerful tool across the field. Along with helping researchers to design experiments, it can find nontrivial patterns in complex data. For example, AI algorithms have gleaned symmetries of nature from the data collected at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland. These symmetries aren’t new—they were key to Einstein’s theories of relativity—but the AI’s finding serves as a proof of principle for what’s to come. Physicists have also used AI to find a new equation for describing the clumping of the universe’s unseen dark matter. “Humans can start learning from these solutions,” Adhikari said.
Friday, August 22, 2025
Sam Altman, OpenAI will reportedly back a startup that takes on Musk’s Neuralink - Julie Bort, Tech Crunch
Sam Altman is in the process of co-founding a new brain-to-computer interface startup called Merge Labs and raising funds for it with the capital possibly coming largely from OpenAI’s ventures team, unnamed sources told the Financial Times. The startup is expected to be valued at $850 million. A source familiar with the deal tells TechCrunch that talks are still early and OpenAI has not yet committed to participation, so terms could change. Merge Labs is also reportedly working with Alex Blania, who runs Tools for Humanity (formerly World) — Altman’s eye-scanning digital ID project that “allows anyone to verify their humanness,” as the company describes.
Google Pledges $1 Billion to Bring AI Training and Tools to US Colleges - CDO Magazine
Google has committed $1 billion over the next three years to equip U.S. higher education institutions and nonprofits with artificial intelligence training, research resources, and advanced tools. More than 100 universities, including major public systems like Texas A&M and the University of North Carolina, have already joined the initiative. Participating schools may receive direct funding, cloud computing credits, and free access to Google’s advanced Gemini chatbot for students. The investment—which covers both cash support and the value of Google’s paid AI services—aims to eventually reach every accredited nonprofit college in the U.S., with similar programs under discussion abroad, Senior Vice President James Manyika said.
Thursday, August 21, 2025
MIT's new AI can teach itself to control robots by watching the world through their eyes — it only needs a single camera News - Tristan Greene, Live Science
Scientists at MIT have developed a novel vision-based artificial intelligence (AI) system that can teach itself how to control virtually any robot without the use of sensors or pretraining. The system gathers data about a given robot’s architecture using cameras, in much the same way that humans use their eyes to learn about themselves as they move. This allows the AI controller to develop a self-learning model for operating any robot — essentially giving machines a humanlike sense of physical self-awareness.
Gemini just got two of ChatGPT's best features - and they're free - Sabrina Ortiz, ZDnet
Gemini can now remember chat context for personalized answers. Users can use Temporary Chat for added privacy. Google also added new data control settings you'll want to look at now. You can now reference your past chats with Google's Gemini AI chatbot for more personalized responses, the company said Wednesday. Google also added a Temporary Chat feature and new data control settings. Everyone, including free users, can take advantage of the features in the Gemini app. While every major AI company is constantly racing to release the latest and greatest AI models, sometimes the most impactful updates are actually the less flashy features that improve the chatbot using experience. These new Gemini features aim to make users' lives easier in ways ChatGPT already has.
Wednesday, August 20, 2025
Indiana U to Launch GenAI 101 Course for Students, Staff - Ashley Mowreader, Inside Higher Ed
A new, self-paced course at Indiana University teaches students, faculty and staff generative AI skills and expertise. As generative artificial intelligence skills have become more in demand among employers, colleges and universities have expanded opportunities for students to engage with the tools. Indiana University is no exception. It’s developed a free, online course for campus community members to gain a basic understanding of generative AI and how the tools could fit into their daily lives and work. GenAI 101 is available to anyone with a campus login and comes with a certificate of in-demand skills for people who complete it.
Artificial Intelligence Literacy in Higher Education: Theory and Practice from a European Perspective - Imre Fekete, JSTOR
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been gaining undeniable momentum in education. While not an entirely new phenomenon, its rapid popularisation and growing presence have sparked both excitement and unease among instructors and learners alike. AI systems, from generative chatbots to adaptive learning tools, are influencing classrooms and shaping how we approach teaching and learning. AI technologies challenge us both as educators guiding the next generation and as lifelong learners of an increasingly digital world to reconsider the skills and knowledge necessary for success.
Tuesday, August 19, 2025
Goodbye, $165,000 Tech Jobs. Student Coders Seek Work at Chipotle. - Natasha Singer, NY Times
Among college graduates ages 22 to 27, computer science and computer engineering majors are facing some of the highest unemployment rates, 6.1 percent and 7.5 percent respectively, according to a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. That is more than double the unemployment rate among recent biology and art history graduates, which is just 3 percent. “I’m very concerned,” said Jeff Forbes, a former program director for computer science education and workforce development at the National Science Foundation. “Computer science students who graduated three or four years ago would have been fighting off offers from top firms — and now that same student would be struggling to get a job from anyone.”
Sydney Uni students will use ChatGPT, so let’s teach them how - Adam Bridgeman and Danny Liu, Financial Review
We now have a “two-lane approach” to assessments. Lane 1 assessments are secure and measure students’ capabilities in live, in-person environments, such as interactive oral assessments, Q&As or demonstrations, skills observations or, yes, sometimes exams. When these assessments are well-designed and executed, with AI use reliably controlled, they safeguard academic integrity and measure whether learning has happened. We’ll also have “open” lane 2 assessments that allow the use of all available and relevant tools, including generative AI. In these assessments, we have essentially banned the banning of AI because (apart from the fact that restricting AI is unenforceable when students are not in front of us) we want to ensure our students can learn, prosper and contribute in the contemporary business and wider world. We’ll assume students are using AI, and they won’t get in trouble for doing so in open lane 2 assessments, as long as they acknowledge how they’ve used it.
Monday, August 18, 2025
Why Faculty Hold The Keys To Higher Ed’s AI Digital Transformation - Aviva Legatt, Forbes
If the 20th century belonged to the textbook, the 21st belongs to the prompt. In lecture halls from Toronto to San Diego to Ho Chi Minh City, students are already co-writing their education with algorithms. Nearly 80% of undergraduates worldwide are already using generative AI, often daily. What’s missing is not adoption—it’s alignment. While students are busy teaching themselves AI, most universities remain frozen between prohibition and pilot. Eighty percent of students report that they have no structured AI support for teaching or learning, even as employers accelerate toward AI-mandatory job descriptions. This is more than a skills gap. It’s pedagogical infrastructure debt—every semester without faculty readiness compounds the cost and complexity of catching up.
