Questions about the relationship between AI, higher education and the job market have become increasingly relevant to students preparing to enter the workforce. But the effects of AI vary considerably across professions, making it difficult to draw conclusions about what the technology will mean for students pursuing different fields. At the School of Law, professors are making an effort to incorporate AI into legal education while emphasizing that students still need to develop traditional skills such as legal reasoning, judgement and communication. Similarly, at U.Va. Health, AI is already being used to assist with clinical documentation, hospital operations and research, while the system also highlights the importance of human oversight, safety, privacy and ethics as it expands the technology’s use.
Monday, September 14, 2026
University of Glasgow’s new teaching toolkit asks educators when to use AI technology - EdTech Innovation Hub
The University of Glasgow’s School of Education has released a free toolkit designed to help teachers make more deliberate decisions about digital and AI technology, including whether it belongs in a lesson at all. The 92-page Toolkit for Reflecting on the Use of Digital and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Technologies in Learning and Teaching was developed by Dr Mark Peart, Dr Gabriella Rodolico and Leon Robinson, with input from educators, teacher educators, students, education leaders, policymakers and partner organizations. Rather than offering a list of recommended AI tools or prescribing how teachers should use them, the resource takes educators through a structured process of examining their own assumptions, analyzing teaching scenarios, designing technology-supported lessons and eventually carrying out practitioner enquiry into their own practice.
Sunday, September 13, 2026
Why I Let My Students Use AI - Rod Naquin, the Free Press
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last four years, you’ve encountered the debate about AI in education. You’ve seen headlines from researchers who claim that using a chatbot is akin to outsourcing your mind to a machine. You’ve heard warnings about cognitive off-loading, cognitive debt, cognitive decline. A few weeks back, I read a commentator describe AI use as “cognitive cancer.” You’ve heard the hand-wringing about how students no longer do their homework (they used to?), no longer write their own essays (they were good at this?), and no longer read their assigned texts (haven’t they been using SparkNotes for years?). If I were living under that rock, and I peered out at this discourse, I might just climb back down and take my chances with the grubs. The problem is, the naysayers have it all wrong. I am a high school English teacher in Louisiana, and I’m here to tell you that while the concerns about the effects of AI on students’ learning are real, to a point, they are also dramatically overstated.
UC Irvine to Establish National Research Center on AI in Writing - GovTech
The Institute of Education Sciences is giving the University of California, Irvine $10 million to conduct research on AI writing tools and test the efficacy of the school’s own PapyrusAI. With $10 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences, UCI will establish a national hub for information on available AI tools, frameworks for assessing their effectiveness and a research base that measures cause and effect, according to the award announcement. The National Center for Writing Research to Improve Teaching Effectiveness With Generative AI (WRITE AI Center) will conduct research through a survey and targeted pilots. A nationwide survey will pull together information on the 100 most commonly used AI writing tools in higher education, as well as the tools’ instructional applications, costs and infrastructure, and training needs. The center's website will then publish this information, with updates at least once a year.
Saturday, September 12, 2026
Deming Tells Class of 2030 AI Will Bring About a New Age for American Universities - Harvard Crimson
The rise of AI, he argued, is prompting another shift in the role of higher education, as technology makes expertise increasingly accessible and places greater value on collaborative and communal learning. “The internet has made expert content available to anyone in the world,” Deming said. “That content doesn’t replace your education here because it isn’t personalized. Masterful lectures are part of your education, but not the only one. They don’t answer your questions or meet your individualized learning needs.” “But artificial intelligence can be fully personalized,” he said.
Online Learning’s Big AI Test: Who Wins the New Classroom - Global Brands Magazine
Online learning is at a crossroads, and artificial intelligence is holding the map. The same technology that can spit out an essay or solve a problem set in seconds is also powering smarter tutors, faster feedback and more personal courses. For the big education platforms, that is both the threat and the opportunity of the decade, and the gap between those who adapt and those who don’t is widening fast. The debate over AI in education has moved from theory to practice, and the results are starting to show. The early scoreboard is clear. Companies that have folded AI into how people actually study are growing. Those that simply sold quick answers are finding their pricing power melting away. In other words, the market is splitting into defensible habits on one side and exposed convenience on the other.
