As deferred maintenance at higher education institutions mounts, the growing backlog of needed capital investment presents a “hidden liability” for the sector, according to a Moody’s Ratings report this month. Collectively, the capital needs for facilities amount to between $750 billion and $950 billion over the next decade for colleges the agency rates, according to Moody’s. With fewer financial options, many colleges will resort to taking on new debt to finance investments, analysts said. Moody’s analysts expect infrastructure spending to pick up as colleges take on projects put off during the pandemic. But “few have the necessary resources and credit strength to sustain the higher amounts needed to tackle the full extent of their infrastructure needs,” they said.
Wednesday, January 8, 2025
Tuesday, January 7, 2025
Dubay: Artificial Intelligence will boost productivity in 2025 - Rio Grande Guardian, Luis Montoya
Gains from artificial intelligence (AI) could cause productivity to soar above expectations next year. This is the prediction of Curtis Dubay, chief economist in the economic policy division of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “The surge in productivity in the last few years pre-dates the introduction of AI. While we have had years to integrate automation technology and are finally seeing the economic gains from that evolution, the economic efficiency brought on by AI hasn’t really kicked off yet,” Dubay said. “In 2025, we can expect businesses across the economy to better integrate AI into their processes. They are going to have no other choice because they will remain short of workers.”“AI will make their current workers more productive than they already are. This will boost growth even further and allow businesses to continue paying high wages, all while expanding their profit margins (as long as wage gain remains at current levels). That’s a win-win-win.”
Monday, January 6, 2025
Skipping College: The New Playbook for Successful Careers Without College - Thomas Frey, Future of Education
It has become increasingly evident that many young people are questioning the long-held belief that a traditional four-year college education is the best—or only—path to success. Rising tuition costs, mounting student debt, and uncertain job prospects after graduation have driven a growing skepticism toward the value of a college degree. At the same time, the rapid evolution of technology and shifting demands in the labor market have highlighted the need for skills-based learning and alternative career pathways. This change reflects a broader cultural and economic shift, with more individuals seeking practical, affordable, and efficient ways to enter the workforce. The future of career preparation is evolving, with a focus on building meaningful networks, acquiring hands-on skills, and leveraging personalized education options like trade schools, certifications, online courses, and mentorships. These alternatives not only align better with individual goals but also provide direct, tangible routes to professional success in an ever-changing world.The shifting attitudes toward higher education are being driven by a convergence of economic, professional, and cultural factors. Economically, the skyrocketing cost of college tuition and the resulting student loan crisis have left many young people questioning whether a degree is worth the financial burden.
Sunday, January 5, 2025
Realizing AI Agent Transformation - Venture Beat
There’s no industry that won’t be disrupted by AI, and more specifically generative AI and agentic AI, in the coming months and years. Companies are understandably eager to realize the enormous promise of agentic AI, but they recognize the importance of mitigating risks to their brand and intellectual property. The present moment offers a critical opportunity to develop the necessary infrastructures, strategies, and solutions to empower the coming wave of citizen developers.
Saturday, January 4, 2025
Beyond assistants: AI agents are transforming the paradigm - Venture Beat Staff
You can think of AI agents as tireless, specialized employees in an organization that are very specifically tailored to a task, and collaborate to solve business problems for you, Pandey adds. Adoption is currently picking up steam, and showing great results, Tim Tully, partner at Menlo Ventures, told VentureBeat. “I’m seeing a remarkable stream of customer success companies replacing and augmenting customer success teams with agents and helping them scale out,” Tully said. “It’s happening in marketing automation. It’s happening in code generation. I think you’re going to see agents spread across into other forms of software engineering as well. They’re incredibly pervasive as it stands today, but I think in the future agents are going to be used even more broadly across the enterprise.”
https://venturebeat.com/ai/beyond-assistants-ai-agents-are-transforming-the-paradigm/
Friday, January 3, 2025
Microsoft CEO’s Shocking Prediction: “Agents Will Replace ALL Software" - Matt Berman, YouTube
The video discusses Satya Nadella's (Microsoft CEO) prediction that software applications as we know them are going away in favor of agents. This is a huge statement that has vast implications for the future of software development. Specifically, Nadella argues that agents will eventually replace all business applications (including Excel). He believes that the future of software development will be based on agents interacting directly with databases. This means that there will be no need for the traditional application stack, which includes the user interface, business logic, and database. Instead, agents will be able to access and manipulate data directly, without the need for a human to write code. This has significant implications for both businesses and developers. Businesses will need to adapt to this new paradigm by investing in AI and training their employees to use agents. Developers will need to learn new skills and tools in order to create and manage agents. The video also discusses the potential benefits of this shift. Agents can automate many tasks that are currently done by humans, which can free up employees to focus on more strategic work. Additionally, agents can help businesses to make better decisions by providing them with access to more data and insights. (summary assisted by Gemini 1.5)
Thursday, January 2, 2025
Embracing the Future: New England College Takes the Lead in AI Education with New Online Master’s Program in Artificial Intelligence - New England College
In response to the growing global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) expertise, New England College (NEC) has launched a forward-thinking fully online Master of Science in AI degree program. This carefully designed program aims to equip professionals with the advanced skills needed to drive innovation. The new online program provides students with the technical expertise and real-world experience required to lead in AI development and applications. With AI revolutionizing industries from healthcare to finance and technology and a job growth of 32 percent over the past two years, the demand for skilled professionals in this field is at an all-time high. NEC’s AI master’s program offers students the opportunity to gain knowledge in AI, machine learning, data science and neural networks while allowing them to study on their own schedule from anywhere.
Wednesday, January 1, 2025
Google releases model to rival OpenAI - Martin Crowley, AI Tool Report
Google launched Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking, its “most thoughtful model yet” that’s capable of reasoning its way through complex tasks, in areas like programming, math, and physics. A bit like OpenAI’s o1 can. Powered by Google’s recently released LLM, Gemini Flash 2.0, Google’s reasoning model is supposedly quicker at responding than others (reasoning models take their time to ‘’think’’ and work their way through problems) and, although it appears to be similar in design to o1, it has one benefit that addresses a major concern with AI functioning as a ‘’black box, shrouded in mystery: It shows you what it’s “thinking”. It displays its workings out and explains why it’s come to the conclusion it has, offering users a more transparent experience and a clearer insight into how it works.
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