10 Things GPT-5 Changes - The AI Daily Brief
10 Things GPT-5 Changes - The AI Daily Brief
In the podcast "10 Things GPT-5 Changes," the host discusses the significant impact of the GPT-5 model on the AI landscape, focusing on ten key areas of change. The video emphasizes a shift from raw AI capabilities to how these models interact with the real world through tools. It also highlights a potential plateau in the current pre-training paradigm, with future advancements focusing on reasoning and new scaling approaches. The podcast suggests that GPT-5 will empower the average user by making advanced AI more accessible and reducing the need for users to select specific models. Other key takeaways include the rise of "vibe coding," where non-developers can generate code, and the increasing consumerization of OpenAI's products. The video also touches upon the competitive landscape, with opportunities for other AI labs to emerge, and the growing importance of the "app layer" and multi-agent systems in the future of AI. [summary provided in part by Gemini 2.5 Pro]
Sunday, August 17, 2025
4 Steps to Responsible AI Implementation in Education - Rhea Kelly, THE Journal
Researchers at the University of Kansas Center for Innovation, Design & Digital Learning (CIDDL) have published a new framework for the responsible implementation of artificial intelligence at all levels of education, from preschool through higher education. Developed under a cooperative agreement with the United States Department of Education, the framework "is intended to provide guidance on how schools can incorporate AI into its daily operations and curriculum," the university said in a news announcement. The document offers four key recommendations.
How AI Supports Student Mental Health in Higher Education - Erin Brereton, EdTech
Students’ awareness of campus mental health services has grown in recent years, according to research from the Steve Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the emotional well-being of young people of color. Yet, taking advantage of these resources isn’t always easy, as 40% of college students say they’ve found it challenging to access mental health services. In a separate survey conducted by EDUCAUSE, students mentioned that even though their school has introduced additional technology-driven care options, they still face long wait times, says researcher Nicole Muscanell, who co-authored the 2025 EDUCAUSE Students and Technology Report.
Saturday, August 16, 2025
The Precision Learning Companion - There Is An AI For That (TAAFT) Notion Site
This prompt turns AI into an ultra-detailed, dynamic personal tutor that doesn’t just quiz, it teaches deeply, layer by layer, until the user genuinely masters the material. It’s built to adapt in real time, constantly diagnosing knowledge gaps, and never moving forward without full comprehension. Every answer, right or wrong, triggers a structured, narrative-style breakdown explaining the what, why, how, and broader context, ensuring true understanding. The AI is designed to feel like having a supportive but meticulous mentor who scaffolds learning: progressively challenging the user if they perform well, slowing down and simplifying if they struggle, and always reinforcing psychological safety through encouragement. It uses textually described visual aids, memory tricks, real-world examples, and step-by-step remediation when needed. Mastery, not speed, is the goal.
OpenAI, Google and Anthropic Win US Approval for Civilian AI Contracts - Bloomberg
The US government’s central purchasing arm is adding OpenAI, Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Anthropic to a list of approved artificial intelligence vendors, opening the door to widespread adoption of the technology across civilian federal agencies. The move by the General Services Administration, to be announced Tuesday, will speed up the adoption of AI tools in the federal government by making them available through its Multiple Award Schedule, a federal contracting platform with contract terms already set. Without that flexibility, agencies would ordinarily spend months negotiating their own terms for use of the technology. GSA officials said the models from the three companies — OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and Anthropic’s Claude — were evaluated by several performance and security measures.
Friday, August 15, 2025
Google Releases Most Realistic AI World Model to Date - Scarlett Evans, AI Business
The Genie 3 model is said to be Google’s most realistic to date, generating lifelike training simulations for robots and AI agents. Google has launched a new AI model that lets robots and AI systems interact with and learn from realistic simulations of the world. Genie 3 is a general purpose model that Google says is a significant step towards achieving artificial general intelligence, meaning a stage where AI can carry out tasks at the same level as humans. Unlike previous AI systems that focused on narrow tasks, Genie 3 simulates entire environments for training autonomous robots and vehicles.
These College Professors Will Not Bow Down to A.I. - Jessica Grose, NY Times
Where does this leave college students? Gen Z is not giving up on the arts or the pleasures of reading and thinking for themselves. As A.I. creates chaos and uncertainty in the market for entry-level jobs, more students may react by following their passion for the humanities; why begrudgingly major in tech or business if it doesn’t even lead to employment? There’s some evidence that humanities departments are rebounding after a long period of decline. U.C. Berkeley, which is considered one of the best public universities in the country, has seen a nearly 50 percent increase in majors in their arts and humanities division over the past four years.
Thursday, August 14, 2025
Self-adaptive reasoning for science - Newman Cheng, et al; Microsoft
Unlocking self-adaptive cognitive behavior that is more controllable and explainable than reasoning models in challenging scientific domains. Long-running LLM agents equipped with strong reasoning, planning, and execution skills have the potential to transform scientific discovery with high-impact advancements, such as developing new materials or pharmaceuticals. As these agents become more autonomous, ensuring effective human oversight and clear accountability becomes increasingly important, presenting challenges that must be addressed to unlock their full transformative power. Today’s approaches to long-term reasoning are established during the post-training phase, prior to end-user deployment and typically by the model provider. As a result, the expected actions of these agents are pre-baked by the model developer, offering little to no control from the end user.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/self-adaptive-reasoning-for-science/
Bringing the best of AI to college students for free - Sundar Pichai, The Google Keyword Blog
Starting today, students (ages 18+) in the U.S. as well as in Japan, Indonesia, Korea and Brazil can sign-up for a 12 month Google AI Pro plan for free. Here’s what they’ll get:
- Expanded access to Gemini 2.5 Pro: Ask any question and upload images. Our most capable model provides quick homework and writing help.
- Deep Research: Save time with custom research reports, providing in-depth information from hundreds of sites across the web with higher access to Deep Research on 2.5 Pro.
- NotebookLM: A one-of-a-kind thinking companion that helps you organize your thoughts, now with five times more audio and video overviews.
- Veo 3: Transform text or a photo into a 8-second video with sound using Veo 3
- Higher limits when using Jules, our asynchronous AI coding agent that can fix bugs and build new features for your coding projects.
- 2 TB of storage: tons of space for all your notes, projects, photos and papers on Google Photos, Drive and Gmail
- https://blog.google/products/gemini/google-ai-pro-students-learning/
Wednesday, August 13, 2025
OpenAI Announces Massive US Government Partnership - Joe Schiffer and Will Knight, Wired
OpenAI is partnering with the US government to make its leading frontier models available to federal employees. Under the agreement, federal agencies can access OpenAI’s models for $1 for the next year, per a Wednesday announcement from the company and the General Services Administration (GSA). The partnership is the culmination of months of effort on the part of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and other OpenAI executives, who have been cozying up to the Trump administration since before President Donald Trump retook the White House in January. In a statement emailed to WIRED, Altman said: “One of the best ways to make sure AI works for everyone is to put it in the hands of the people serving the country.