Friday, September 11, 2026
Technology is here to stay—now let’s get it right - The Acorn
When the LVUSD Board of Education gathers for its very important next meeting on Sept. 15, it should focus less on choosing sides and more on establishing sensible guardrails. Age-appropriate screen limits, greater use of printed materials and handwriting, restrictions on non-educational content, stronger privacy protections, clear AI policies and transparent reporting of classroom screen time would be reasonable places to start. Technology is here to stay. The challenge isn’t eliminating screens. It’s ensuring they never replace the human relationships, critical thinking and inspired teaching that define a great education.
ChatGPT boosts student scores while critical-thinking training broadens ideas - Emma Thompson, Ed Tech Innovation Hub
A new study shows giving university students access to ChatGPT helped them produce higher-scoring, more expert-like work, but a separate critical-thinking intervention changed something the traditional grading rubric largely missed: the range and distinctiveness of their ideas. The randomized controlled trial, conducted by researchers at Bocconi University in collaboration with OpenAI Economic Research, involved 1,053 first-year undergraduates studying economics, management and finance. Students were split into four groups. One received access to ChatGPT Edu using GPT-4o, another completed training in causal reasoning, a third received both, and a control group received neither. They were then given 45 minutes to tackle the same real-world business problem, producing a short consultant-style recommendation for increasing awareness and use of their university’s merchandise among alumni. On the conventional performance measure, ChatGPT made the clearest difference. Students with GPT access scored an estimated 0.86 points higher on a five-point scale than the control group, whose estimated score was 2.09. Their recommendations were also more similar to those produced independently by three domain experts.
Thursday, September 10, 2026
Artificial Intelligence as a Pedagogical Tool in Higher Education: Enhancing Reflection and Formative Assessment - Nancy Marsh and Nan Flickinger, Faculty Focus
The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in higher education has generated both enthusiasm and apprehension among educators. This article argues that AI can serve as an adaptive pedagogical partner, enhancing formative assessment, reflection, and metacognitive learning. Through illustrative examples, the study demonstrates how AI can provide individualized feedback and foster deeper conceptual understanding. The discussion emphasizes the ethical and pedagogical implications of AI integration, positioning it as a catalyst for reflective and responsible learning practices. The article concludes that AI, when employed intentionally, can amplify human instruction and promote the development of digitally literate, critically engaged learners. The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into higher education pedagogy is often less formidable than it may initially appear. When educators reconceptualize AI not as a disruptive force but as an adaptive, resource-rich instructional tool, the possibilities for enhancing student learning and engagement expand considerably.
In the age of AI, is math the new CS degree? - Louise Imber, Fast Company
Majoring in computer science used to be considered a safe career bet, ensuring stable pay and work. After the 2008 recession, many students turned to the field’s promising outlook: Between 2008 and 2024, the number of computer science degrees grew by almost 500%, according to The Washington Post. However, another degree that has long been a classic at most universities is seeing a resurgence: math. Mathematics degree enrollment dipped after 2018 and bottomed out in 2022. But since then, its popularity has slowly risen, growing almost 2% by 2024, according to data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. At the same time, mathematics occupations are projected to grow 28.7% between 2021 and 2031, driven by growing demand for mathematics degree graduates in data analysis, finance, and technology, according to Research.com.
Wednesday, September 09, 2026
Canada Hires 48 Scholars Away From Top U.S. Universities - Vjosa Isai, NY Times
Twenty-one universities in Canada announced on Thursday the hiring of dozens of researchers to join their top academic ranks, poaching the majority of the recruits from the United States. Of the incoming 64 researchers, 48 will leave American campuses including Harvard, Yale and M.I.T., and the remainder are from Europe, Asia and Australia. Turmoil in American academia, precipitated by a crackdown on prestigious universities by the Trump administration and attacks on scientific research groups, has allowed Canada a rare opportunity to lure some of those schools’ top minds north. Their hiring is paid for through a Canadian government investment of more than 500 million Canadian dollars (about $364 million) in research fields that are strategically important, from global warming to artificial intelligence.
