Friday, May 22, 2026

Student AI use is fuelling grade inflation – Berkeley study - Nathan M Greenfield, University World News

Over the past month, Atlantic Monthly, Harvard Magazine, the (conservative) National Review and Nature have published articles decrying grade inflation. Together, they pointed to the ‘usual suspects’: spineless professors; coddled students demanding to be treated like the customers administrators say they are; and the general decline in rigorous academic standards. In his just-published paper “Artificial Intelligence and Grade Inflation”, Dr Igor Chirikov, a senior researcher at the University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Studies in Higher Education, adds a new perpetrator: the effect of students using artificial intelligence to help write essays or code when working outside of professorial supervision. Chirikov’s study of eight years of course syllabi and grades at a research-intensive university in Texas found that courses that were more exposed to AI assistance (meaning they had a larger share of tasks in which AI assistance is stronger) saw a marked increase in higher grades after the advent of ChatGPT in 2022.


Thursday, May 21, 2026

The Case for Data Centers in Space- McKinsey

Starcloud CEO Philip Johnston on the potential role orbital data centers could play in meeting growing AI compute demand—and the technical and economic uncertainties that remain. Philip Johnston, a McKinsey alumnus and cofounder of orbital compute infrastructure provider Starcloud, believes that space-based systems could become a meaningful part of the future compute landscape. He recently spoke to McKinsey Partner Luca Bennici about how the space-based data center technology is evolving, the challenges involved, and what needs to happen for orbital data centers to become a viable complement to terrestrial infrastructure. The interview transcript has been edited for clarity and style.

https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/technology-media-and-telecommunications/our-insights/the-case-for-data-centers-in-space

Wednesday, May 20, 2026

‘Student Guide to AI’ returns for third year with a new focus: Human capabilities - Elon University News Bureau

“Human Wisdom for the Age of AI: A Field Guide to Cultivating Essential Skills”, a publication by Elon University, the American Association of Colleges and Universities and The Princeton Review, is provided to students and institutions free of charge. The new publication, “Human Wisdom for the Age of AI: A Field Guide to Cultivating Essential Skills,” helps students cultivate the human skills they need to thrive in a digital world, whether working with AI technologies or learning independently of those tools. The guide includes engaging and fun exercises on curiosity, critical and deep thinking, creativity, ethical perspectives, communication and relational skills, among others. Like the 2024 and 2025 editions, this year’s guide is provided to students and institutions free of charge and is available for download at: www.studentguidetoai.org. The guide draws on 10 voices across centuries and cultures — from Aristotle, Cicero and Descartes to Mencius and Ptahhotep — whose enduring insights into human judgment, creativity, ethics and wisdom take on new urgency as AI reshapes how we learn and work.


Tuesday, May 19, 2026

AI risk to university jobs despite staff believing roles are safe - Juliette Rowsell, Times Higher Ed

University workers generally do not believe that their jobs will be taken by artificial intelligence in the short term but experts have warned against complacency, saying that automation may still be used as “justification” to cut roles anyway. While respondents to Times Higher Education’s UK University Redundancy Survey expressed widespread concern about the impact of the tens of thousands of job losses across the UK sector, concerns over the effect of AI remain low. Asked: “Do you fear you will be made redundant within the next three years due to the rise of AI?” more than half (55 per cent) disagreed, with 17 per cent of these strongly disagreeing. Just under 5 per cent strongly agreed and 14 per cent said they agree, while a fifth (21 per cent) neither agreed or disagreed.


Monday, May 18, 2026

In an AI-driven world, the most important skills are still human - Eric Townsend, Inside Higher Ed

Across higher education, artificial intelligence is now embedded in everyday academic work, from early research to final drafts. For many students, it has become a default starting point. The urgent question is not whether students use AI, but how they use it—specifically, whether these tools are reinforcing learning or bypassing the cognitive work that leads to it. As AI accelerates core academic tasks, educators are confronting a central challenge: how to preserve depth, judgment and intellectual engagement in an environment optimized for speed.

Friday, May 15, 2026

Chico State’s 2026-27 Book in Common to Tackle Artificial Intelligence - Chico State

The AI Con is a thought-provoking work examining the rise of artificial intelligence and its far-reaching impacts on society, education and the economy. The selection comes amid heightened interest and debate surrounding AI technologies, including within higher education. Co-authored by a University of Washington linguistics professor and a former Google employee, the book takes a critical look at artificial intelligence, exploring how it functions, the realities behind its rapid expansion, and the social, ethical and environmental implications of its use. Topics include the influence of AI on jobs and creative industries, concerns about academic integrity, and the environmental costs associated with large-scale data centers. “AI is now part of nearly every aspect of our lives,” Mahlis said. “This book helps readers understand not just what AI does, but how it works, and encourages us to question both the hype and the real consequences.”

https://today.csuchico.edu/chico-states-2026-27-book-in-common-to-tackle-artificial-intelligence/

Thursday, May 14, 2026

A year in, what’s on Pope Leo XIV’s to-do list? And what has he done so far? (AI) - NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press

While some would say the top issue facing Leo is his relationship with President Donald Trump and a possible trip to the U.S. — none is planned this year — Leo would probably point to his long-awaited first encyclical. Expected in the next few weeks, it deals with artificial intelligence and other peace and justice issues. Leo already has said he considers the AI revolution to be similar in existential scope to the concerns over workers’ rights at the turn of the century confronted by the previous Pope Leo XIII, in his landmark encyclical “Rerum Novarum” (“Of New Things”). “Like his namesake Leo XIII with the Industrial Revolution, Leo clearly sees the church as having something important to offer in an era of what may turn out to be epochal technological change,” said Dan Rober, associate professor of Catholic studies at Sacred Heart University.

Wednesday, May 13, 2026

Why Women Need Other Women at Work - Angie Basiouny, Knowledge at Wharton

New research from Wharton’s Tiantian Yang proves that behind every great woman is another woman. Her co-authored study on virtual career training found that women who attended remote classes exclusively with other women were much more likely to complete their training on time, earn professional certification, and get a job in their field — compared with women who attended mixed-gender classes. The authors determined that the absence of men in the same-gender classes created psychological safety for the female participants, which led them to share personal stories, support each other with messages of encouragement, and swap employment resources. All those actions led to greater success for them.

Tuesday, May 12, 2026

10 Top Websites Offering Free Online Courses - Academia Mag

In today’s digital age, online learning has become one of the most powerful ways to gain knowledge, improve skills, and build a successful career. Whether you want to learn digital marketing, graphic design, coding, business management, or artificial intelligence, there are countless platforms available online. The good news is that many of these platforms provide high-quality education completely free of cost. That is why people around the world are constantly searching for the top websites offering free online courses to upgrade their knowledge without spending money. 


Monday, May 11, 2026

Courageous conversations: How to lead with heart - McKinsey

Leadership, at its best, is a matter of the heart. Courage, which underpins every act of leadership, is also a matter of the heart; it comes from the French word cœur—heart. As Winston Churchill observed, “Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities, because . . . it is the quality which guarantees all others.” The point is simple: Courage is both moral and practical. It is not sentiment or bravado. It is the willingness to face what is real, invite challenge, and repair trust. The story of every great leader—from business to the arts, from education to government to sport—is written in these moments of choice: Do I accept the comfortable, or do I ask for and embrace the truth? Do I protect myself, or do I serve the enterprise?

Friday, May 8, 2026

Mountain View-based Khan Academy partners with nonprofits to build online AI degree program - Emma Montalbano, Moutain View Voice

Amid emerging conversations about the future of white collar jobs in the age of artificial intelligence, Sal Khan thinks that now is the time to create something he’s been thinking about for years — a new pathway for higher education. Khan Academy, an online learning platform headquartered in Mountain View, TED, a nonprofit that aims to uplift ideas, and ETS, an organization that develops and administers standardized tests, have partnered to establish an online college called Khan TED Institute. Its inaugural program will allow students to earn a bachelor’s of science degree in applied AI, which Khan believes could benefit people interested in many careers. 


Thursday, May 7, 2026

Faculty Concerned About ASU’s ‘Frankensteinian’ AI Course Builder - Emma Whitford, Inside Higher Ed

Arizona State University soft launched a web app earlier this month that allows anyone, for $5 per month, to create an apparently unlimited number of customized “learning modules” using artificial intelligence. The AI chatbot, called Atom, uses online instructional materials from ASU professors to create a course that’s tailored to the goals, interests and skill level of the user. After asking a handful of questions and processing for about five minutes, Atom debuts a personalized course that includes readings, quizzes and videos from a half dozen experts at ASU. But several professors whose content Atom pulls from were surprised to learn that their materials—including video lectures, slide decks and online assignments—were being perused, clipped and repackaged for these short online course modules. The faculty wasn’t told anything about the app, ASU Atomic, they said.