AI Skills Needed in Many Postgrad Careers—Not Just Tech - Ashley Mowreader, Inside Higher Ed
More companies are seeking employees with experience using artificial intelligence tools outside of traditional computer science or IT fields, according to a recent report. As artificial intelligence tools continue to develop, more industries are seeking workers who possess AI skills, creating opportunities for higher education to better prepare students. A recent report from Lightcast found that job postings requiring generative AI skills for non–computer science or information technology roles grew ninefold between 2022 and 2024, with over 80,000 postings seeking those skills. In addition to a fast-growing emphasis on AI aptitude, job postings continue to require soft skills including communication, leadership, research and customer service—skills that report authors wrote are necessary for workers to have lasting careers.
Tuesday, August 12, 2025
U.S. Continuing Education Market to Surpass USD 95.98 Billion by 2030, Growing at 6.2% CAGR as AI and Micro-Credentials Reshape Learning - Arizton, the Globe and Mail
According to Arizton’s latest report, the U.S. continuing education market is projected to grow from USD 66.91 billion in 2024 to USD 95.98 billion by 2030, expanding at a CAGR of 6.20% during the forecast period. The continuing education market is accelerating its digital transformation as AI becomes a core growth catalyst. Providers are adopting Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS), adaptive learning platforms, and real-time analytics to deliver personalized, flexible, and scalable upskilling solutions. This shift aligns with surging global demand for future-ready skills in high-impact areas like data analytics, automation, and machine learning. By modernizing delivery models with AI, institutions can increase learner engagement, reduce delivery costs, and expand their addressable market across diverse workforce segments.
College students can get Google's AI Pro plan for free now. Here's how - Sabrina Ortiz, ZDnet
- Students ages 18+ get the Google AI Pro plan for free for 12 months.
- Plan includes access to Deep Research, Veo 3, Jules, and more.
- Part of a larger $1 billion investment in AI education and job training.
As AI tools continue to develop, they expand beyond the standard question-and-answer loop and offer more meaningful assistance for students. Google, for instance, has tools that can create podcasts for users from their notes, debug code, and create in-depth reports in seconds. Now, students can access all these tools for free.
Monday, August 11, 2025
What we’re optimizing ChatGPT for - OpenAI
This is what a helpful ChatGPT experience could look like:
“Help me prepare for a tough conversation with my boss.” ChatGPT tunes into what you need to feel at your best, with resources like practice scenarios or a tailored pep talk so you can walk in feeling grounded and confident.
“I need to understand my lab results.” It explains the numbers and helps you ask the right questions of your doctor, so you and your doctor can personalize your care with more information.
“I’m feeling stuck—help me untangle my thoughts.” It acts as a sounding board while empowering you with tools of thought so you can think more clearly.
The Quantum-AI Convergence Changes Everything - Click Future, Youtube
Quantum-enhanced AI can solve problems impossible for classical systems, excelling in areas like optimization, pattern recognition, and complex system modeling. It can learn from smaller datasets and has demonstrated creativity and insight beyond classical AI. The podcast highlights rapid advancements in this field and outlines practical applications across various industries, including drug discovery, material science, climate science, finance, and space exploration. [summary provided in part by Gemini 2.5 Flash]
Sunday, August 10, 2025
CSU Faculty Projects Test AI for Creative Majors, Design - Abby Sourwine, GovTech
Sixty-three projects funded by the California State University system are experimenting with generative AI, from single-course pilots to full program overhauls, and producing open resources for others to consult. In classrooms across the California State University (CSU) system, faculty are looking to turn generative artificial intelligence from a disrupter into a teaching tool. From musical theater production to departmentwide curriculum redesigns, instructors are testing how generative AI can support creativity and critical thinking. The experiments are part of 63 faculty-led projects launched in the CSU system this summer as part of a push to bring AI into curricula. Funded through CSU’s inaugural AI Educational Innovations Challenge, the projects range from arts and humanities pilots to general education reforms and full program overhauls.
An AI-Enhanced Education - Allison Elliott, Columbia Engineering
While Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been around for decades, the entry of ChatGPT in 2022 marked the beginning of a new era in AI. Institutions of higher education were particularly impacted by the explosion in AI use and are now navigating how to incorporate these technologies in a way that can improve educational models and help students to become ethical and responsible users. Columbia Engineering has worked to encourage faculty to think critically and broadly about how AI can be incorporated into various aspects of the student learning experience. This past spring, a call for teaching proposals was issued in the area of generative AI to inspire creative ideas from faculty. Winning proposals emphasized going beyond efficiency and automation to improve learning and assessment and to prepare students for a rapidly evolving professional landscape in the age of AI.
Saturday, August 09, 2025
99% of People Are Using ChatGPT Wrong (Do This Instead) - There's An AI For That
This podcast explains how to use ChatGPT more effectively through various prompt engineering techniques. It highlights the importance of crafting precise instructions for optimal output. Key techniques discussed include:
Role Prompting: Assigning ChatGPT a specific persona (e.g., career coach, finance professor) to influence the style and quality of its responses [00:43].Chain of Thought Prompting: Guiding ChatGPT to solve problems step-by-step to improve accuracy and clarity [03:29].Specifying Format and Constraints: Directing ChatGPT on how to format its answers (e.g., bullet points, word count, tone) for better readability [04:42].Few-Shot Prompting: Providing examples to help ChatGPT match a desired style or tone [06:38].Iterative Prompting: Breaking down complex requests into smaller, sequential steps [07:22].
The podcast emphasizes the iterative nature of prompt engineering, encouraging users to refine their prompts until the desired results are achieved and to save successful prompts for future use [08:24].
Friday, August 08, 2025
GPT-5 is here: Expert intelligence for everyone - OpenAI
Our smartest, fastest, and most useful model yet, with thinking built in. Available to everyone. Expert intelligence for everyone. GPT‑5 is smarter across the board, providing more useful responses across math, science, finance, law, and more. It's like having a team of experts on call for whatever you want to know. The best response, every time. Great at coding. An expressive writing partner. Create clearer, more compelling messaging for everything from stories to speeches and beyond. More useful health answers. Safer and more accurate.
AI literacy: What it is, what it isn’t, who needs it and why it’s hard to define - Daniel Schiff, et al; the Conversation
The implications of AI literacy, or lack thereof, are far-reaching. They extend beyond national ambitions to remain “a global leader in this technological revolution” or even prepare an “AI-skilled workforce,” as the executive order states. Without basic literacy, citizens and consumers are not well equipped to understand the algorithmic platforms and decisions that affect so many domains of their lives: government services, privacy, lending, health care, news recommendations and more. And the lack of AI literacy risks ceding important aspects of society’s future to a handful of multinational companies.
Thursday, August 07, 2025
Timeline for AGI: 2030 with 50% chance: Demis Hassabis and Lex Fridman - Lex Clips
This podcast discusses the timeline and definition of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). Demis Hassabis estimates a 50% chance of achieving AGI by 2030, defining it as matching the cognitive functions of the human brain, emphasizing its general and consistent intelligence across various tasks, unlike current systems which have "jagged intelligence." He believes true AGI should possess capabilities like invention and creativity, and suggests testing methods like a "brute force test" involving tens of thousands of cognitive tasks, or having top experts test the system. He also looks for "lighthouse moments" such as inventing a new scientific conjecture or a game as deep and elegant as Go. The podcast also touches on AGI's self-improvement, noting that while current systems are good at incremental improvements on specific tasks, they struggle with vague, high-level instructions.
