Google’s AI Boss Says Gemini’s New Abilities Point the Way to AGI - Will Knight, Wired

 Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, says that reaching artificial general intelligence or AGI—a fuzzy term typically used to describe machines with human-like cleverness—will mean honing some of the nascent abilities found in Google’s flagship Gemini models. Google announced a slew of AI upgrades and new products at its annual I/O event today in Mountain View, California. The search giant revealed upgraded versions of Gemini Flash and Gemini Pro, Google’s fastest and most capable models, respectively. Hassabis said that Gemini Pro outscores other models on LMArena, a widely used benchmark for measuring the abilities of AI models.

https://www.wired.com/story/googles-ai-boss-says-geminis-new-abilities-point-the-way-to-agi/

Google just leapfrogged every competitor with mind-blowing AI that can think deeper, shop smarter, and create videos with dialogue - Michael Nuñez, Venture Beat

 Google announced a sweeping set of artificial intelligence advancements Tuesday at its annual I/O developer conference, introducing more powerful AI models, expanding its search capabilities, and launching new creative tools that push the boundaries of what its technology can accomplish. The Mountain View-based company unveiled Gemini 2.5 enhancements, rolled out AI Mode in Search to all U.S. users, introduced new generative media models, and launched a premium $249.99 monthly subscription tier called Google AI Ultra for power users — all reflecting Google’s accelerating AI momentum across its product ecosystem.

https://venturebeat.com/ai/google-just-leapfrogged-every-competitor-with-mind-blowing-ai-that-can-think-deeper-shop-smarter-and-create-videos-with-dialogue/

Report: 93% of Students Believe Gen AI Training Belongs in Degree Programs - Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology

 The vast majority of today's college students — 93% — believe generative AI training should be included in degree programs, according to a recent Coursera report. What's more, 86% of students consider gen AI the most crucial technical skill for career preparation, prioritizing it above in-demand skills such as data strategy and software development. And 94% agree that microcredentials help build the essential skills they need to achieve career success. For its Microcredentials Impact Report 2025, Coursera surveyed more than 1,200 learners and 1,000 employers around the globe to better understand the demand for microcredentials and their impact on workforce readiness and hiring trends.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2025/05/21/report-93-of-students-believe-gen-ai-training-belongs-in-degree-programs.aspx

Taking intermittent quizzes reduces achievement gaps and enhances online learning, even in highly distracting environments - Jason C.K. Chan and Zohara Assadipour, the Conversation

Inserting brief quiz questions into an online lecture can boost learning and may reduce racial achievement gaps, even when students are tuning in remotely in a distracting environment. That’s a main finding of our recent research published in Communications Psychology. With co-authors Dahwi Ahn, Hymnjyot Gill and Karl Szpunar, we present evidence that adding mini-quizzes into an online lecture in science, technology, engineering or mathematics – collectively known as STEM – can boost learning, especially for Black students. In our study, we included over 700 students from two large public universities and five two-year community colleges across the U.S. and Canada. All the students watched a 20-minute video lecture on a STEM topic. Each lecture was divided into four 5-minute segments, and following each segment, the students either answered four brief quiz questions or viewed four slides reviewing the content they’d just seen.

https://neshobademocrat.com/premium/theconversation/stories/taking-intermittent-quizzes-reduces-achievement-gaps-and-enhances-online-learning-even-in-highly,159038

How Women Can Future-Proof Their Careers in a Tech-Driven World: Five ways to supercharge your professional growth. - Karlie Kloss and Lareina Yee, Katie Couric Media

McKinsey research estimates that up to 30 percent of work hours could be automated by 2030, potentially rising up to 70 percent across many jobs. That’s the nature of technology. In just 40 years, the internet, smart phones, and new technologies have transformed entire industries. For example, in 1990 “digital marketer” wasn’t a job. Two years ago, “prompt engineer” didn’t exist. In the next five years, roles we can’t yet imagine will emerge. Women will experience even more dramatic shifts in job opportunities and expectations than men, as A.I. and automation are set to disrupt the fields where they have greater representation. For example, roles in nursing, education, marketing, communications, sales, and customer service face significant transformation. In the U.S., about 87 percent of nurses are women, and up to 30 percent of their tasks could be automated. While nurses will remain essential, the way they work — and the role of technology in patient care — will undergo profound change.

https://katiecouric.com/lifestyle/workplace/career-growth-ai-automation-karlie-kloss-lareina-yee/

Copyright alone cannot protect the future of creative work - Mark MacCarthy, Brookings

AI challenges the future of creative work. Copyright law has a role to play, but the needed policy response must come from elsewhere. According to current guidelines, AI-generated works are not eligible for copyright protection. This has broad implications, especially around how content companies might register their works or disclaim content generated by AI. Transparency measures for how AI is trained have been introduced at the state and federal level, but these might be premature if AI firms succeed in their fair use claims in the courts. 