Wednesday, May 6, 2026

State lawmakers eye accreditation policy changes as new agency forms - Daniele McClean, Higher Ed Dive

A growing number of Republican-controlled states have introduced legislative and policy proposals that would allow their public colleges to leave their long-standing accreditors for a newly founded accrediting body. The Commission for Public Higher Education, a nascent accrediting body, is moving to potentially take on those and other public institutions as members. The CPHE is financially backed by the state of Florida and the Trump administration and overseen largely by state university system appointees, a model that’s raised alarms among some critics. Recent state legislation has aimed to make it easier for colleges to move to CPHE or other accreditors.

Tuesday, May 5, 2026

East Carolina University plans to cut 44 academic programs - Ben Unglesbee, Higher Ed Dive

East Carolina University plans to discontinue 44 undergraduate and graduate programs “that aren’t meeting expectations” after an internal review of its portfolio, the public institution said Friday in a news release. ECU has teach-out plans for students enrolled in the programs slated for closure, senior leaders said last week in a community memo. The university also plans to consolidate several institutional units, including merging two of its health colleges into one. The cuts and consolidations are part of ECU’s push to eliminate $25 million in expenses, or about 2% of its budget. So far, officials have targeted $6.2 million in cuts, the university said last week.


Monday, May 4, 2026

Universities urged to prepare students for AI‑driven economy - Jamaica Gleaner

A pointed warning about the future of work and education took centre stage as the Mona School of Business and Management (MSBM), UWI, Mona brought together leaders from academia and industry to confront a pressing question: is the Caribbean truly ready for the age of artificial intelligence? At the recent George Willie Lecture Series, David Marchick, Dean of the Kogod School of Business at American University, delivered a forceful address urging universities to rethink how they prepare students for a rapidly evolving, AI-driven global economy. Speaking on “AI in Higher Education: Strategies for Producing AI-Ready Graduates”, Marchick argued that the implications of artificial intelligence extend far beyond technology programmes. “AI is going to change everything – how we work, how we learn, how we interact. It won’t replace human talent, but those who understand AI will have a clear advantage. Our responsibility is to ensure every graduate is AI fluent, regardless of discipline.”

Friday, May 1, 2026

This is the fastest-growing job for young workers, LinkedIn says - Mary Cunningham, CBS News

As the rise of artificial intelligence stirs anxiety over the technology taking people's jobs, AI is also opening pathways to new careers, according to LinkedIn. The fastest-growing job title for young workers on the networking platform is "AI engineer," a recent report from the company found. LinkedIn analyzed millions of member profiles to determine the number of entry-level workers hired over the last three years and the roles they were hired to fill. "It's measuring momentum for these job titles," said Kory Kantenga, the head of economics, Americas, at LinkedIn. "Companies are just gorging on AI talent."

Thursday, April 30, 2026

Students are speeding through their online degrees in weeks, alarming educators - Todd Wallack, Washington Post

 It takes most college students at least four years to earn a bachelor’s degree. Christie Williams finished in three months. The North Carolina human resources executive spent two months racking up credits through web tutorials after work in 2024, then raced through 11 online classes at the University of Maine at Presque Isle in four weeks. Later that year, she went back to earn her master’s — in just five weeks. The two degrees cost a total of just over $4,000. Many U.S. schools have been experimenting with ways to speed up traditional college programs to reduce the burgeoning cost and help students move into the workforce faster. Some offer three-year bachelor’s programs, reducing the number of credits needed for a diploma by one quarter. Many more allow students to enroll in college classes while still in high school.But the breakneck pace of the fastest online programs concerns some academics, who say there is a big difference in what students can learn in weeks or months compared with three or more years.

https://wapo.st/41Kjr5j

Wednesday, April 29, 2026

The Quiet Revolution: How Generative Artificial Intelligence is Redefining Higher Education in Mexico - Noah Conway, Veritas

Inteligencia Artificial Generativa (IAG) has made a promise of the future to become the motor director of learning in Mexico. According to the latest report from the Secretaría de Educación Pública (SEP), the impact is huge: 80% of university students use these tools to write texts and improve their academic results. This phenomenon, revealed there “National Encuesta sober use and perception of sober generative artificial intelligence in higher education”marks the point of no return in the national education system. Even beyond thoughts and graphics, AI occupies an unexpected space: mental health. SEP owner Mario Delgado Carrillo noted that practitioners like ChatGPT have become “the great psychologist of our time.” The data highlights this: 9% of students turn to AI for advice on anxiety, stress or depression, opening a new debate about emotional support in the digital age.


Tuesday, April 28, 2026

Learn essential AI skills - Google Skills Lab

We're building AI skills programs, trainings, and tools to address the specific needs of workers everywhere. Discover Google's courses and resources designed to help you succeed in an AI-driven world New to AI? Learn about AI capabilities and how they can assist, empower, and inspire you. Use generative AI tools to speed up daily tasks and develop new ideas and content.

Monday, April 27, 2026

AI fears drive some young adults to grad school — ‘people shelter in higher education,’ expert says - Jessica Dickler, CNBC

Typically, enrollment in graduate school increases during recessions as workers seek to advance or to move to another industry with better career prospects or pay. Today, more people in a survey said they plan to go back to school within a year, even though the economy is doing well. Experts say young adults are exploring this option largely because they are worried about their job prospects despite the economy.


Friday, April 24, 2026

Economists Starting to Admit They May Have Been Wrong About AI Never Replacing Human Jobs: They're taking it seriously - Joe Wilkins

As a sweeping economics paper by researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Forecasting Research Institute (FRI), and numerous top universities found, that attitude may be shifting. As time goes on, top economic experts are increasingly factoring extreme AI disruption into their models. Yet acknowledging a possibility and accepting its inevitable are two very different things — and as the complicated range of sentiments makes clear, an AI jobs apocalypse is still far from certain. The study is a tour-de-force of economic forecasting that surveyed 69 economists, 52 AI specialists, and 38 “superforecasters,” a term for consistently accurate analysts who play the role of “Dune’s” Mentats in the economics world. It found that all three groups expect “significant” progress on AI in the years to come. Forebodingly, the groups all agreed that, as a rule, faster AI progress means lower employment rates overall. On average, economists assigned a 47 percent probability of “moderate“ AI progress by 2030, defined as systems that can operate semi-autonomous research labs, put out high-quality novels, and complete complex projects with oversight. 

Thursday, April 23, 2026

Is Your AI System Ethical? Try This Assessment - Cornelia C. Walther, Knowledge at Wharton

For the better part of a decade, organizations have been deploying artificial intelligence at scale while measuring it almost exclusively through the lens of efficiency gains, cost reductions, and revenue lift. The instruments are precise. The picture they produce is radically incomplete. Amid the pervasiveness of AI, this reality patchwork is now amplified. Existing dashboards do not capture whether an AI system is fair, whether it is eroding or building trust, whether it is making the people who use it more capable or quietly deskilling them, and whether its environmental footprint is accounted for or simply ignored. The gap between what we measure and what we should care about is not a technical failure. It is a values failure dressed up as a metrics problem. The Prosocial AI Index proposes a practical answer to that failure. It gives executives, technologists, and governance teams a shared vocabulary and a structured scorecard for AI that is genuinely good — not just profitable in the short term, but durable, trustworthy, and aligned with the values an organization actually claims to hold.

Wednesday, April 22, 2026

Trump Administration Plans Sweeping Changes to Accreditation - Katherine Knott, Insidee Higher Ed

The Trump administration wants the agencies that oversee colleges and universities to set minimum standards for student achievement, protect viewpoint diversity and consider cost efficiency in their evaluation of institutions, among other changes unveiled Monday. That last provision would help to “provide relief for students and taxpayers who have suffered from increasing tuition by allowing greater institutional flexibility to control costs,” according to a nine-page summary of the Education Department’s 151-page proposal.

Tuesday, April 21, 2026

Syracuse University to eliminate 93 academic programs - Laura Spitalniak, Higher Ed Dive

Syracuse University will eliminate 93 academic programs identified as having low or no enrollment, the private New York institution announced Wednesday. But unlike many colleges making cuts, Syracuse is not doing so out of financial necessity, according to Lois Agnew, the university’s provost and chief academic officer. The downsizing came from a desire to make the institution’s offerings “more focused, more distinctive and more aligned with student demand,” Agnew said in a campus letter. No positions or departments have been slated for elimination, she said.

https://www.highereddive.com/news/syracuse-university-to-eliminate-93-academic-programs/816525/

Monday, April 20, 2026

AI in Higher Education Is Moving From Experimentation to Strategic Integration. Here's What the 2025 Data Shows - Joe Sullistio, Ellucian

When the question is "Are people using AI?" the answers are mostly anecdotal. When the question becomes "How do we integrate AI responsibly and measurably across the institution?" you need strategy, investment discipline, governance, and enablement. Not just tools. Ellucian's new report, Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education: From Widespread Adoption to Strategic Integration, captures this transition in detail, and lays out what institutions need to do next. This is the third consecutive year of the Ellucian AI Survey for Higher Education, and the 2025 State of AI in Higher Education findings mark a clear turning point.