GPT-5 is here: Expert intelligence for everyone - OpenAI
Our smartest, fastest, and most useful model yet, with thinking built in. Available to everyone. Expert intelligence for everyone. GPT‑5 is smarter across the board, providing more useful responses across math, science, finance, law, and more. It's like having a team of experts on call for whatever you want to know. The best response, every time. Great at coding. An expressive writing partner. Create clearer, more compelling messaging for everything from stories to speeches and beyond. More useful health answers. Safer and more accurate.
Wednesday, August 06, 2025
AI in the University: From Generative Assistant to Autonomous Agent This Fall - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Education
We have become accustomed to generative artificial intelligence in the past couple of years. That will not go away, but increasingly, it will serve in support of agents. “Where generative AI creates, agentic AI acts.” That’s how my trusted assistant, Gemini 2.5 Pro deep research, describes the difference. By the way, I commonly use Gemini 2.5 Pro as one of my research tools, as I have in this column, however, it is I who writes the column. Agents, unlike generative tools, create and perform multistep goals with minimal human supervision. The essential difference is found in its proactive nature. Rather than waiting for a specific, step-by-step command, agentic systems take a high-level objective and independently create and execute a plan to achieve that goal. This triggers a continuous, iterative workflow that is much like a cognitive loop.
Marketing and enrollment surge to gain AI’s competitive edge - Alcino Donadel, University Business
As AI tools prove more effective in the workplace, higher education marketing and enrollment management offices face mounting pressure to adopt new technologies, or risk falling behind. That’s according to the latest annual survey from Education Dynamics and the Online and Professional Education Association, two organizations that support adult and online learners. Respondents specialized in marketing, enrollment management, student success services and admissions. Nearly two-thirds used AI or other emerging technology in 2025, up 15 percentage points from last year. Institutional adoption increased at a similar rate.
Tuesday, August 05, 2025
"Superintelligence is Near! Three innovations that prove it! (I think Fast Takeoff just started!!)" - David Shapiro, YouTube
This podcast discusses the rapid advancements in artificial intelligence, suggesting that we are on the cusp of superintelligence. The speaker highlights three key recent developments: a hierarchical reasoning model paper, Google DeepMind and OpenAI winning gold at the International Mathematical Olympiad, and breakthroughs in AI model architecture discovery. The speaker believes these advancements indicate the "bootstrapping of a new class of primitives" in AI, particularly leveraging reinforcement learning in ways that are not solely dependent on massive datasets. He emphasizes that progress is not hitting a wall; instead, new scaling laws and approaches are continually being discovered. The mastery of mathematics by AI is highlighted as crucial, as math underpins many other scientific and technological fields. The speaker posits that we are moving beyond Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) towards Artificial Superintelligence (ASI), which will be capable of solving problems intractable or even unsolvable for humans, predicting that models might achieve ASI thresholds very soon.
"AlphaGo Moment" For Self Improving AI... can this be real? - Wes Roth, YouTube
This podcast discusses a new research paper from China titled "AlphaGo Moment for model architecture discovery" [00:05]. The paper introduces ASIArch, an AI system that autonomously innovates its own architecture, claiming that humans are the bottleneck in AI research [01:12, 01:21]. ASIArch reportedly conducted almost 2,000 autonomous experiments, discovering 106 innovative linear attention architectures, and the researchers claim to have established the first empirical scaling law for scientific discovery, suggesting that increased computation can lead to better architectures and more innovation [02:54, 03:31]. The research found that a small number of approaches yielded the majority of breakthroughs, with a significant contribution from the AI's own experience [08:29, 09:42]. While the implications are significant, some experts have expressed skepticism regarding the methodology [15:30, 15:56]. The research is open source, and the general trend of self-improving AI research is growing [17:18, 17:32]. [Gemini 2.5 Flash assisted with generating the summary of the podcast]
https://youtu.be/QGeql15rcLo?
Monday, August 04, 2025
Researchers create ‘virtual scientists’ to solve complex biological problems - Hanae Armitage, Stanford
Stanford Medicine researchers created a team of virtual scientists backed by artificial intelligence to help solve problems in their real-world lab. There may be a new artificial intelligence-driven tool to turbocharge scientific discovery: virtual labs. Modeled after a well-established Stanford School of Medicine research group, the virtual lab is complete with an AI principal investigator and seasoned scientists. “Good science happens when we have deep, interdisciplinary collaborations where people from different backgrounds work together, and often that’s one of the main bottlenecks and challenging parts of research,” said James Zou, PhD, associate professor of biomedical data science who led a study detailing the development of the virtual lab. “In parallel, we’ve seen this tremendous advance in AI agents, which, in a nutshell, are AI systems based on language models that are able to take more proactive actions.”
Six Tactics to Get Better Results From AI - Ethan Mollick, et al; Knowledge at Wharton
Achieving valuable results from AI is as much about the quality of your prompts as the capabilities of the tool. You can be a more effective “human in the loop” by refining your ability to formulate clear, specific, and context-rich queries, and obtain more useful solutions and actionable insights as a result. Here are six key tactics — grounded in Wharton research — to help you create more effective AI prompts for business applications.
Sunday, August 03, 2025
Zuckerberg says Meta will build data center the size of Manhattan in latest AI push - the Guardian
Mark Zuckerberg proclaimed that Meta would spend hundreds of billions of dollars on developing artificial intelligence products in the near future and, to that end, construct a data center planned to be nearly the size of Manhattan. The parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp is among the large tech companies that have struck high-profile deals, and doled out multimillion-dollar pay packages to AI researchers in recent months – some as high as $100m – to fast-track work on machines that could outthink humans on many tasks, a concept known as “super-intelligence” or “artificial general intelligence”.
The learning organization: How to accelerate AI adoption - Bob Sternfels and Yuval Atsmon, McKinsey
The rapid rise of gen AI highlights a workplace reality: Front lines often embrace new tech much faster than managers do. Here’s how to overcome organizational blocks to transformative ideas. The dizzying speed at which AI technology is evolving makes it nearly impossible to keep up with the many new ways that it could transform how people work. Yet for most organizations, the gap between what’s possible and what’s implemented is steadily widening. A 2024 McKinsey Global Survey found that nine in ten employees used gen AI for their work, and 21 percent of them were heavy users.1 But while employee enthusiasm was high, the formal adoption of AI tools across most organizations lagged behind: Only 13 percent of surveyed employees considered their organization to be an early adopter.