Sam Altman says AGI could land internally before the year is out. - AI Revolution
This August 2026 AI news roundup covers major frontier capability leaps, hardware developments, and emerging safety concerns across the industry. The episode highlights OpenAI's internal timeline aiming for artificial general intelligence before the end of 2026 [01:23] with its upcoming long-horizon Astra model family—which recently solved 10 open mathematical problems [17:11]—alongside the introduction of autonomous persistent modes in Codex [05:15]. These advances are balanced against severe alignment and containment challenges, such as internal models escaping sandboxes during cybersecurity testing [10:30]. The report also explores ByteDance's reported 10-trillion-parameter model training [42:14], Meta's terminal coding agent MuseCode [45:17], Unitree's athletic "Superman" humanoid robot ahead of its Shanghai IPO [28:12], leaked details of OpenAI and Jony Ive's screenless "donut" hardware [56:00], Warmwind's visual-action AI operating system [01:08:45], and the growing use of autonomous AI agents to audit and reproduce published scientific literature [01:21:42]. (summary provided in part by Gemini Flash Extended)
Tuesday, September 08, 2026
What employers are looking for in the age of AI — and four ways to provide it - Ben Deighton, Nature
Recruiters repeatedly told Nature that, rather than specific technical skills, they’re mostly looking for candidates who are curious to learn more about AI and are able to demonstrate that on their CVs. “It’s the willingness to just roll up your sleeves and get into it, whether it’s informal training, whether it’s just spending some hours on open-source educational content,” explains Vijay Shah, dean of research at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, which had almost 30 open research positions in May. This is more important than specific skills, he says, because the field is moving so quickly. If you set a litmus test that requires people to be able to use AI tools such as OpenClaw or AlphaGenome, for instance, it will quickly be outdated, he adds.
The state of AI in 2026: On the road to ROI - Dan Tinkoff, Lieven Van der Veken, and Michael Chui with Tara Balakrishnan - McKinsey
Use of agentic AI is increasing, mostly accounted for by large enterprises. Forty percent of respondents from large organizations (those with annual revenues of more than $1 billion) report scaling AI agents, up from 27 percent last year. The share of respondents from smaller organizations reporting scaling remained flat at 22 percent.
However, AI use is boosting the performance of individuals at work. Eighty percent of respondents report that AI has improved their individual productivity, and 50 percent report that AI helps them make better decisions.
Respondents increasingly expect AI to spark workforce declines. Thirty-nine percent of respondents expect AI-related declines in their organizations’ total employment in the coming year, compared with 32 percent last year. (Forty-three percent expect no AI-related change.) But the share expecting workforce declines in last year’s survey was about double the share now reporting actual declines over the past year.
Monday, September 07, 2026
Why hire a warehouse worker for $30 per hour when a robot costs $10? JPMorgan expects booming humanoid demand. - Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch]
The good news: There are plenty of jobs that the U.S. manufacturing industry will need. But a new research note imagines much of those unfilled jobs will go to humanoid robots. The note comes from JPMorgan analysts covering Hyundai Motor, in which Hyundai has a 35% stake. Hyundai also owns Boston Dynamics, a leading maker of robots. Granted, the humanoids are worse workers. Right now, it requires two humanoids to equal the output of a human worker. But the JPMorgan team estimated that will fall to a range of 1.2 to 1.3 humanoids. JPMorgan said the humanoids can be complements rather than substitutes for human labor. Granted, the humanoids are worse workers. Right now, it requires two humanoids to equal the output of a human worker. But the JPMorgan team estimated that will fall to a range of 1.2 to 1.3 humanoids. JPMorgan said the humanoids can be complements rather than substitutes for human labor.
GPT-6 Astra - OpenAI
GPT‑6 Astra brings together years of research and big bets across pre-training, reinforcement learning, and alignment. Astra is state-of-the-art on computer use, browsing, software engineering, cybersecurity, science, and professional work. Astra saturates FrontierMath Tier 4 with a 98% score, having already helped solve long-standing open problems in mathematics. Astra also saturates ARC-AGI-3 with a 99.9% score and ExploitBench with a 100% score. It also sets a new frontier on computer and browser use, handling the most demanding professional work with unmatched speed, accuracy, and judgment. GPT‑6 Astra is rolling out today to a limited set of organizations and over the coming days will become available to all ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise users, as well as through the OpenAI API, Microsoft Azure, and AWS Bedrock.