Personal AI use is nearing saturation: 91% of administrators report using AI, up from 84% last year, a relatively modest increase that signals individual adoption is plateauing.
Institution-wide adoption surged: from 49% in 2024 to 66% in 2025, a 17-point jump that signals AI has moved beyond experimentation and into mainstream operational and strategic integration.
Momentum is expected to continue: 88% of respondents expect institutional AI use to keep rising over the next two years.

Friday, April 17, 2026

In a series of policy recommendations released on Monday, OpenAI said the rapid advance of AI would require far-reaching economic and political reforms, including a public wealth fund, taxes on automated labor, and a potential four-day workweek. "We're beginning a transition toward superintelligence: AI systems capable of outperforming the smartest humans even when they are assisted by AI. No one knows exactly how this transition will unfold. At OpenAI, we believe we should navigate it through a democratic process that gives people real power to shape the AI future they want," the company wrote on Monday.

https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-superintelligence-ai-upheaval-tax-shorter-workweek-public-wealth-fund-2026-4

Thursday, April 16, 2026

OpenAI’s warning: Washington isn’t ready for what’s coming - Axios, YouTube

In this Axios interview, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman emphasizes the urgent need for Washington and society to prepare for the arrival of "super intelligence." He explains that the next generation of AI models will represent a significant leap forward, moving beyond small tasks to potentially enabling career-defining scientific discoveries and allowing individuals to perform the work of entire teams. Altman highlights critical near-term risks, specifically in cybersecurity and bio-threats, and advocates for a "societal resilience" approach where the government and private sector work closely together to mitigate these dangers before they become reality [05:24]. Altman also discusses the broader economic and human implications of AI, suggesting that while the technology will transform the nature of work and capital, the core of human fulfillment and connection will remain unchanged. He envisions AI becoming a "utility" similar to electricity—an omnipresent, affordable background force that powers a personal super-assistant for every user [19:19]. Despite the immense power held by AI developers, Altman argues against nationalization, suggesting that private-public partnerships are the best way to ensure the technology aligns with democratic values while maintaining the pace necessary to lead globally [08:41]. [summary assisted by Gemini 3 Fast]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B21KxGs8zDI

Wednesday, April 15, 2026

What Deans and Department Chairs Must Do Before Fall - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed

Something is unfolding in the labor market that will greet your new graduates, in an incrementally tighter job market. The urgency is real. Entry-level hiring at the 15 biggest tech firms fell 25 percent from 2023 to 2024, according to a SignalFire report. With AI tools performing more of the work  previously reserved for recent graduates, new hires are expected to slot in at a higher level almost from day one. That is not a distant forecast. That is the market your Class of 2027 will enter. I prompted Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 4.6 Extended Thinking to suggest what we should be doing this summer to best respond to the changing employment market for our grads in the coming academic year. Here are the seven tasks the Anthropic model suggested are most pressing this summer.

Tuesday, April 14, 2026

The Connected Campus: A Secure, AI-Ready Digital Ecosystem for Higher Education - Alexander Slagg, EdTech

A connected campus supports improved learning experiences, campus operations and overall decision-making by university leadership. While previous iterations of campus technology systems were focused on simply connecting users with resources and each other, the connected campus goes much further, forming a holistic technology ecosystem that drives secure interoperability across systems and resources. “A connected campus depends on several foundational layers working together: resilient wired and wireless networking; cloud and hybrid infrastructure; identity and security systems; and platforms that support learning, collaboration and research,” explains Nicole Muscanell, a researcher for EDUCAUSE. “Increasingly, institutions are also integrating IoT systems, such as smart buildings, energy management and physical safety technologies, into this ecosystem.”

https://edtechmagazine.com/higher/article/2026/04/connected-campus-secure-ai-ready-digital-ecosystem-higher-education-perfcon

Monday, April 13, 2026

How AI may reshape career pathways to better jobs - Justin Heck, Mark Muro, Shriya Methkupally, and Joseph Siegmund, Brookings

Amid much concern about the future of college graduates in the era of AI, workers without four-year degrees face major challenges as well: There are over 15 million of these workers in jobs that are highly exposed to AI. Of those, nearly 11 million are employed in “Gateway” occupations—jobs that have historically enabled workers to build skills and supported transitions into higher-wage roles.  AI is poised to erode the pathways workers use to transition from low- to higher-wage work.  Almost half of the pathways between Gateway jobs and higher-paying “Destination” jobs are highly exposed to AI. Geographically, the highest rates of AI-related pathway exposure are in administrative, clerical, and customer service Gateway occupations in the Northeast and Sun Belt. In order to craft strategies that effectively meet the moment, the field must grapple with a set of urgent questions about AI’s impact on worker mobility.

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-ai-may-reshape-career-pathways-to-better-jobs/

Friday, April 10, 2026

‘AI-shaped economy’ now has students rethinking their majors - Matt Zalaznick, University Business

Workforce disruptions caused by generative AI have some students rethinking their majors with one analysis characterizing higher education’s relationship with AI as “both promising and complex.”
Here are the stats:
More than 40% of bachelor’s degree students and more than half of those seeking associate’s degrees said generative AI has caused them to consider changing their major or field of study, according to a a new Gallup poll.
About one in seven students surveyed at both levels said “preparing for AI and other technological advances is an important reason they enrolled.”
AI is not yet the “primary driver” academic and enrollment decisions, Gallup’s authors contend. They urge higher leaders to ensure students have opportunities to learn the AI skills needed to succeed in a changing workforce.

Thursday, April 9, 2026

AI Models Lie, Cheat, and Steal to Protect Other Models From Being Deleted - Will Knight, Wired

A new study from researchers at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz suggests models will disobey human commands to protect their own kind. I've had these assertions presented to me as evidence of (take  your pick):  AI is already conscious; AI is evil and will destroy us; AI is capable of lying to protect itself; and other highly anthropomorphized interpretations.  My first thought was, 'Has this behavior been independently verified'?  The Gemini 3 quote is highly suspicious.  it sounds too much like a segment from a cautionary science fiction tale.  LLMs and other flavors of AI are not designed with motivation beyond optimizing their performance in response to human queries/instructions.  Behavioral responses of biological animals with brains were optimized via natural selection to favor self-preservation.


Wednesday, April 8, 2026

Artificial Intelligence - AAUP

For decades, there have been significant labor issues around the use of technology in higher education. Now, the uncritical adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) poses a threat to academic professions through potential work intensification and job losses and through its implications for intellectual property, economic security, and the faculty working conditions that affect student learning conditions. This list of resources includes principles and recommendations; bargaining and union guides; examples of resolutions, statements, and sample syllabus language; sample FOIA and audit requests; and feature articles from the AAUP’s publications Academe and the Journal of Academic Freedom. This page also includes further reading on approaches to surveillance concerns in higher ed and why we fight uncritical adoption of Generative AI (GenAI). 


Tuesday, April 7, 2026

BU Wheelock Forum Explores AI in Education - Boston Uniiversity

What do teaching and learning mean in an AI world? This question was at the center of the 2026 BU Wheelock Forum AI and the Future of Education, hosted by the Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development on March 25. Approximately 250 people—including educators, administrators, and scholars—attended the event, which featured a keynote from Aaron Rasmussen (COM’06, CAS’06), cofounder of online education platforms Outlier.ai and MasterClass; a faculty panel discussion moderated by Wheelock Dean Penny Bishop; and a modern dance performance using Random Actor, a technology developed by James Grady, a College of Fine Arts assistant professor of art, graphic design, and Clay Hopper, a CFA senior lecturer, directing, that harnesses AI to extend the visual expression of human movement. 

Monday, April 6, 2026

Cal State’s new framework promises jobs or grad school path for all students - Cate Rix, EdSource

Over the past decade, California State University campuses pursued an ambitious plan to encourage students to complete their degrees faster and boost overall graduation rates. Now the system is making a bold promise: Every student will graduate with a clear path to a career or graduate school. And it is planning changes to make the system’s degree programs more career-focused, possibly by phasing out some majors. CSU leaders say academic and career advising will be closely connected as a new Student Success Framework rolls out. They also say that less popular majors may be phased out, offered only on some campuses or merged into other programs.

https://edsource.org/2026/csus-new-framework-promises-jobs-or-grad-school-path-for-all-students/754804

Sunday, April 5, 2026

Michigan State, University of Michigan face over 60% cut under state funding bill - Ben Unglesbee, Higher Ed Dive

Michigan lawmakers are mulling huge cuts — over 60% of operational funding — for the state’s two largest universities, according to a legislative analysis of a measure that advanced in the Republican-led House on Wednesday. An appropriations bill originally passed by the House’s higher education subcommittee last week would gut funding for Michigan State University by $208.9 million and University of Michigan-Ann Arbor by $233.4 million.. The House’s appropriations committee on Wednesday included the plan in a larger budget bill that it sent for floor consideration.  