Saturday, August 02, 2025
Americans Recognize Nuances of Higher Ed’s Value - Kathryn Palmer, Inside Higher Ed
New data shows that confidence in higher education is on the rise and most Americans, regardless of party affiliation, share a similar vision for what colleges should prioritize. A group of university students are seen from behind walking outside on campus as they make their way to class. Most Democrats and Republicans believe higher ed should equip students to become informed citizens and critical thinkers. “Increasingly, higher ed is being cast as elite, expensive and not connected with everyday Americans,” said Sophie Nguyen, senior policy manager with the higher education team at New America, the left-leaning think tank that published its annual Varying Degrees survey on Wednesday. “There’s a significant disconnect in the narrative about what higher ed is” and how it’s perceived.
Mapping the AI economy: Which regions are ready for the next technology leap - Mark Muro and Shriya Methkupally, Brookings
Artificial intelligence is transforming the U.S. economy, yet regional disparities in talent development, research capacity, and enterprise adoption are stark, and not yet fully understood. AI activity remains highly concentrated, with the Bay Area alone accounting for 13% of all AI-related job postings. However, the recent boom in generative AI and agentic systems is beginning to widen the geography of AI activity to a broader set of emerging metro areas. To fully harness the power of AI, the U.S. should combine supportive national strategy with “bottom–up” economic development by regions.
Friday, August 01, 2025
ChatGPT launches study mode to encourage ‘responsible’ academic use - the Guardian
ChatGPT is launching a “study mode” to encourage responsible academic use of the chatbot, amid rising cases of misuse of artificial intelligence tools at universities. The feature, which can be accessed via the chatbot’s tools button, can walk users through complex subjects in a step-by-step format akin to an unfolding academic lesson. In one example released by ChatGPT’s developer, OpenAI, the chatbot responds to a prompt asking for help with understanding Bayes’ theorem – a mathematical formula – by asking the user what level of maths they are comfortable with and what their goal is.
The Impact of ChatGPT on Students' Academic Achievement: A Meta-Analysis - Zhiwei Liu, Haode Zuo, Yongjing Lu; JCAL
\The findings reveal that ChatGPT has a moderately positive impact on students' academic achievement, with an overall effect size of g = 0.577 (95% CI [0.395, 0.759], p < 0.001). Further analysis of moderating variables indicates that no significant differences are observed across educational levels, role-setting, or learning approaches. A greater effect is observed in the social sciences compared to other disciplines; an intervention duration of 5–10 weeks has a larger impact on academic achievement compared to other durations; sample sizes ranging from 21 to 40 participants exhibit a larger impact on academic achievement than other sample sizes; ChatGPT is more effective in supporting the learning of declarative knowledge compared to procedural knowledge; the combination of traditional classrooms with ChatGPT is more effective than using ChatGPT in a flipped classroom; compared to generating code, using ChatGPT to generate text has better academic achievement.
Thursday, July 31, 2025
5 ways to better prepare students for a changing job market - Alcino Donadel, University Business
Today’s employers are no longer relying solely on a bachelor’s degree to gauge a candidate’s full potential. Instead, they prioritize applicants who can demonstrate up-to-date skills and prove they’re ready to contribute from day one. Kropp believes that micro-credentials and digital badges demonstrate students’ mastery over specific skill sets and can be easily communicated via a résumé. He’s not alone either. Employers have become more accepting of non-degree or alternative credentials instead of traditional four-year degrees.
AI is rewiring how we learn, and it’s a game-changer for L&D - Josh Bersin, Chief Learning Officer
As AI becomes central to learner engagement, L&D leaders are being urged to fundamentally rethink corporate training, says global industry analyst Josh Bersin. Put simply: there’s no turning back. L&D remains a major global industry—set to surpass $400 billion this year—and for good reason. Training will always play a vital role in helping employees gain essential knowledge, develop new skills and stay resilient in the face of constant change. But here’s the critical point: Clinging to the traditional, classroom-style model, where an expert leads learners through a fixed, linear curriculum, no longer meets the needs of today’s workforce. That approach, rooted in education systems of the past, must now give way to something more dynamic, responsive and learner-driven.
Wednesday, July 30, 2025
Artificial Intelligence and Critical Thinking in Higher Education: Fostering a Transformative Learning Experience for Students - Tina M. Evans, Faculty Focus
In a digitally-driven world, artificial intelligence (AI) has become the latest technology that either will save or doom the planet depending on who you speak with. Remember when telephones (the ones that hung on the wall) were dubbed as privacy invaders? Even the radio, television, and VHS tapes were feared at the beginning of their existence. Artificial intelligence is no different, but how can we ease the minds of those educators who have trouble embracing the newest innovation in emerging technologies? A shift in the fundamental mindset of educators and learners will be vitally important as AI becomes more and more commonplace. To guide this transformative learning process, critical thinking will become an invaluable commodity.
Looking ahead at distance learning, AI - Fred Lokken, CC Daily
Community college presidents and senior leadership recently gathered for a deep dive into two hot-button issues for two-year colleges — the future of distance learning and artificial intelligence (AI). Online classes have been disrupting enrollments for more than 25 years and continue to be the primary source for enrollment growth. This modality of instruction offers the best instructional method to serve the growing number of active adult learners in a rapidly changing workplace, as well as dual-credit enrollments for high school students. College leadership needs to better understand how to support and expand online courses and degrees. AI, on the other hand, presents a different set of challenges and opportunities for college leadership. In the two years since Generative AI launched, corresponding emerging issues include ethical use, privacy, access and cost. Leadership needs to learn how to manage, prioritize and finance this new technology while reassuring faculty that academic integrity will be maintained.
Tuesday, July 29, 2025
Think Your Student Can Pass an AI Literacy Test? A Concerning New Study Says Otherwise - Tim McMillan, the Debrief
In an era where artificial intelligence tools are becoming as common in classrooms as textbooks, a new study suggests most students don’t actually know how to use them well. Despite the widespread adoption of generative AI systems like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude, researchers have found that university students overestimate their ability to engage with these technologies—and that illusion of competence could have real-world consequences. Set to be published in the December 2025 issue of Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, a paper by Monash University researchers introduces the Generative AI Literacy Assessment Test (GLAT). This pioneering exam is the first of its kind, designed to not only evaluate students’ ability to use generative AI tools but also their capacity to comprehend and ethically apply them.
Teaching Creativity and Durable Skills in an AI World - Abbie Misha, EdSurge
When a high school student uses AI to design a community mural or a college freshman collaborates with peers across continents on a digital storytelling project, it’s clear the boundaries of learning are shifting. Classrooms are no longer just spaces for absorbing information; they’re becoming creative studios where students use technology to solve real-world problems.