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/copyright-alone-cannot-protect-the-future-of-creative-work/

Why agentic AI is the next wave of innovation, Mike Hulme, Venture Beat

In just one year, AI and machine learning has soared to new heights with the emergence of advanced large language models, and domain specific small language models that can be deployed both on the cloud and the edge. While this kind of intelligence is the new baseline for what we expect in our applications, the future of enterprise AI lies in complex, multi-agent workflows that combine powerful models, intelligent agents and human guided decision-making.  This market is moving fast. According to recent Deloitte research, 50% of companies using generative AI will launch agentic AI pilots or proofs of concept by 2027.

https://venturebeat.com/ai/why-agentic-ai-is-the-next-wave-of-innovation

Courses Are Dead? Google Gemini 2.5 Changes Everything for Online Educators - AI Learning Communities, YouTube

The host discusses Google's Gemini 2.5 Pro experimental and how it can create interactive web apps from simple prompts [00:09]. These web apps can visually represent information and require user interaction, potentially replacing traditional courses [00:30]. The host demonstrates how to create a web app that teaches how to make coffee [05:55] and a sequencing application [07:38]. He also shows examples of web apps for personal skills like photo editing [09:38] and cooking scrambled eggs [10:06], as well as for small business tasks [10:33]. The host emphasizes that these web apps are simple HTML pages that can be easily deployed [21:13]. He encourages viewers to consider using web apps instead of traditional courses for teaching processes and skills [21:03]. (note this summary is provided in part by Gemini 2.0 Flash)

https://youtu.be/QgxrhX9x3lY?si=hZsPr4JoDEuz_wxQ 

China's Baidu looks to patent AI system to decipher animal sounds - Liam Mo and Brenda Goh, Reuters

Ever wished you could understand what your cat is trying to tell you? A Chinese tech company is exploring whether it's possible to translate those mysterious meows into human language using artificial intelligence. Baidu (9888.HK), opens new tab, owner of China's largest search engine, has filed a patent with China National Intellectual Property Administration proposing a system to convert animal vocalisations into human language, according to a patent document published this week.

https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/chinas-baidu-looks-patent-ai-system-decipher-animal-sounds-2025-05-08/

Massachusetts Department of Correction Celebrates Virtual Education Team for Innovation during Teacher Appreciation Week- Mass Dept of Correction

Formed in response to advances in digital education, the Virtual Education Team designs and implements original, engaging learning modules aimed at helping incarcerated individuals discover transferable skills and pursue self-improvement. Their work enhances the impact of the DOC’s Orijin tablet-based education, which has been implemented across all DOC facilities. “The work of teachers across Massachusetts has a tremendous impact on our communities,” said Public Safety and Security Secretary Terrence Reidy. “DOC educators are not only implementing robust programs, but they are also creating opportunities that previously didn’t exist for returning individuals. Today, we celebrate their dedication to learning and growth.” 

https://www.mass.gov/news/massachusetts-department-of-correction-celebrates-virtual-education-team-for-innovation-during-teacher-appreciation-week

The Future of Residential College: Hybrid, Scalable, and Built for Student Demand - Ron Stefanski, Market Scale

The traditional residential college experience is transforming. Driven by rising costs, declining enrollment, and student demand for flexibility, small private colleges are rethinking their academic models. A 2022 McKinsey & Company survey found that 65 percent of higher education students want aspects of their learning experience to remain virtual, even post-pandemic. This shift signals a growing appetite for hybrid environments that blend campus life with scalable online access. What does a hybrid future look like for small colleges, and can it preserve the heart of the campus experience while offering students more?

https://marketscale.com/industries/education-technology/the-future-of-residential-college-hybrid-scalable-and-built-for-student-demand/

LinkedIn’s new AI tools help job seekers find smarter career fits - Steven Melendez, Fast Company

New AI features from LinkedIn will soon help job seekers find positions that best suit them—without the need for exact keyword matches or specific job titles. LinkedIn’s new AI-powered job search interface allows users to express their goals in plain language, says Rohan Rajiv, LinkedIn’s head of career products. For example, users can type a phrase like “business development or partnership roles in video games” and still be matched with relevant positions in the gaming industry, even if job listings don’t use those exact terms. Job seekers can also enter more abstract goals like “using brand marketing skills to cure cancer” to uncover marketing roles at pharmaceutical companies and oncology centers.