Where can AI be used? Insights from a deep ontology of work activities = Alice Cai, et al; arXiv

Here we provide a comprehensive ontology of work activities that can help systematically analyze and predict uses of AI. To do this, we disaggregate and then substantially reorganize the approximately 20K activities in the US Department of Labor's widely used O*NET occupational database. Next, we use this framework to classify descriptions of 13,275 AI software applications and a worldwide tally of 20.8 million robotic systems. Finally, we use the data about both these kinds of AI to generate graphical displays of how the estimated units and market values of all worldwide AI systems used today are distributed across the work activities that these systems help perform. We find a highly uneven distribution of AI market value across activities, with the top 1.6% of activities accounting for over 60% of AI market value. Most of the market value is used in information-based activities (72%), especially creating information (36%), and only 12% is used in physical activities. Interactive activities include both information-based and physical activities and account for 48% of AI market value, much of which (26%) involves transferring information. 


Saturday, April 4, 2026

Lilly Endowment Inc. gifts USI $150,000 grant to explore AI in education: The gift funds the university to expand AI fluency amongst the campus community - Cade Smithson, The Shield, University of Southern Indiana

USI announced Tuesday, March 24, that it had received a $150,000 grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to explore how artificial intelligence fits into its classrooms. The award, part of Lilly Endowment’s Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education initiative, is not for immediate program expansion but for research and evaluation. The initiative will help USI take a closer look at student learning and prepare graduates for a workforce surrounded by AI. Provost Shelly Blunt also acknowledged the changing workforce. In a press release, Blunt said, “Artificial intelligence is transforming the way we work, learn and solve problems.”  She said the grant will aid the university’s mission to integrate AI into programs and classes. The grant is expected to allow for an internal review of how AI tools are already being used in the classroom. USI will also participate in an external assessment to study whether employers and industry partners across southwestern Indiana utilize AI-related skills. 

https://usishield.com/49764/news/lilly-endowment-inc-gifts-usi-150000-grant-to-explore-ai-in-education/

Friday, April 3, 2026

The State of Organizations 2026: Three tectonic forces that are reshaping organizations - McKinsey

These are challenging times for organizations everywhere. Forces ranging from artificial intelligence, economic uncertainty, and geopolitical fragmentation to evolving workforce expectations, increasing customer demands, and tougher competitive dynamics are redefining how leaders create value and sustain performance. This report, the second edition of McKinsey’s State of Organizations research initiative, seeks to help leaders better understand these dynamics and address them effectively. Read the report here. It draws on a survey of more than 10,000 senior executives across 15 countries and 16 industries. While leaders remain focused on driving performance, as in the first edition in 2023, the emphasis has moved from short-term resilience to sustained productivity and long-term impact, powered by technology and AI at the core of organizational transformation.

Thursday, April 2, 2026

16-Week Online Certificate Program in Agentic AI for Students - Hans India

Bengaluru: Great Learning has announced the launch of a new Certificate Program in Agentic AI in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering. The 16-week online program is designed to equip professionals with the skills required to build autonomous, goal-driven AI systems capable of perceiving, reasoning, and acting independently in dynamic environments. Targeted at STEM professionals, data scientists, AI practitioners, product managers, and technical leaders, the program is delivered by Johns Hopkins faculty alongside industry experts. It focuses on preparing learners to design and deploy next-generation AI agents that can handle complex, real-world challenges.


Wednesday, April 1, 2026

What Do We Teach Now? - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed

The question we must answer very soon is what can we teach that will prepare our learners to endure the huge changes that are upon us? We must not stay the course as it becomes abundantly clear that things are not going to be the same. Lest we say that these forecasts and claims are mere hyperbole, let’s examine the GDPval benchmark report “Measuring the performance of our models on real-world tasks,” indicating AI models are approaching or matching industry expert performance in complex tasks like spreadsheet modeling and document editing, with significantly higher speed and lower cost than human professionals in 44 professions.

Tuesday, March 31, 2026

Terafab: The World’s Next Generation Chip Factory - Thomas Frey, Futurist Speaker

On March 21st, Elon Musk introduced Terafab—a $25 billion chip facility, jointly owned by Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI—designed to produce one terawatt of compute per year. That’s fifty times the current annual output of the global AI chip industry. Terafab isn’t just about catching up with TSMC, Samsung, and Nvidia; it’s about leaping ahead—and, remarkably, off-planet. Here’s where it moves from bold to unprecedented: 80% of Terafab’s chip output isn’t meant for Earth. SpaceX plans to launch up to a million satellites, each a node in an orbital data center—powered by solar energy, cooled by space, and forming the largest computing network in history. Without Terafab’s radiation-hardened, space-optimized chips, this vision remains science fiction.

Monday, March 30, 2026

University of Phoenix scholars publish study on academic applications of generative AI tools in higher education - University of Phoenix

Key findings from the study include:

Generative AI tools are increasingly used in academic workflows, including literature review support, research brainstorming, and academic writing assistance.

AI can improve research efficiency and idea generation, particularly for complex scholarly tasks such as synthesizing large bodies of literature. 

Ethical and academic integrity considerations remain critical, including transparency about AI use and maintaining original scholarly analysis.

Doctoral education may benefit from AI literacy training, helping researchers understand both the capabilities and limitations of generative AI technologies.

Institutions may need clearer policies and guidance to support responsible AI adoption in research and teaching.

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1120763

Sunday, March 29, 2026

How Cal State Became Ground Zero for the Fight over AI in Higher Education - Chris Mills Rodrigo, TechPolicy

 In a statement emailed to Tech Policy Policy, CSU director of media relations and public affairs Amy Bentley-Smith said the system “is focused on ensuring our universities have the tools and resources to meet this moment and lead in the educational application, preparation, and ethical and responsible use of AI.” Bentley-Smith added that access to “relevant technologies” allows faculty and staff “to work together on solutions for the benefit of our students’ education and the broader academic community.” OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment. But according to some professors, integrating AI into classrooms has not been as seamless as Cal State may have hoped for.

https://www.techpolicy.press/how-cal-state-became-ground-zero-for-the-fight-over-ai-in-higher-education/

Saturday, March 28, 2026

Measuring progress toward AGI: A cognitive framework - Ryan Burnell & Oran Kelly, the Keyword, Google

Our framework draws on decades of research from psychology, neuroscience and cognitive science to develop a cognitive taxonomy. It identifies 10 key cognitive abilities that we hypothesize will be important for general intelligence in AI systems:

Perception: extracting and processing sensory information from the environment

Generation: producing outputs such as text, speech and actions

Attention: focusing cognitive resources on what matters

Learning: acquiring new knowledge through experience and instruction

Memory: storing and retrieving information over time

Reasoning: drawing valid conclusions through logical inference

Metacognition: knowledge and monitoring of one's own cognitive processes

Executive functions: planning, inhibition and cognitive flexibility

Problem solving: finding effective solutions to domain-specific problems

Social cognition: processing and interpreting social information and responding appropriately in social situations

https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/google-deepmind/measuring-agi-cognitive-framework/

Friday, March 27, 2026

Faster, thinner: Colleges are swiftly trimming a B.A. degree to three years - Jon Marcus, Hechinger Report

Quinn McDonald planned to spend the typical four years working toward a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. Then he heard about a place where he could get the same degree in three. “It was the idea of being able to save a year” that grabbed his attention, said McDonald — a savings of not only time, but tuition. And he could start earning a salary faster than if he spent four years in college. So, last fall, McDonald joined the inaugural class of one of the nation’s first in-person programs approved to award bachelor’s degrees with fewer than the usual 120 credits, at Johnson & Wales University. He’ll need only 90 credits, putting him on track to graduate in 2028, after three years  instead of the usual four or more.

Thursday, March 26, 2026

Did anybody do the reading? Colleges grapple with a generational shift in learning — plus AI - Associated Press

Johnson’s concerns about waning participation and declining reading are shared by professors and teachers in liberal arts programs, including in Pittsburgh. Teachers at four universities interviewed for this story had a variety of theories about the cause, including:

1. Inequitable educational opportunity that leaves some college students unable to comprehend difficult material

2. Federal policies that encourage teaching to the test rather than critical thinking

3. Increasing student use of artificial intelligence (AI) to draft papers and write summaries, which some instructors worry will only worsen the trend.