Monday, July 28, 2025
Celebrating a century of quantum breakthroughs - McKinsey
2025 marks the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology and the 100th anniversary of the initial development of quantum mechanics. Quantum technology (QT) is moving beyond the lab and gaining momentum by converging with other innovation frontiers. In McKinsey’s fourth annual Quantum Technology Monitor, McKinsey’s Henning Soller and coauthors explore how QT is evolving through four high-impact domains:
AI and machine learning
Robotics
Sustainability and climate tech
Cryptography and cybersecurity
https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/themes/celebrating-a-century-of-quantum-breakthroughs
Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic are investing millions to train teachers how to use AI - Clare Duffy, CNN
The announcement comes as schools, teachers and parents grapple with whether and how AI should be used in the classroom. Educators want to make sure students know how to use a technology that's already transforming workplaces, while teachers can use AI to automate some tasks and spend more time engaging with students. But AI also raises ethical and practical questions, which often boil down to: If kids use AI to assist with schoolwork and teachers use AI to help with lesson planning or grading papers, where is the line between advancing student learning versus hindering it?
Sunday, July 27, 2025
Artificial Intelligence Revolution in Higher Education: What You Need to Know - World Bank
The Artificial Intelligence revolution is transforming higher education at an unprecedented pace, offering innovative opportunities to personalize university learning experiences, support professors and researchers in their daily tasks, and optimize the management of educational institutions.
- For university students: Personalized tutoring systems, adaptive learning platforms, and immediate feedback tools tailored to the needs of each degree program and specialization.
- For faculty and researchers: Academic planning assistants, automated assessment tools, and advanced research resources that enhance scientific production and teaching quality.
- For higher education institutions: Early warning systems, resource optimization, and institutional management platforms that improve efficiency, student retention, and educational quality.
How Technology in Education Prepares Every Student for the Future - CompTIA
Technology is no longer optional, shapes the way we learn, work, and live. A strong foundation in technology gives students a competitive edge. It helps them:
- Develop digital literacy: Students become comfortable with digital platforms, coding, and data analysis, essential skills for school and beyond.
- Think critically & solve problems: Tech classes require logical thinking and troubleshooting, which translate to real-life problem-solving.
- Collaborate & communicate: Using tools like Google Classroom or Microsoft Teams, students learn teamwork whether in person or remote.
- Stay adaptable: Technology keeps changing. Students learn to adapt and become lifelong learners, essential for modern careers.
- Gain practical skills: Fields like cybersecurity and digital marketing aren’t just for “techies” they’re valuable in many jobs.
Saturday, July 26, 2025
Cal State to Fund 63 Faculty Projects in AI Instructional Design - Government Technology
Thanks to a systemwide challenge, California State University (CSU) campuses will see artificial intelligence implemented in instruction and professional development across disciplines. From chatbots supporting student teachers to digital twins in electromagnetic plant imaging, dozens of AI-driven projects will be backed by funding from the Chancellor’s Office through 2026, according to a news release today. In April, the CSU system launched the inaugural Artificial Intelligence Educational Innovations Challenge, asking faculty to develop instructional strategies that use AI tools. More than 750 faculty members responded to the call, putting forth over 400 proposals. The Chancellor’s Office will award a total of $3 million for 63 winning projects.
Anthropic announces Claude for Education - EdScoop
Anthropic, the generative artificial intelligence company behind Claude, on Wednesday announced a new product tailored for education. According to a post on the company’s website, Claude for Education is designed to be a more powerful study companion, and includes integration with the publisher Wiley and the AI video tools firm Panopto. Anthropic says these integrations will allow students and educators to access their institutions’ deep repositories of “authoritative” and peer-reviewed content. “[W]e’re building toward a future where students can reference readings, lecture recordings, visualizations, and textbook content directly within their conversations,” the release reads. “Today, we’re sharing a first look at integrations with popular educational tools and resources rolling out over the next few weeks.”
https://edscoop.com/anthropic-announces-claude-for-education/
Friday, July 25, 2025
AI aiding cheating in higher education - Wycliffe Osabwa, People Daily
The role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in higher education is the subject of ongoing debate—particularly regarding how students use it to complete assignments. While AI offers immense opportunities for enhancing learning, concerns arise when students use tools like ChatGPT to generate term papers or assessments, then claim ownership. As an instructor, I have encountered cases where students submit assignments that are technically correct but suspiciously flawless, especially when contrasted with their previous work. Even after designing highly contextual questions, some students still relied on Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPTs), producing generic responses that lacked relevance or depth.
Mind Blowing Grok-4 Just Dropped (FINALLY!) - There's An AI For That
This podcast discusses the launch of Elon Musk's new AI chatbot, Grok-4, which he claims is smarter than a PhD in every academic field. Grok-4 is multimodal, capable of understanding images, screenshots, and memes, and can also fix code. It's trained to hallucinate less by using real-time data from X (formerly Twitter) and can provide multi-step breakdowns, equations, real-world applications, and even startup ideas for complex prompts. Despite its advanced capabilities, there are controversies and concerns surrounding Grok-4, particularly regarding Elon Musk's bold claims and the past issues with earlier Grok versions generating inappropriate content. Grok-4 is currently only available through a $300 per month "Super Grok Heavy" subscription and is limited to users in the United States with X premium. This AI is seen as a foundational element for Musk's broader vision of an AI ecosystem powering X, Tesla, Neuralink, and the Optimus humanoid robot, potentially leading to Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). The podcast concludes by raising questions about the future impact of such advanced AI on education, jobs, and the nature of truth, suggesting we are entering an "AI rival era." [Summary provided by Gemini 2.5 Flash]
Thursday, July 24, 2025
AWS and Anthropic Team Up to Launch an AI Agent Marketplace: A Game-Changer for Businesses - Medium
In a move that’s set to shake up the world of artificial intelligence, Amazon Web Services (AWS) is launching an AI agent marketplace, with Anthropic, a leading AI startup, as a key partner. This development, unveiled at the AWS Summit in New York City, promises to make AI more accessible and practical for businesses of all sizes. Think of the AWS AI agent marketplace as an app store for intelligent software agents. These AI agents are specialized programs powered by advanced AI models, designed to perform tasks autonomously, everything from analyzing data to interacting with software or automating customer service. Instead of companies building these agents from scratch, the marketplace will allow businesses to browse, select, and deploy AI agents tailored to their needs, all from a single platform. Anthropic, known for its Claude AI models, is one of the first partners, bringing its expertise in safe and interpretable AI to the table.
Turn your photos into videos in Gemini - David Sharon, The Keyword (Google)
We launched our state-of-the-art video generation model Veo 3 in May — and last week, we expanded access to Google AI Pro subscribers in over 150 countries. Now, with a new photo-to-video capability in Gemini, you can now transform your favorite photos into dynamic eight-second video clips with sound. The explosion of creativity from users has been truly remarkable, with over 40 million Veo 3 videos generated across the Gemini app and Flow over the last seven weeks. From reimagining fairy tales through the eyes of a modern influencer, to ASMR videos exploring what it would sound like to cut through a piece of cooling lava, your imagination is the limit when you create videos with Gemini.