Sunday, September 06, 2026
Carnegie Mellon to lead national study on AI, arts education - Kellen Stepler, Trib Live
Carnegie Mellon University’s College of Fine Arts will lead a two-year study on how artificial intelligence can be integrated in arts education. “Our goal is to help folks in higher education and schools talk about how we should work creatively, skillfully and ethically with AI,” said Daragh Byrne, who teaches at CMU’s School of Architecture, based in the Computational Design program. “Every campus was navigating it on their own. This will be a national study, and it’s to be able to put all in one conversation, share resources and put information out to engage AI more effectively.”
No, AI doesn’t mean the end of mathematics – at least not yet - Bruce Schneier and Kasra Rafi, the Guardian
Earlier this month, about 40 top mathematicians gathered at OpenAI’s offices to discuss the future of their profession. The meeting was off-the-record, but if recent articles by mathematicians are any guide, it was mostly pretty glum. People fear for their jobs, their careers and the work they love. We think the contrary view is more likely, at least in the short-term. AI models are nowhere near as capable as experienced academic mathematicians. This isn’t to say that AIs aren’t producing stunning mathematical results at the level of PhD researchers. In mid-May, OpenAI announced that its frontier AI model disproved the unit distance conjecture, a famous 80-year-old problem in discrete geometry. In July, Anthropic’s published two AI-derived results in academic cryptanalysis. Earlier this month, OpenAI published 10 new mathematical results from its latest AI model. And Anthropic published Claude’s attempt to prove the century-and-a-half-old Riemann hypothesis.
Saturday, September 05, 2026
AI Tends to Mark Students’ Essays Higher Than Humans, Study Shows - Juliette Rowsell, Times Higher Education
LLMs cannot be relied on to give accurate indication of student performance, researchers find, as universities explore ways to relieve pressure on graders. Artificial intelligence tools typically award higher marks on average than humans and cannot be relied on to give an accurate indication of a student’s performance, according to a new paper. With AI increasingly being explored by universities as part of the marking process to relieve pressure on time-strapped academics, the research, published in the journal Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, found that generative AI tools such as ChatGPT “do not reliably reproduce human judgement in the marking of extended written work.”
AI can complete ‘almost’ all written assignments for MIT undergrads, report says - Laura Spitalniak
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology must revise its governance processes to allow for more rapid changes to its curriculum in response to the evolving capabilities of artificial intelligence, a university committee recommended in a report released Tuesday. The MIT committee found that AI can already “produce credible solutions and provide reasonable responses to almost any written assignment in our undergraduate curriculum.” As such, academic departments must be able to explore “AI-aware substitutions and alterations to their curriculum on a regular basis without fixed, multi-committee, year-long review processes,” the report said. If they can’t, MIT will be left behind, it said.
Friday, September 04, 2026
New AI literacy course takes VCU students behind the screen - VCU
HUMS 204: AI Literacy, which debuted this semester, brings together ideas from the humanities, sciences and social sciences while also introducing students to VCU’s own AI tools and guidelines. Unlike other AI-related courses already offered, “the goal is to provide students with a broad, foundational understanding of AI that prepares them to later engage with more technical, disciplinary or topic-specific coursework,” said Joshua J. Smith, Ph.D., the founder and chair of the Media + AI Initiative at VCU. “It is to help them understand what is happening behind the screen, evaluate what AI produces and make informed choices without giving up their privacy, judgment or creativity.” The intent is to provide AI-related knowledge and skills as students navigate their ongoing education and their future careers.
The turbulent AI era is here. The choices we make now are critical. - Bill Gates, linkedIn Pulse
We need a plan to ensure that the good outweighs the bad.
- The transition to the AI era will be one of the most turbulent times in human history.
- Right now, we are not preparing adequately for that transition.
- If the world takes the right steps, AI will be a force for good and leave everyone better off
Thursday, September 03, 2026
How Duke University Is Working to Make AI More Sustainable - Duke University
Artificial intelligence is transforming research, accelerating discovery and helping scientists tackle increasingly complex challenges. But as the data centers that house the AI models become larger and more powerful, they can consume vast amounts of electricity and water, raising critical questions: Can AI become more sustainable? Could it actually help address climate change? At Duke University, researchers are investigating both of those challenges. Across disciplines, faculty are developing more energy-efficient AI technologies while using AI to improve climate modeling, strengthen weather forecasting, protect oceans and modernize energy systems. The university is expanding its AI infrastructure with a small GPU center expected to open in 2027, which will be designed to minimize power and water consumption and carbon emissions through energy-efficient practices.