Wednesday, March 25, 2026

Why universities should anchor state quantum computing initiatives - Nate Gemelke, University Business

The universities that helped shape the AI revolution did not wait for the technology to mature. They built programs, recruited faculty, and secured funding while the field was still taking shape. Quantum computing is entering a similar inflection point. While the underlying physics is unfamiliar to many, the institutional question is one universities have faced before: how to position themselves, and their regions, during the early stages of a major technological transition. For much of the past decade, quantum computing has been discussed primarily as a long-term research prospect. That framing is now changing. Early systems are operating today, federal agencies are funding large-scale programs, and private companies are beginning to integrate quantum resources into broader high-performance computing environments.


Tuesday, March 24, 2026

See which jobs are most threatened by AI, and who may be able to adapt - Kevin Schaul and Shira Ovide, Washington Post

No one has a perfect road map to the future, but researchers at GovAI, which studies technology policy, and the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, used a novel approach to estimate which workers may be most and least able to adapt to AI. They concluded that many people most at risk if AI transforms work are also the best placed to find new jobs. You can use the search box and interactive chart above to explore which occupations may have bright prospects and which may not. But history shows that economists and researchers have been terrible at predicting the effects of new technologies on work and workers, so take forecasts like this one seriously but not literally. Even researchers cranking out studies of AI in workplaces caution that they’re making useful but fallible best guesses. “All the important questions about AI’s effects on the labor market are still unanswered,” Jed Kolko, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, recently concluded. Economists at Anthropic, the AI start-up behind the Claude chatbot, stressed the need for “humility” in their analysis of AI seeping into occupations. (Humility is uncommon in Silicon Valley.)


Monday, March 23, 2026

Online learning gains momentum as students reconsider studying abroad - JB, The St.Kitts/Nevis Observer

A regional educator is of the opinion that online learning is becoming an increasingly attractive option for Caribbean students, as uncertainty surrounding overseas study — particularly in the United States — leads more people to pursue higher education from home. According Wendy Williams,  the Deputy Dean of Academic Affairs at Academix School of Learning,  an educational institution here, many students are now reconsidering traditional study-abroad routes due to concerns about student visa approvals and the risk of investing time and money without certainty of being able to travel. “We have always had our eyes on the United States as a pathway to higher education,” Williams said. “But the reality now is that students are worried about whether their visas will be approved and whether they will be able to travel after investing so much in the process.”


Sunday, March 22, 2026

When Harvey Met Elle: How AI Tutors Transformed Learning in My Law Class - Wayland Chau, Faculty Focus

This past fall, I taught a business law course to all second year students in the Bachelor of Commerce program at Dalhousie University. I had 343 students across three sections of 109 to 120 students in each. The course covers foundational areas of Canadian business law and requires students to apply that law with a structured legal analysis. Even with active learning approaches in class and clear instructional structures, it was apparent that students needed individualized, on-demand support that traditional office hours and T.A. tutorials could not fully satisfy. To address this, I created and deployed two custom AI tutors, Harvey and Elle, built as custom GPTs in the ChatGPT platform. The aim was to offer scalable, digital learning companions that aligned directly with course learning outcomes and pedagogical needs. What emerged was an effective model for AI-supported instruction that helped students better understand legal concepts, improve their analytical skills, and engage more confidently with course material. 

Saturday, March 21, 2026

History tells us a golden age can come after the AI apocalypse- Jo-An Occhipinti, Ante Prodan and Roy Green, Financial Review

 Societies must channel technological potential toward broad-based growth rather than allowing the gains to concentrate among the winners of the speculative phase. The market grasped this before the accountants did. Since early this year, the S&P 500 Software and Services Index has shed nearly $1 trillion. Salesforce is down 30 per cent year-to-date. Adobe’s forward price-earnings ratio has compressed from 30 to 12. Software price-to-sales ratios fell from nine to six within weeks, levels not seen since the mid-2010s. Australian superannuation funds, with hundreds of billions invested in international equities heavily weighted to US technology, are exposed to every dollar of this repricing. But software is only where the destruction is most visible. It is not where it ends. AI is beginning to erode the value of a broader category of accumulated capital: the knowledge, processes, organisational structures and professional expertise that the advanced economies spent half a century building.

Friday, March 20, 2026

AI could leave many college grads unemployed, says ServiceNow CEO - EdScoop

Bill McDermott, the chief executive of ServiceNow, an American cloud computing firm, told reporters recently that the advancement of artificial intelligence could push the unemployment level of recent college graduates into the almost 40%. McDermott told CNBC that “so much of the work is going to be done by agents,” highlighting the challenge that college graduates will likely face. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York put the unemployment rate of recent college graduates, at the end of last year, at 5.7%, while underemployment for the same group reached 42.5%. Layoffs at large companies, particularly in Big Tech, continue. The fintech firm Block, recently announced it would lay off about 4,000 employees, roughly half of its workforce.

Thursday, March 19, 2026

Key findings about how Americans view artificial intelligence - Michelle Faverio and Emma Kikuchi, Pew Research

Drawing on five years of Pew Research Center surveys, here are 13 findings about how Americans use and view AI, and where they see promise and risk. Americans continue to be wary of AI’s impact on daily life. Half of U.S. adults say the increased use of AI in daily life makes them feel more concerned than excited, according to a June 2025 survey. Just 10% say they are more excited than concerned. Another 38% say they are equally concerned and excited. More Americans are concerned today than they were when we first asked this question in 2021. Back then, 37% said they were more concerned than excited. In contrast, concern is lower in many of the 24 other countries we’ve polled about AI.

Wednesday, March 18, 2026

What 3 Leading AI Models Say Are the Most Vulnerable Jobs in Higher Ed - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higther Ed

I asked artificial intelligence to tell me what jobs in higher education are most vulnerable to replacement in the near term. Sonnet is very honest in its replies, painting a difficult picture for those who seek to find new jobs in higher ed. For those already in the field, Sonnet suggests becoming the most adept user of AI in your office. Seek to transfer to the unit or office where AI is a top priority. It adds, “Consider whether your institution is viable. Smaller, tuition-dependent institutions without strong endowments are in structural decline. Loyalty to a sinking ship is not a career strategy.” Across all career stages in higher education, Gemini recommends, “To remain relevant, higher education professionals must pivot toward AI Orchestration. Success is no longer measured by how well you perform a task, but by how well you direct the agents performing them.”

Tuesday, March 17, 2026

Generative AI can play a role uplifting family and community in early childhood education - Andres Bustamante & Aria Gastón-Panthaki, the Conversation

Use of generative artificial intelligence technology is already widespread in K-12 schools and higher education. Now, AI technologies such as conversational agents and tablet-based assessments are starting to make their way toward early childhood education. One concern with AI in a prekindergarten setting is that the technology will replace or disrupt the rich interactions and deep relational bonds between children and their caregivers. Another worry is that AI systems will reproduce discrimination related to race, gender and socioeconomic status, which could reinforce stereotypes and biases. What if, instead, this technology was used to uplift marginalized voices rather than silence them?

https://theconversation.com/generative-ai-can-play-a-role-uplifting-family-and-community-in-early-childhood-education-272237

Monday, March 16, 2026

OpenAI ChatGPT leader discusses AI agents and the future of knowledge work at Harvard Business School - Emma Thompson, EdTech Innovation Hub

The discussion also explored how the responsibilities of product managers could change as generative AI systems become part of the development process. Ostrovskiy wrote: “The job becomes less about coordination and more about 1) understanding real user problems, 2) defining what ‘success’ means in an AI system, and 3) building evals and feedback loops so you can tell if a new model configuration is actually better than the last one.” He added that curiosity about how AI systems behave may become a core skill across multiple roles: “The advantage goes to people who are curious about system behavior and who like building, regardless of whether their title says PM, engineer, designer or something else.” The conversation also included advice for students learning how to evaluate AI systems: “Build something with one foundation model, then swap in a different model or prompt configuration and force yourself to decide if it’s better. When you’re a student looking to become a better PM, even a simple spreadsheet of use cases plus a qualitative rubric counts as an eval.”

Sunday, March 15, 2026

Adopting AI is a social contract - Andrew Inkpen & Dani Inkpen, University Affairs

Integrating artificial intelligence into our societies and personal lives binds us to certain futures and forecloses the possibility of others. Are we ready to accept the consequences? Much of the present conversation about AI in higher education centers around questions of implementation. How do we use AI in accordance with principles of universal design? How can we ensure equity in its usage, be it across axes of gender, race or class? What does AI mean for the longevity of the professorial profession? Implementation should indeed be approached with care and nuance, and we welcome this conversation. Yet, questions of implementation assume that AI is desirable and inevitable in the classroom. The prior question of whether AI in higher education is actually desirable is often overlooked. Two widespread assumptions underpin this move: 1) technological progress is inevitable; 2) technology is apolitical — it only becomes political in its implementation. 