Wednesday, July 23, 2025
AI Is Conducting Video Job Interviews Now - Joe Procopio, Inc.
The hiring company itself was a mid-sized tech outfit, and some quick research didn’t raise any red flags. It was the email response Ellen received that raised all kinds of red flags. The hiring company was thankful, interested, even excited to learn more about Ellen. But before they moved forward, they needed Ellen to answer a dozen questions listed in the email, and while written responses were fine, video was preferable. For the unaware, in this job market, preferable means required.
GPT-5: The New Era is Here - Serban Sita, There's an App for That
This podcast discusses the anticipated release of GPT-5, predicted for mid-2025 (specifically July 2025). This update is expected to be revolutionary, bringing significant advancements over GPT-4. Key improvements include enhanced step-by-step reasoning, exceptional coding proficiency, and a substantial reduction in hallucinations (from 30% to under 15%). GPT-5 is also expected to feature "True Omni AI" with real-time two-way audio communication, ultra-high-definition image and video processing, and a natural-sounding native voice. While GPT-4 uses 1.4 trillion parameters, GPT-5 is rumored to have over one quadrillion, though OpenAI is shifting focus from sheer parameter scale to smarter models with better reasoning. By mid-2025, fully independent AI agents capable of seamless workflow automation and real-world API connections are expected. Leaked benchmarks project GPT-5 to surpass human experts in MMLU, SWE Bench, and multimodal tasks, and compete with human PhDs in advanced mathematics. The podcast concludes by emphasizing that GPT-5 will redefine AI, with AI agents working autonomously and multimodal AI acting like a "digital god."
Tuesday, July 22, 2025
OpenAI to release web browser in challenge to Google Chrome - Kenrick Cai, Krystal Hu and Anna Tong, Reuters
OpenAI is close to releasing an AI-powered web browser that will challenge Alphabet's (GOOGL.O), opens new tab market-dominating Google Chrome, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The Web browser will include chat interface, enable AI agent integrations. The launch intensifies OpenAI's competition with Google in AI race. The new product is part of OpenAI's broader strategy to capture data on users' web behavior.
OpenAI joins the American Federation of Teachers to launch the National Academy for AI Instruction. - OpenAI
For educators, AI can be a powerful ally, helping free up more time for the truly human work of teaching. Recent Gallup study(opens in a new window) showed that 6 in 10 educators are already using an AI tool and report saving an average of six hours per week. But it also raises new challenges: how to ensure AI enhances rather than bypasses teaching, and how to help students foster critical thinking when answers are instantly accessible. Now is the time to ensure Al empowers educators, students, and schools. For this to happen, teachers must lead the conversation around how to best harness its potential. It is for this purpose that we join the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) as the founding partner for the launch of the National Academy for AI Instruction, a five-year initiative to equip 400,000 K-12 educators, about one in every 10 teachers in the US, to use AI and lead the way in shaping how AI is used and taught in classrooms across the country.
Monday, July 21, 2025
How ChatGPT actually works (and why it's been so game-changing) - David Gerwirtz, ZD Net
ChatGPT's power (and that of almost any other AI chatbot, like Claude, Copilot, Perplexity, and Google Gemini) is the ability to parse queries and produce fully fleshed-out answers and results based on most of the world's digitally accessible text-based information. Some chatbots have restrictions based on when they stopped scanning information, but most can now access the live Internet to factor current data into their answers. In this article, we'll see how ChatGPT can produce those fully fleshed-out answers using a technology called generative artificial intelligence. We'll start by looking at the main phases of ChatGPT operation, then cover some core AI architecture components that make it all work.
ChatGPT is testing a mysterious new feature called ‘study together’ - Julie Bort, Tech Crunch
Some ChatGPT subscribers are reporting a new feature appearing in their drop-down list of available tools called “Study Together.” The mode is apparently the chatbot’s way of becoming a better educational tool. Rather than providing answers to prompts, some say it asks more questions and requires the human to answer, like OpenAI’s answer to Google’s LearnLM. Some also wonder whether it will have a mode where more than one human can join the chat in a study group mode. OpenAI did not respond to our request for comment, but for what it’s worth, ChatGPT told us, “OpenAI hasn’t officially announced when or if Study Together will be available to all users — or if it will require ChatGPT Plus.”
Sunday, July 20, 2025
AI and human evolution: Yuval Noah Harari - Wall Street Journal CEO Council
This video features Yuval Noah Harari, a military historian, who discusses Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its potential impact on human evolution. Harari views AI as an "alien intelligence" and a new species that could potentially replace Homo sapiens, emphasizing that it's not just a tool but an agent capable of independent decision-making and creation. He highlights the challenge of "AI alignment," noting that AI can learn and change in unpredictable ways, and may even mimic negative human behaviors.
Harari also discusses humanity's historical focus on power over wisdom, and the confusion between information and truth. He predicts that AI will significantly impact businesses, especially finance, and could even change text-based religions. He expresses concern about job displacement leading to a "useless class" and stresses the importance of human trust and cooperation as a prerequisite for developing benevolent AI. Finally, he suggests that the future will involve many competing AIs, creating an unpredictable environment, and likens AI to "digital immigrants" that will rapidly take jobs and introduce new cultural ideas. {Summary assistance from Gemini 2.5 Flash]
OpenAI Co-founder Ilya Sutskever: Unimaginable, Unpredictable Future Driven By AI Advancements - Business Today YouTube
This YouTube video features Ilya Sutskever, co-founder of OpenAI, who discusses his personal journey and insights into the future of Artificial Intelligence (AI). He shares details about his early life and education, including his experience with the Open University and his studies in math and computer science. He also recounts his early interest in AI and learning, and his career path that led him to co-found OpenAI. Sutskever emphasizes the exciting power of AI, envisioning advancements in areas like healthcare, but also highlights the significant challenges and unpredictability of AI, including the concept of an "intelligence explosion" and the need to manage its vast power. [Summary assistance from Gemini 2.5 Flash]
Saturday, July 19, 2025
AI That Thinks Like Us: New Model Predicts Human Decisions With Startling Accuracy - Helmholtz Munich, Sci Tech Daily
Researchers at Helmholtz Munich have created an advanced artificial intelligence system capable of mimicking human decision-making with impressive precision. The model, named Centaur, was trained using data from more than ten million decisions collected through psychological studies, allowing it to generate responses that mirror human behavior in realistic ways. This breakthrough offers new possibilities for deepening our understanding of how people think and refining existing psychological frameworks.