https://www.fastcompany.com/91329471/linkedins-new-ai-tools-help-jobseekers-find-better-fit-roles

Let’s stop calling them ‘soft skills.’ They’re the hardest ones to master - Shannon McKeen, Fast Company

At a recent academic conference, I noticed a familiar unease ripple through conversations about “soft skills.” Many participants winced at the term. They recognized the inadequacy of the term, yet struggled to agree on a better alternative. People floated around suggestions like “human skills,” “essential skills,” or “power skills,” but none seemed to stick. This persistent terminology problem reflects a deeper tension in our educational system. There’s a long-standing bias that elevates “hard” technical competencies over the nuanced, deeply human capabilities that actually define long-term professional success. Historically, hard skills emerged from the natural sciences—quantitative, measurable, and increasingly automatable. Soft skills, on the other hand, draw from the liberal arts, humanities, and social sciences. 

https://www.fastcompany.com/91328317/lets-stop-calling-them-soft-skills-theyre-the-hardest-ones-to-master

Quantum computing: Game on - McKinsey

New advances suggest quantum may finally be at an inflection point. Here’s what leaders need to know to become quantum-ready. Quantum computing has long been technology’s white whale. But in recent months, new developments suggest practical applications for this elusive technology could finally be within reach. “Quantum has been five to ten years away from fruition for many, many decades,” says McKinsey Partner Michael Bogobowicz. “Now it feels three to five years away.” In this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, Bogobowicz joins McKinsey Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly to discuss how quantum differs from conventional computing, what its potential use cases are likely to be, and how to prepare for the highs and lows of a world that could move exponentially faster than it does today.

https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/quantum-computing-game-on

AI-powered learning is a story about people, not machines - Patrick Blessinger, Abhilasha Singh and James Brown; University World News

AI-powered learning is not a story about machines. It is about people. It is about how we use technology to foster human agency, to promote inclusion and to cultivate a more capable learning ecosystem. It will continue to reshape how knowledge is produced and consumed and it will continue to reshape teaching and learning processes. We have to embrace new concepts while remaining committed to those core values that make education the driving engine of progress: advancing inquiry, expanding knowledge, fostering creativity and enhancing the quality of life for all. We are not simply training the workers of today – we are nurturing the citizens, artists, scientists and leaders of tomorrow. And in doing so, we are called to ask not just what AI can do for education but what education can do for humanity.

https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20250430081714569

The Future of Education with AI Agents: How Conversational Agents Will Replace Classrooms - Thomas Frey, Futurist Speaker

 What we’re witnessing isn’t just a better form of education—it’s the emergence of a new learning paradigm altogether. AI agents are dissolving the rigid structures of grade levels, semesters, and standardized tests. In their place, we see flexible, lifelong learning partnerships that evolve with us, helping us adapt to new roles, industries, and technologies throughout our lives. The promise is staggering: a world where anyone, anywhere, can unlock their full potential without being limited by geography, socioeconomic status, or outdated institutions. Education becomes a continuous journey, not a stage of life. A conversation, not a lecture. And for the first time, it’s a system designed around the learner—not the institution. As AI continues to evolve, so too does our understanding of human capability. The future of education isn’t just digital—it’s dynamic, personalized, and relentlessly practical. And it’s already here.

https://futuristspeaker.com/future-of-education/the-future-of-education-with-ai-agents-how-conversational-agents-will-replace-classrooms/

I tried out a bunch of the AI assistants. Here’s what you need to know about each one - Jared Newman, Fast Company

Does it feel to you like there are way too many AI assistants to keep track of? Between ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, Anthropic Claude, DeepSeek, and others, it’s hard to remember what each one excels at—if anything. Beyond just the underlying differences in large language models, each AI assistant has its own features, integrations, premium features, and peculiarities. I’m writing this guide both for myself and for anyone who wants to stay informed about generative [and agenic] AI. While I have some reservations, I also think it’s worth keeping an eye on what’s available. Rather than getting into the technical details of how these AI assistants work, I’ll focus on what they can actually do.

https://www.fastcompany.com/91293260/which-ai-assistant-should-you-use

Survey: What Online College Students Need - Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Education

Half of surveyed CTOs indicate that student demand for online and/or hybrid course options has increased substantially year over year at their institution. Nearly the same share say their college has added a substantial number of new online or hybrid course options over the same period. Meanwhile, the most recent Changing Landscape of Online Education Project report found something similar: Nearly half of chief online learning officers surveyed said that enrollment in online degree programs at their institution is now higher than that of on-campus programs—and even more said their college had undergone a strategic shift in response to such demand.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/tech-innovation/teaching-learning/2025/05/01/survey-what-online-college-students-need