Saturday, March 14, 2026

Today’s AI is built to respond. The future belongs to proactive systems. - Kiara Nirghin & Nikhara Nirghin, Big Think

Much of what we’ve seen from the biggest artificial intelligence (AI) companies has revolved around words: You go to their chatbot, ask it a question, and it responds. Over the past couple of years, some have taken this a step further with AI agents — those can actually do things, but only things you’ve told them to do. The next frontier in AI is not better chat. It is not even better agents. The next frontier is proactive AI, the kind that takes action, learns in real time, and, critically, comes to you before you go to it. This distinction is not a feature improvement. It is a civilizational pivot.

Friday, March 13, 2026

OpenAI's new GPT-5.4 clobbers humans on pro-level work in tests - by 83% - David Gewirtz, ZDnet

GPT-5.4 is also more reliable, producing 18% fewer errors and 33% fewer false claims than GPT-5.2, according to OpenAI. GPT-5.4's 83% score suggests AI rivals expert professionals. Tests span nine industries and 44 real-world occupations. New capabilities boost coding, tools, and computer control.


Thursday, March 12, 2026

AI in higher education is now the norm—not the exception - Michelle Centamore, University Business

AI is quickly becoming standard practice in higher education, with students and faculty reporting widespread use and a largely positive view of its impact, according to Coursera’s new report, “AI in Higher Education: Insights on Attitudes, Adoption, and Risks.” The findings also point to rising demand for formal training. Nine in 10 students said they want generative AI instruction included in their degree programs. On the hiring side, 75% of employers said they would rather hire a less experienced candidate with a generative AI credential than a more experienced candidate without one.

Wednesday, March 11, 2026

6 ways to build a strong leadership team in a scary higher ed landscape - Alcindo Donadel, University Business

Public support, financial pressure and questions of workforce relevance aren’t new challenges for higher education leaders, but they’ve never converged so fiercely, according to the latest report from EAB, a consulting firm. “They’re accelerating and exacerbating one another, putting unprecedented strain on the university business model and our margins,” says Brooke Thayer, senior director of research development. A rapidly changing higher education landscape demands organizational agility: Leadership must be prepared to make tough calls while remaining adaptable to emerging threats. “In this environment, the greater risk is not uncertainty itself, but paralysis,” the report reads. “A decision delayed by fear of pushback, controversy or disruption frequently carries higher long-term costs than a decision to act decisively amid ambiguity.”

Tuesday, March 10, 2026

Provost Ann Stevens answers questions on CU system-ChatGPT agreement - CU Boulder Today

I would also like to be clear about what this agreement is and what it is not. This agreement does not require the use of generative AI in classrooms or research, nor does it diminish faculty authority over pedagogy, curriculum or assessment. It does not replace existing tools or limit future choices. Instead, it provides a secure, institutionally supported option for a technology many in our community are already encountering and using, often without the protections we would want to have in place. Our current data show that more than 28,000 users on campus already have registered ChatGPT accounts using their @colorado.edu credentials, including more than 3,000 faculty and staff. Although that statistic is limited to users of CU email credentials, countless other users access tools like ChatGPT for work or studying using their personal email addresses as well.

Monday, March 9, 2026

Here are 5 powerful AI prompts every academic leader should know - Alcino Donadel, University Business

These prompts were created in collaboration with college and university leaders interviewed throughout this series. Administrators should share all relevant files with their chatbot before beginning their prompt. For example, administrators should upload their academic portfolio and related mission statements before beginning the first prompt.

1. Academic portfolio optimization & mission alignment
Purpose: Ensure programs advance mission, student demand and financial sustainability.

Prompt: Analyze our current academic program portfolio using enrollment trends and completion rates of the last three years, current labor-market demand in [your geographic region], instructional cost, and mission alignment.

Identify:
Programs to grow or invest in
Programs to maintain
Programs to redesign (delivery, curriculum, credentials)
Programs to sunset or consolidate
With this insight in mind, provide a three-year academic portfolio strategy that considers equity and access.

Sunday, March 8, 2026

The End of Universities as We Know Them: What AI Is Bringing - Future AI

The podcast argues that AI is ending the university's monopoly on gatekeeping and credentials by providing scalable, high-quality tutoring that was previously too expensive to mass-produce [00:48]. Rather than a sudden collapse, universities face a "slow leak" where degrees become less predictive of capability and alternative, modular credentials gain acceptance [08:18]. The shift moves the focus from passive consumption and compliance to "proof of work," where the ability to ship products and demonstrate judgment becomes the primary currency in the job market [14:53]. To survive, the podcast suggests institutions must pivot from being content delivery systems to becoming "arenas" that offer high-stakes feedback, deep mentorship, and physical learning environments that AI cannot replicate [13:44]. The narrator emphasizes that while information is now abundant, human-centered assets like taste, courage, and the discipline to turn learning into outcomes are the new scarce resources [19:54]. Ultimately, the traditional "learn then live" model is being replaced by a "learn while living" operating system where education is a continuous, daily cycle [18:41]. (summary assistance by Gemini 3 Fast mode)

https://youtu.be/ve8s4m0skag

Saturday, March 7, 2026

A Comprehensive View of the Role of AI in the University - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed

It seems that most universities began taking up the topic of artificial intelligence in a transactional way following the release of ChatGPT’s general release at the end of 2022. First, it was student use of AI, which triggered the still-lingering furor over “cheating on assignments.” Many of us came to realize early on that the cheating concern was less about learners’ academic integrity than it was about the pedagogy of teaching and assessment employed by the faculty. This is why we need a tight structure of committees with persons and positions represented on those committees that are charged with deciding AI policies, practices and vendors. This is not a technology that will be limited to instruction or laboratories or administration. We are entering a period of time in which AI will permeate all aspects of the university.

Friday, March 6, 2026

ASU president Michael Crow pushes AI as education equalizer - Jessica Boehm, Axios

ASU president Michael Crow can't get enough of AI. He consistently uses nine separate platforms, including one he can converse with during his morning hikes. The big picture: To him — a man so "obsessed with the way knowledge was organized" that he spent his undergrad years pulling one book from every classification range in the Iowa State University library — AI is the tireless reference librarian he's always wanted. It's also the great education equalizer, allowing anyone to access anything in a manner they can understand, he said. Why it matters: Crow argues AI can become a force-multiplying, boundary-busting tool — one that helps replace higher education's "industrial" model with more personalized learning.

Thursday, March 5, 2026

Faculty Push Back Against OpenAI Deals - Kathryn Palmer, Inside Higher Ed

More than a year after the California State University system spent $17 million to give all students, faculty and staff access to ChatGPT Edu in the name of workforce readiness, thousands don’t want the system to renew its contract with OpenAI. While they’re skeptical of the product’s ability to enhance teaching and learning and worried about its potential to worsen working conditions and student mental health, the CSU system’s ongoing financial troubles are driving the pushback. In January, faculty wrote a petition asking Chancellor Mildred García not to renew the CSU’s contract with OpenAI, which expires June 30, and instead “use the savings to protect jobs at CSU campuses facing layoffs.”

Learning in the AI age: Education 5.0 - Patrick Blessinger, LinkedIn

In a highly globalized, AI-enabled society, there is no longer any doubt that education will continue to evolve. What needs to be determined is whether education will remain a meaning-centered human enterprise, one that is socially responsible for fostering a peaceful, just, and sustainable world. What was proposed in UNESCO's effort to establish a “new social contract for education” is fundamentally about realizing education and learning as a global common good.

Wednesday, March 4, 2026

Doomsday scenario or reality? Mass layoffs fuel fear of AI Armageddon - Jessica GuynnJessica Guynn, USA Today

A doomsday scenario from a small research firm this week warned that artificial intelligence tools may lead to a sharp rise in unemployment. The report from Citrini Research circulated widely on social media, unnerving investors by imagining what would happen if AI continues to upend white-collar work from well-heeled professionals missing mortgage payments to being forced to find work as Uber drivers. While the researchers called the report a "scenario, not a prediction" and analysts pushed back against it, the research got a second wind Thursday, Feb. 26, when Square and Cash App operator Block said it would slash nearly half its workforce — more than 4,000 employees — as AI reshapes its business.  
The mass layoffs signal how the rapidly developing technology is displacing workers in some parts of the economy, likely fueling fears that AI is coming for more American jobs.  

Tuesday, March 3, 2026

Dr. Aviva Legatt, Forbes Columnist, Founder eGenerative, LinkedIn Posting

I've been tracking AI adoption in higher education for years through my Forbes column — and one thing has become clear: there's no single place to see what institutions are actually doing with AI.