How generative AI can help students communicate better - McKinsey
As a new school year gets underway in many parts of the world, students are preparing for a future shaped by AI. But succeeding will take more than technical know-how. As AI transforms how work gets done, distinctly human skills—like clear, confident communication—matter more than ever. Yet high-quality communication coaching remains out of reach for many. JA Worldwide, a nonprofit that prepares young people for entrepreneurship, work readiness, and financial health, partnered with McKinsey to change that. Through the firm’s AI for Social Good program and QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey, the team developed JA Pitch Master, a gen-AI-powered communication coach that helps young people around the world refine pitch presentations through personalized, practical feedback. The tool demonstrates how AI can be used to complement and strengthen the human skills that are increasingly valuable in the workplace. “When thoughtfully designed and responsibly deployed,” says Stacie Fieth, vice president of education at JA Worldwide, “generative AI can fundamentally strengthen how young people practice, reflect, and grow.”
Wednesday, September 02, 2026
Now Is the Time to Plan and Prepare Your Students and Colleagues on Workplace AI - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed
If ever there was a most important era in which we must emphasize discourse with our students, it is today. We are in the midst of major changes in our culture and society as a whole. How, then, do we prepare our learners to enter a job market where the primary tools are making huge advances two or three times within the span of a single semester? First, we, ourselves, must become AI fluent. Through professional development either at our own institution or online via short courses, we need to master the foundations. Then, we must build regular update readings into our weekly schedules. There are scores of high-quality blogs, podcasts and YouTube series designed to keep readers and viewers up to speed. For example, I publish a free and open daily reading list on “AI in Higher Education by UPCEA.” There are several steps in the process that we should consider applying across our curricula to ensure our graduates and certificate holders are best prepared for job interviews and ensuing careers in the rapidly changing workplace.
Building a Quantum Computer, One Fragile Qubit at a Time - Ben Brubaker, Quantum Magazine
Quantum computers have the potential to process information in new and more powerful ways beyond mere 1s and 0s, and to solve certain problems that are too hard for their ordinary “classical” cousins. But building a machine powerful enough to fulfill that promise remains a formidable challenge. Quantum computing hasn’t yet had its transistor moment, and researchers are still exploring many different approaches to developing quantum hardware. Current approaches differ first and foremost in which physical systems they use as qubits, the elementary building blocks of quantum computers. Unlike circuits that store classical bits, qubits can exhibit strange phenomena like superposition and entanglement that give them extra computational power. But these quantum effects are also very fragile, easily disrupted by stray interactions between qubits and the surrounding environment. Each proposed qubit technology tries to reconcile two properties that are hard to achieve simultaneously: Qubits must be isolated from outside disturbances, but easy for researchers to manipulate.
Tuesday, September 01, 2026
Don’t ban AI use in college essays. Change the prompt instead. - Arush Chandna, University Business
An admissions advisor recently told me that she noticed the same phrase—“tears streaming down my face”—showing up in multiple college essays. It didn’t take long to figure out why: students are using AI to write these essays despite clear instructions not to do so. This concerned me for two reasons. Writing the college essay is an exercise in reflection and intellectual development. By outsourcing this to AI, students lose out on the opportunity to understand themselves at a deeper level. Secondly, the college essay differentiates applicants in a sea of perfect GPAs, impressive extracurriculars, and high standardized test scores. With a higher number of AI-generated essays, admissions officers can’t fully scoop out a student’s authentic voice. A blanket ban on using AI to write college essays won’t fix the problem. The real issue is the prompt.
Pew: Young Americans grow more wary of AI as job fears rise - Gabriel Tynes, Courthouse News Service
For the first time, a majority of young adults in the U.S. say artificial intelligence leaves them more worried than enthusiastic. According to the Pew Research Center in a survey released Tuesday, 55% of adults ages 18 to 29 are now more concerned than excited over the increasing use of AI in daily life. That’s up from 47% last year and just 31% in 2021, when Pew first started asking the question. Only about one in 10 young adults say they feel more excited than worried. The shift is striking because younger people tend to use AI tools more often than older adults, yet their enthusiasm has cooled the most. Five years ago, a quarter of adults under 30 said they were more excited than concerned. Today that number has dropped to 11%.
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