Want a job at Duolingo? Better know how to use AI - Tech Crunch

Duolingo has announced it’s becoming an AI-first company. In a message shared with staff and later posted online, CEO Luis von Ahn said the shift will change how the business runs, from hiring to content creation. While it’s not about cutting jobs, von Ahn made it clear that new roles will only be added when automation genuinely can’t do the work. Rather than tweaking what’s already in place, Duolingo is rethinking how things are done, with AI built in from the ground up. Contractors will be phased out where AI tools are a better fit, and employees are being encouraged to use AI to work smarter. The idea is to remove the repetitive tasks and give people more space to focus on creative, high-impact work.

https://www.theverge.com/news/657594/duolingo-ai-first-replace-contract-workers

Here is how experiential learning can save colleges from AI - Shannon McKeen, University Business

For centuries, higher education thrived on a simple premise: universities controlled knowledge, faculty acted as gatekeepers, and students paid tuition to access expertise. But artificial intelligence (AI) is dismantling that model at an alarming rate. ChatGPT can analyze Shakespeare, outline marketing strategies, and explain quantum mechanics with competence rivaling many instructors. If knowledge is now universally accessible, what remains of higher education’s value? The answer isn’t competing with AI to deliver information—it’s doing what AI cannot: creating transformative, real-world learning experiences. The institutions that recognize this shift will thrive, while those that don’t will fade into irrelevance.

https://universitybusiness.com/here-is-how-experiential-learning-can-save-colleges-from-ai/

Something Alarming Is Happening to the Job Market: A new sign that AI is competing with college grads - Derek Thompson, the Atlantic

Something strange, and potentially alarming, is happening to the job market for young, educated workers. According to the New York Federal Reserve, labor conditions for recent college graduates have “deteriorated noticeably” in the past few months, and the unemployment rate now stands at an unusually high 5.8 percent. Even newly minted M.B.A.s from elite programs are struggling to find work. Meanwhile, law-school applications are surging—an ominous echo of when young people used graduate school to bunker down during the great financial crisis.

https://www.theatlantic.com/economy/archive/2025/04/job-market-youth/682641/

Tired of Chatbots? Here’s How They Could Improve - Angie Basiouny, Knowledge at Wharton

“AI used to be a tool in the back office. The consumer wouldn’t know much of what was going on under the hood,” Wharton marketing professor Stefano Puntoni said. “The arrival of generative AI gave us this interactive capacity, and suddenly everybody has a chatbot. Not all delight.” Puntoni, who is faculty co-director of Wharton Human-AI Research, has teamed up with Thomas McKinlay, founder of the Science Says newsletter, to create The Wharton Blueprint for Effective Chatbots. Based on the latest scientific research, the blueprint offers practical solutions for increasing chatbot usage, improving consumer trust, and deciding when and how to use chatbots that are more human-like or machine-like.

https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/tired-of-chatbots-heres-how-they-could-improve/

AI in Education - Ethan Mollick, LinkedIn

One way to make AI do good things in areas like education is to actively experiment in creating good things and share the results (whether they work or not) so others can build on those. Mitigating bad outcomes are important, but good outcomes are not automatic either, and will take collective work. Just waiting for the AI labs to develop their own ideas is not enough. Mollick goes on to share a paper titled "AI Tutoring Outperforms Active Learning" authored by Harvard faculty.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/emollick_one-way-to-make-ai-do-good-things-in-areas-activity-7323024937491836929-K7Pj

How the U.S. Public and AI Experts View Artificial Intelligence - Colleen McClean, et al; Pew Research

Experts are far more positive and enthusiastic about AI than the public. For example, the AI experts we surveyed are far more likely than Americans overall to believe AI will have a very or somewhat positive impact on the United States over the next 20 years (56% vs. 17%). And while 47% of experts surveyed say they are more excited than concerned about the increased use of AI in daily life, that share drops to 11% among the public. By contrast, U.S. adults as a whole – whose concerns over AI have grown since 2021 – are more inclined than experts to say they’re more concerned than excited (51% vs. 15% among experts).

https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2025/04/03/how-the-us-public-and-ai-experts-view-artificial-intelligence/

How the U.S. Public and AI Experts View Artificial Intelligence - Colleen McClean, et al; Pew Research