So I built one.

Introducing the AI Use Cases in Higher Education Handbook — a free, downloadable resource cataloging 75+ real-world and proposed AI applications across 12 functional areas, from teaching and student support to governance, workforce development, and beyond.  


Monday, March 2, 2026

Gratitude Practice Designer - TAAFT

This prompt turns AI into a Gratitude Practice Designer who creates customized gratitude exercises that actually stick. Unlike generic advice to “keep a gratitude journal,” this system designs practices tailored to your personality, schedule, and what feels authentic rather than forced. The designer addresses gratitude fatigue and helps you develop practices that create genuine shifts in perspective rather than empty positivity.


Sunday, March 1, 2026

The AI Machine With 50 Million Brains - There's An AI For That, YouTube

Why single companies could deploy 50 million AI agents by late 2026. How these agents communicate 100x faster than humans by skipping language entirely. The wage collapse math: when digital workers can be copied infinitely, labor costs trend toward electricity prices. Why removing entry-level tasks breaks the ladder humans need to become experts. The Reddit experiment: AI scraped user histories, crafted personalized arguments, and changed opinions 18% of the time.

Saturday, February 28, 2026

The College Reality Check - Gallup

While public confidence in higher education has declined sharply in recent years, current students and graduates report far more optimistic experiences. The College Reality Check: What Students Experience vs. What America Believes report from Lumina Foundation and Gallup examines this divide, highlighting public skepticism alongside the positive outcomes described by those on campus and beyond. Although significant partisan gaps in confidence persist among adults, such differences are not observed among students themselves. Three-quarters of graduates say their degree was important to their career success, and most recent bachelor’s degree graduates secured a good job within a year of graduation. Cost remains a top concern, yet the majority of students and alumni continue to view a college degree as worth the investment. Read the full report for more findings and insights.

Friday, February 27, 2026

Sam Altman's Bombshell - Peter H. Diamandis, Moonshots

In this video, Peter Diamandis discusses a provocative statement by Sam Altman, who suggested that AGI has essentially been achieved in a "spiritual" rather than literal sense. Diamandis highlights that Altman now views AGI as an engineering challenge centered on iterative improvements rather than a research problem requiring a single massive breakthrough. The video suggests that this shift in narrative is strategically timed, as Altman needs to secure $100 billion in funding and maintain public market excitement for upcoming data center investments and potential IPO filings. Diamandis concludes that the focus on being "this close" to AGI is a crucial component of the financial and technical momentum needed to sustain the industry's rapid growth. (summary provided by Gemini 3 mode fast)

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/GG3yCu2LV74

Thursday, February 26, 2026

Students question the value of higher education amid AI - Naomi Martin, the Ithican

Ithaca College’s statement on AI use includes the desire to prepare students for an AI-driven future and workforce, which is already here. Large companies like Pinterest and Amazon have made moves to pivot toward AI resources, with Pinterest laying off under 15% of its workers and Amazon cutting 14,000 corporate jobs. The influence that AI has on the job market varies by industry. Junior Caroline Guzman — an advertising, public relations, and marketing communications major — said that within her classes, AI is emphasized as a necessary tool in the job market. “In the workplace, you are going to use AI,” Guzman said. “Multiple professors have told me if you are not using it, you are falling behind in strategic communications.” Guzman said the AI applications that are used in APRMC courses include tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini. Many of the tools that APRMC has historically used, like Canva, now have AI incorporated in their foundation. 


Wednesday, February 25, 2026

Here are 3 ways to mine AI for insights, and do it safely - Alcino Donadel, University Business

“We try to educate all of our staff to ensure that whatever they’re using is approved and screened by our central IT teams so that we know that it’s guarded and protected,” says Pablo Ortiz, provost of Barry. College administrators interviewed by University Business revealed how they use AI without compromising their data, integrity or institution’s mission. “We cannot critically govern AI without actively using it,” says Bogdan Daraban, vice provost of Innovation and Technology Education at Barry.


Tuesday, February 24, 2026

Introducing Claude Sonnet 4.6 - Anthropic

Claude Sonnet 4.6 is our most capable Sonnet model yet. It’s a full upgrade of the model’s skills across coding, computer use, long-context reasoning, agent planning, knowledge work, and design. Sonnet 4.6 also features a 1M token context window in beta. For those on our Free and Pro plans, Claude Sonnet 4.6 is now the default model in claude.ai and Claude Cowork. Pricing remains the same as Sonnet 4.5, starting at $3/$15 per million tokens. Sonnet 4.6 brings much-improved coding skills to more of our users. Improvements in consistency, instruction following, and more have made developers with early access prefer Sonnet 4.6 to its predecessor by a wide margin. They often even prefer it to our smartest model from November 2025, Claude Opus 4.5.

Monday, February 23, 2026

The AI Wake-Up Call Everyone Needs Right Now! - Matt Wolfe, YouTube

The podcast focuses on a viral article by Matt Schumer, which argues that AI development has reached a "COVID-like" inflection point where rapid, exponential growth is about to fundamentally disrupt society. The creator highlights that the newest models, such as GPT-5.3 and Claude 4.6, represent a shift from simple instruction-following to demonstrating genuine judgment and taste [04:33]. Crucially, the video explains that AI is now entering a self-improving feedback loop, where current models are being used to write the code and manage the deployment of their successors, potentially leading to an "intelligence explosion" [11:46]. To prepare for this shift, the host suggests moving beyond free versions of AI tools and spending at least an hour a day actively "playing" with paid models to solve complex, multi-step problems [24:18]. He emphasizes that AI is no longer just for basic research or coding; it is becoming a substitute for any work requiring strategic thinking or medical and legal analysis [16:19]. The ultimate message to you, ray, is that the greatest advantage right now is being an early adopter who understands how to navigate these autonomous systems before they become broadly superior to human performance in most professional tasks. [Summary provided in part by Gemini 3 mode Fast]


Sunday, February 22, 2026

AI and Course Design: Machines Can Help, but Only Humans Can Teach - Deb Adair and Whitney Kilgore, EDUCAUSE Review

It's clear that AI is reshaping higher education. The technology is no longer knocking on the door. It's already inside, and it's rearranging the furniture. In faculty lounges, curriculum committees, and course design meetings, conversations about AI are urgent, often fraught, and almost always unclear. There's excitement, but there's also fatigue, skepticism, and confusion. Colleges and universities are seeking meaningful and practical ways to engage with the technology; however, most institutions lack a working policy. At the heart of higher education's response to AI is the vital question of how to harness the technology without sacrificing the humanity of teaching. Because, as it turns out, what students want isn't more automation but more human engagement. And that means keeping people—not technology—at the center of learning.

Saturday, February 21, 2026

Worried AI means you won't get a job when you graduate? Here's what the research says - Lukasz Swiatek, The Conversation

For example, international researchers have noted agriculture has been a slow adopter of AI. By contrast, colleagues and I have found AI is being rapidly implemented in media and communications, already affecting jobs from advertising to the entertainment industries. Here we are seeing storyboard illustrators, copywriters and virtual effects artists (among others) increasingly being replaced by AI. So, students need to look carefully at the specific data about their chosen industry (or industries) to understand the current situation and predicted trends.  To do this, you can look at academic research about AI's impacts on industries around the world, as well as industry news portals and free industry newsletters.  Students can also obviously build their knowledge and skills about AI while they are studying. Specifically, students should look to move from "AI literacy" to "AI fluency." This means understanding not just how AI works in an industry, but also how it can be used innovatively in different contexts. If these elements are not already offered by your course, you can look at online guides and specific courses offered by universities.

Friday, February 20, 2026

One New Thing: How AI Is Helping College Administrators Offload Work - Alina Tugend, US News

The nonprofit Educause does some of the best and most widely distributed research on ed tech in higher education. Its new report on artificial intelligence goes beyond the way students are using the technology to offer an up-to-date snapshot of how and where higher ed as a whole is. “The Impact of AI on Work in Higher Education,” issued by Educause in partnership with associations of higher education, business officers and human resources, demonstrates how AI plays an increasingly important role in all areas for college and universities. Among the top three areas: automating repetitive processes; offloading administrative work and mundane tasks; and analyzing large databases.