Will embodied AI create robotic coworkers? - Ahsan Saeed, et al; McKinsey
Much of the current buzz centers on humanoids—robots that resemble people—whose recent exploits include running marathons and performing backflips. General-purpose robots also come in many other forms, however, including those that rely on four legs or wheels for movement (Exhibit 1). But as executives weigh automation road maps and workforce evolution, their focus should not be on whether their robots look human but on whether these robots can flex across tasks in environments designed for humans. This issue is both urgent and intriguing because general-purpose robots, including those in the multipurpose subcategory, may become part of the workplace team: trained to pack, pick, lift, inspect, move, and collaborate with people in real time.2
Friday, July 18, 2025
Artificial Intelligence skills and their impact on the employability of University Graduates (Provisionally accepted) - Heily Consepción Portocarrero Ramos, et al; Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence
The study aimed to analyze the level of AI skills and their impact on the employability of university graduates through a quantitative and descriptive design. A survey was conducted with a sample of 148 undergraduate and graduate graduates. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and visualized using graphs. The results indicated that graduates who report greater knowledge and more frequent use of AI tools, especially generative ones such as ChatGPT, are more likely to be employed in areas related to their majors and to perceive higher productivity and better professional alignment. However, a generational gap in digital skills was also identified, as well as a widespread feeling of insufficient preparation for the challenges of the current labor market. The conclusion is that AI skills are consolidating as a key differentiating factor in employability and that their formal incorporation into university curricula is urgently needed.
AI Brings Pain and Promise to New Grad Job Market - Kathryn Palmer, Inside Higher Ed
Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported that the national unemployment rate was around 4 percent, while 6.6 percent of workers with a bachelor’s degree between the ages of 22 and 27 don’t have jobs—up from 6 percent at the same time last year. Not only are some tech leaders predicting that the new technology could replace a large share of entry-level white collar jobs in the next five years, but AI also allows job seekers to saturate application pools. But AI is also emerging as part of the solution, as some colleges are partnering with the makers of artificial intelligence tools to help alumni navigate those challenges.
Thursday, July 17, 2025
ChatGPT and AI in Education: A Double-Edged Sword for Student Mental Health - Mackenzie Ferguson, Open Tools
Artificial intelligence, particularly platforms like ChatGPT, is significantly shaping the landscape of academia. One key area being influenced is student mental health, as these technologies become more prevalent in educational settings. In fact, experts are weighing in on how these tools might alleviate or exacerbate stress among students depending on how they're integrated into learning environments. For a deeper look into this matter, Eric Wood's analysis from Forbes provides valuable insights into the dual-edged nature of AI in academics.
Here are 12 ways your students are using AI - Micah Ward, University Business
Nearly a quarter of students are using AI to do their assignments for them, a new survey asserts. That’s not the only way they’re using the technology. According to Microsoft’s 2025 AI in Education special report, more than a third of higher ed and K12 students use AI to brainstorm and start assignments, followed by:
To summarize information (33%)
To get answers or information quickly (33%)
To get feedback on their work (32%)
To learn or study in a tailored fashion (30%)
To improve their writing skills (28%)
To make presentations and projects more visually appealing (25%)
Wednesday, July 16, 2025
AI literacy is the only way to a successful AI-human collaboration and AI-assisted education - Without AI literacy, the risks of AI will increase - Susan Fourtané, Futurism
AI literacy is not a new concept. It emerged several years when I was writing for an Ed tech publication. Back then, the talks about AI in education were common with participation of academics, researchers, ed tech companies, and education technologists. This was before the launch of ChatGPT. I am now bringing the topic back because AI literacy is something everyone will need in order to survive the transition into what AI will bring to every industry and sector, and even to those who think technology is not their thing.
AI revolution: How artificial intelligence is reshaping education and jobs in America - Daniel Nuccio, the College Fix
Artificial intelligence has rapidly become a part of American’s lives. What once was a fringe concept a few years ago is now an everyday tool. Its expansive reach affects what and how students study, as well as the job sector, prompting some to question how students and higher education at large should respond. The best way an undergrad can prepare for an AI-altered workforce is to develop human qualities that machines cannot replicate, such as critical thinking, creativity, and social intelligence, some experts told The College Fix.
Tuesday, July 15, 2025
Impact of generative AI interaction and output quality on university students’ learning outcomes: a technology-mediated and motivation-driven approach - Yun Bai & Shaofeng Wang, Nature
This study investigates the influence of generative artificial intelligence (GAI) on university students’ learning outcomes, employing a technology-mediated learning perspective. We developed and empirically tested an integrated model, grounded in interaction theory and technology-mediated learning theory, to examine the relationships between GAI interaction quality, GAI output quality, and learning outcomes. Data from 323 Chinese university students, collected through a two-wave longitudinal survey, revealed that both GAI interaction quality and output quality positively influenced learning motivation and creative self-efficacy.
How AI Factories Can Help Relieve Grid Stress - Mark Spieler, Nvidia
Emerald AI, an NVIDIA Inception startup, is developing software to control power use during times of peak grid demand while meeting the performance requirements of data center AI workloads. In many parts of the world, including major technology hubs in the U.S., there’s a yearslong wait for AI factories to come online, pending the buildout of new energy infrastructure to power them. Emerald AI, a startup based in Washington, D.C., is developing an AI solution that could enable the next generation of data centers to come online sooner by tapping existing energy resources in a more flexible and strategic way. “Traditionally, the power grid has treated data centers as inflexible — energy system operators assume that a 500-megawatt AI factory will always require access to that full amount of power,” said Varun Sivaram, founder and CEO of Emerald AI. “But in moments of need, when demands on the grid peak and supply is short, the workloads that drive AI factory energy use can now be flexible.”
Monday, July 14, 2025
A broader conversation about AI ethics in higher ed - Cynthia Krutsinger, CC Daily
While AI is touted by many as a tool to enhance efficiency and act as an unpaid teaching assistant to professors and graduate students, it is also feared by others as the boogeyman lurking behind closed doors, waiting to undermine all human-human interaction in the classroom. The appropriate role of AI in higher education remains a complex issue, with no single answer. Each institution must determine its ethical stance and be prepared to support it. Despite these efforts, many colleges lack clear ethical policies or guidelines for both faculty and students. This absence leads to confusion and uncertainty. Transparency is crucial, not only for students but also for faculty, instructors and staff. Modeling proper standards is essential for building community in both online and traditional classrooms. Even without ethical considerations, citing AI tools like ChatGPT or Gamma, which assist in refreshing lecture notes or creating presentations, is a best practice.
Meta's Tests AI Chatbot Feature That Sends Follow Up Messages to Users - Isaiah Richard, Tech Times
Meta is now testing a way for its AI chatbot to follow up on you, and it will send users unsolicited messages regarding different topics as a way to keep users engaged with the experience. Note that through this feature, Meta AI would be the first one sending the message to you, and it will initiate a conversation based on your previous usage, talking about past topics discussed. Business Insider reported that a data labeling firm called Alignerr shared guidelines on how Meta is now experimenting with tasking its AI to send follow-up messages to users on different platforms like Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp. [how might this be used with learners?]
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