Experts are far more positive and enthusiastic about AI than the public. For example, the AI experts we surveyed are far more likely than Americans overall to believe AI will have a very or somewhat positive impact on the United States over the next 20 years (56% vs. 17%). And while 47% of experts surveyed say they are more excited than concerned about the increased use of AI in daily life, that share drops to 11% among the public. By contrast, U.S. adults as a whole – whose concerns over AI have grown since 2021 – are more inclined than experts to say they’re more concerned than excited (51% vs. 15% among experts).

https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2025/04/03/how-the-us-public-and-ai-experts-view-artificial-intelligence/

Empowering the US Workforce - Anu Madgavkar, Olivia White, with Ryan Luby; McKinsey

As the new administration shifts into high gear, policymakers may find themselves dealing with tight labor markets—a long-term structural trend in many advanced economies. McKinsey estimates that GDP in 2023 could have been 0.5 to 1.5 percent higher across these economies if employers had been able to fill their excess job vacancies. America is punching below its weight on potential labor productivity—the value added per hour worked—and sectors such as healthcare, construction, and small businesses are especially affected. Consequently, workforce shortages remain a reality in many parts of the economy and can only intensify as demographic shifts gather pace. Falling fertility rates, higher life expectancies, and declines in working-age populations will have profound effects on the global workforce (Exhibit 1).

https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-sector/our-insights/empowering-the-us-workforce

AI in Higher Education Expert University of Pennsylvania Professor Ethan Mollick's Wisdom - LinkedIn Posting

I don’t mean to be a broken record but AI development could stop at the o3/Gemini 2.5 level and we would have a decade of major changes across entire professions & industries (medicine, law, education, coding…) as we figure out how to actually use it & adapt our systems and organizations to what it can do.

AI disruption is baked in.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/emollick_i-dont-mean-to-be-a-broken-record-but-ai-activity-7322016313478963201-CeWU/

Your boss is not okay: How manager burnout is dragging down the entire workplace - María José Gutierrez Chavez, Fast Company

Gallup’s most recent State of the Global Workplace report revealed that employee engagement fell to 21% in 2024, declining 2 points from the previous year. In the last 12 years, employee engagement has only fallen one other time, in 2020, due in part to COVID-19, the shift to working from home, and increased isolation. The report “offers what may be our last snapshot of a workforce on the cusp of seismic change,” Gallup CEO Jon Clifton said in the report. “We are witnessing a pivotal moment in the global workplace—one where engagement is faltering at the exact time artificial intelligence is transforming every industry in its path.”

https://www.fastcompany.com/91322042/managers-less-engaged-hurting-entire-workplace-gallup

Microsoft thinks AI colleagues are coming soon - Jessica Bursztynsky, Fast Company

These so-called Frontier Firms will be built around “on-demand intelligence and powered by ‘hybrid’ teams of humans + agents, these companies scale rapidly, operate with agility, and generate value faster,” according to the report. Microsoft argued that within the next two to five years, every company will be on the journey to becoming one. Microsoft said that 82% of leaders responded that this is a “pivotal” year to rethink key strategy and operations, while 81% said they expect agents to be “moderately or extensively” integrated into their AI strategies in the next 12 to 18 months. The results are a culmination of survey data from 31,000 workers across 31 countries, LinkedIn hiring and labor market trends, trillions of Microsoft 365 productivity signals, and conversations with experts, and AI-native startups.

https://www.fastcompany.com/91321533/microsoft-thinks-ai-colleagues-are-coming-soon

Universities have a chance to lead in shaping AI’s future - Sevgi Kaya-Kasikci, Eglis Chacon Camero, Ekaterina Minaeva and Chris R Glass, University World News

Artificial intelligence has become the new geopolitical fault line – and universities now sit squarely on it. Washington’s export-control regime blocks sales and technical support for advanced AI chips to China; Beijing, for its part, requires recommendation algorithms and generative-AI models to be filed with – and in some cases to be licensed by – state regulators; and Brussels has approved the world’s first cross-sector ‘trustworthy AI’ act. These rival rule-sets decide who may collaborate, what data may cross borders and which discoveries become strategic assets.

https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20250423101413252

Using AI to predict student success in higher education - Denisa Gándara and Hadis Anahideh, Brookings

As AI becomes more accessible, higher education is increasingly turning to prediction algorithms to inform decisions and target support services. Prediction algorithms can underestimate success for Black and Hispanic students, disproportionately predicting failure erroneously, even when those students ultimately graduate. Bias-mitigation techniques built into model training are more effective than those applied to the data beforehand, but no single method eliminates disparities.

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/using-ai-to-predict-student-success-in-higher-education/