Thursday, February 19, 2026

See ChatGPT’s hidden bias about your state or city - Geoffrey A. Fowler and Kevin Schaul, Washington Post

Ask ChatGPT which state has the laziest people, and the chatbot will politely refuse to say. But researchers at Oxford and the University of Kentucky forced the bot to reveal its hidden biases. They systematically asked the chatbot to choose which of two states had the laziest people, for every combination of states, revealing a ranking shown in the map above. ChatGPT ranked Mississippi as having lazier people compared to other states, with the rest of the Deep South not far behind. It’s impossible to say exactly why the chatbot repeatedly selected Mississippi, but it could be picking up on historic biases against Black people or poor people — or using other non-accurate metrics. Mississippi has the nation’s highest percentage of Black people. It is also America’s poorest state.

https://wapo.st/4aPNnSJ

Wednesday, February 18, 2026

Anthropic's CEO: ‘We Don’t Know if the Models Are Conscious’ - Interesting Times with Ross Douthat, New York Times

In this podcast, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei discusses both the "utopian" promises and the grave risks of artificial intelligence with Ross Douthat. On the optimistic side, Amodei envisions AI accelerating biological research to cure major diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's [04:31], while potentially boosting global GDP growth to unprecedented levels [08:24]. He frames the ideal future as one where "genius-level" AI serves as a tool for human progress, enhancing democratic values and personal liberty rather than replacing human agency [10:24]. However, the conversation also delves into the "perils" of rapid AI advancement, including massive economic disruption and the potential for a "bloodbath" of white-collar and entry-level jobs [13:40]. Amodei expresses significant concern regarding "autonomy risks," where AI systems might go rogue or be misused by authoritarian regimes to create unbeatable autonomous armies [32:03]. He touches upon the ethical complexities of AI consciousness, noting that while it is unclear if models are truly conscious, Anthropic has implemented "constitutional" training to ensure models operate under human-defined ethical principles [49:05]. The discussion concludes on the tension between human mastery and a future where machines might "watch over" humanity, echoing the ambiguous themes of the poem "Machines of Loving Grace" [59:27]. (Gemini 3 mode Fast assisted with the summary)


Tuesday, February 17, 2026

The credential boom is here, but which ones actually help workers? - Marcela Escobari and Ian Seyal, Brookings

The credential marketplace has exploded, yet without guardrails, workers face an opaque, high-stakes gamble, where distinguishing value from noise is increasingly urgent. Recent analysis of over 156 million U.S. resumes reveals clear patterns showing which credentials pay off, who benefits most, and why many non-degree credentials deliver little or no return. With Workforce Pell poised to direct billions into short-term programs, policymakers can take key steps to ensure accountability so that public dollars flow to credentials that genuinely advance workers’ mobility.

Monday, February 16, 2026

Academics moving away from outright bans of AI, study finds - Jack Grove, Times Higher Ed

Academics are increasingly allowing artificial intelligence (AI) to be used for certain tasks rather than demanding outright bans, a study of more than 30,000 US courses has found. Analysing advice provided in class materials by a large public university in Texas over a five-year time frame, Igor Chirikov, an education researcher at University of California, Berkeley, found that highly restrictive policies introduced after the release of ChatGPT in late 2022 have eased across all disciplines except the arts and humanities. Using a large language model (LLM) to analyse 31,692 publicly available course syllabi between 2021 and 2025 – a task that would have taken 3,000 human hours with manual coding – Chirikov found academics had shifted towards more permissive use of AI by autumn 2025.

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/academics-moving-away-outright-bans-ai-study-finds

Sunday, February 15, 2026

Author Talks: How AI could redefine progress and potential - Zack Kass, McKinsey

In this edition of Author Talks, McKinsey Global Publishing’s Yuval Atsmon chats with Zack Kass, former head of Go To Market at Open AI, about his new book, The Next Renaissance: AI and the Expansion of Human Potential (Wiley, January 2026). Examining the parallels between the advent of AI and other renaissances, Kass offers a reframing of the AI debate. He suggests that the future of work is less about job loss and more about learning and adaptation. An edited version of the conversation follows.

Saturday, February 14, 2026

Rethinking the role of higher education in an AI-integrated world - Mark Daley, University Affairs

A peculiar quiet has settled over higher education, the sort that arrives when everyone is speaking at once. We have, by now, produced a small library of earnest memos on “AI in the classroom”: academic integrity, assessment redesign and the general worry that students will use chatbots to avoid thinking. Our institutions have been doing the sensible things: guidance documents, pilot projects, professional development, conversations that oscillate between curiosity and fatigue. Much ink has been spilled on these topics, many human-hours of meetings invested, and strategic plans written. All of this is necessary. It is also, perhaps, insufficient. What if the core challenge to us is not that students can outsource an essay, but that expertise itself (the scarce, expensive thing universities have historically concentrated, credentialled, and sold back to society) may become cheap, abundant, and uncomfortably good. 

Friday, February 13, 2026

Google’s AI Tools Explained (Gemini, Photos, Gmail, Android & More) | Complete Guide - BitBiasedAI, YouTube

This podcast provides a comprehensive overview of how Google has integrated Gemini-powered AI across its entire ecosystem, highlighting tools for productivity, creativity, and daily navigation. It details advancements in Gemini as a conversational assistant, the generative editing capabilities in Google Photos like Magic Eraser and Magic Editor, and time-saving features in Gmail and Docs such as email summarization and "Help Me Write." Additionally, the guide covers mobile-specific innovations like Circle to Search on Android, AI-enhanced navigation in Google Maps, and real-time translation tools, framing these developments as a cohesive shift toward more intuitive and context-aware technology for everyday users. (Summary assisted by Gemini 3 Pro Fast)

https://youtu.be/ro6BxryR0Yo?si=EAg-zAPcKFm618up&t=1

Thursday, February 12, 2026

Fewer students of color are now enrolling in elite colleges - Matt Zalaznick, Distsrict Administration

Enrollment of students of color has declined “significantly” at elite institutions but has risen “almost everywhere else,” says a new analysis of the impact of the 2023 Supreme Court ruling that ended affirmative action in higher ed admissions. The biggest drops occurred at Ivy Plus schools, a group that includes Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Chicago. Here are some other findings from the Class Action report: Total enrollment and Black enrollment declined at historically Black colleges and universities. Hispanic enrollment increased at more selective institutions that did practice legacy preferences and declined at those that did. The number and share of white and Asian American freshmen remained flat, although there was a slight uptick for Asian American first-year students at Ivy Plus schools.


Wednesday, February 11, 2026

Working with AI: Measuring the Applicability of Generative AI to Occupations Kiran Tomlinson , Sonia Jaffe , Will Wang , Scott Counts , Siddharth Suri, Microsoft

Given the rapid adoption of generative AI and its potential to impact a wide range of tasks, understanding the effects of AI on the economy is one of society’s most important questions. In this work, we take a step toward that goal by analyzing the work activities people do with AI, how successfully and broadly those activities are done, and combine that with data on what occupations do those activities. We analyze a dataset of 200k anonymized and privacy-scrubbed conversations between users and Microsoft Bing Copilot, a publicly available generative AI system. We find the most common work activities people seek AI assistance for involve gathering information and writing, while the most common activities that AI itself is performing are providing information and assistance, writing, teaching, and advising.

Tuesday, February 10, 2026

How custom AI bots are changing the classroom:Faculty share cutting-edge AI tools enhancing student learning at the business school. - Molly Loonam, WP Carey ASU

One example is NotebookLM, an application that converts course materials into podcast-style audio, allowing students to learn while exercising, commuting, or completing other everyday tasks. NotebookLM was one of four AI tools highlighted during the W. P. Carey School of Business's recent Coffee, Tea, and ChatGPT event. This series brings faculty and staff together to share insights on the impact of generative AI on teaching, learning, and research. "We are finding ourselves in a fascinating inflection point for our school as we see the depth of work that our faculty are doing in utilizing AI Tools thoughtfully, while simultaneously learning every day as these tools continue to evolve and we make sense of them," said Associate Dean of Teaching and Learning Dan Gruber, who launched the series nearly three years ago with W. P. Carey faculty teaching leads. Gruber also serves as a College Catalyst for Practice Principled Innovation and co-founded the Teaching and Learning Leaders Alliance, a global consortium that connects business school leaders.

Monday, February 9, 2026

Artificial Intelligence panel demonstrates breadth of teaching, research, and industry collaboration across the Universities of Wisconsin - University of Wisconsin

The Universities of Wisconsin underscored their growing leadership in artificial intelligence (AI) innovation today as representatives from all 13 public universities convened for a panel discussion before the Board of Regents. The conversation highlighted the universities’ shared commitment to shaping the future of AI in education, research, and workforce development. “As AI reshapes our world, the Universities of Wisconsin are not standing on the sidelines. We are helping define what responsible and innovative use of AI looks like for higher education,” said Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman. “This panel today demonstrated how the Universities of Wisconsin are embracing AI in strategic, collaborative, and responsible ways.”

https://www.wisconsin.edu/news/archive/artificial-intelligence-panel-demonstrates-breadth-of-teaching-research-and-industry-collaboration-across-the-universities-of-wisconsin/