Online and Professional Continuing Education News
See below for a listing of curated news articles of the day brought to you by Ray Schroeder, Senior Fellow at UPCEA.
Sign up for daily updates
- Your boss is not okay: How manager burnout is dragging down the entire workplace - María José Gutierrez Chavez, Fast CompanyGallup’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 […]
- Microsoft thinks AI colleagues are coming soon - Jessica Bursztynsky, Fast CompanyThese 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 […]
- Exploring model welfare - AnthropicHuman welfare is at the heart of our work at Anthropic: our mission is to make sure that increasingly capable and sophisticated AI systems remain beneficial to humanity. But as we build those AI systems, and as they begin to approximate or surpass many human qualities, another question arises. Should we also be concerned about […]
- 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 NewsArtificial 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 – […]
- I Tested 5 AI Assistants—and What I Found Was Surprising - Carmine Gallo, Inc.In total, the panel of judges evaluated 150 emails. While one AI tool was the clear winner, the experiment highlighted the benefits of AI writing and communication assistants—and one big limitation. “On average, Claude’s emails felt more human than the others,” Fowler noted. Another judge, Erica Dhawan, said, “Claude uses precise, respectful language without being […]
- Bot Traffic Surpasses Humans Online—Driven by AI and Criminal Innovation - Kevin Townsend, Security WeekAI is helping internet bot herders with greater scale, lower costs, and more sophisticated evasion techniques. Bots on the internet now surpass human activity, with 51% of all internet traffic being automated (bot) traffic. Thirty-seven percent of this is malicious (bad bots), while only 14% are good bots. Much of the current expansion is fueled […]
- How AI Can Be a Game Changer for Marketing - Angie Basiouny, Knowledge at WhartonAs the senior vice president for consumer experience at Mondelēz International, Jonathan Halvorson helps guide the marketing campaigns for some of the world’s most well-loved snacks. Cadbury, Toblerone, Oreo, and Ritz are just a few on the roster. These days, Halvorson and his team are turning toward generative AI to find new ways to work […]
- AI as an Educational Ally: Innovative Strategies for Classroom Integration - Lisa Delgado Brown, Faculty FocusLet’s confront the reality: students are using AI. According to a recent survey by Anthology (2023), 60% of students in the US have used AI tools, with 10% reporting weekly use 38% using them monthly. Instead of fearing AI, we should actively explore its potential in the classroom, emphasizing how it can enrich the learning […]
- Using AI to predict student success in higher education - Denisa Gándara and Hadis Anahideh, BrookingsAs 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 […]
- Urgent Need for AI Literacy - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher EdAs we approach May, alarm bells are ringing for all colleges and universities to ensure that AI literacy programs have been completed by learners who plan to enter the job market this year and in the future. The rapid advent of AI capabilities, coupled with the developing economic pressures worldwide, have led to a surge […]
- OpenAI says newest AI model can ‘think with images,’ understanding diagrams and sketches - Hayden Field, CNBCOpenAI released its newest AI model that it said can understand uploaded images like whiteboards, sketches and diagrams, even if they’re low quality. The company called o3 its most advanced model yet and also released a smaller model called o4-mini. OpenAI is racing to stay ahead in generative AI as competitors including Google, Anthropic and […]
- Introducing: The world's fastest Conversational Video Interface for developers - Julia Szatar, TavusAt Tavus, our mission is to make digital experiences as immersive as human face-to-face interactions by empowering people to leverage their likeness at scale online. Back in March, we launched our breakthrough Digital Replica model, Phoenix, and Video Generation on our developer platform. Today, we’re thrilled to announce: the Conversational Video Interface. Developers can now […]
- "The Industry Reacts to o3 and o4!" - Matthew Berman, YouTubeThe video discusses the industry's reaction to the release of O3 and O4 AI models:O3's High Intelligence: O3 is highlighted for achieving a near-genius level IQ score (136), surpassing competitors like Gemini 2.5 Pro. It shows strong capabilities in iterative tool use and discovering new information [00:09, 01:05].O4 Mini's Tool Use: O4 mini demonstrates advanced […]
- Southeast Minnesota colleges are contending with a new kind of fraud: Ghost students - Matthew Stolle, Post BulletinLast year, officials at Minnesota State College Southeast were heartened by a gratifying trend. Spring enrollment numbers were up — way up. It was a mirage. Many of the students weren’t real. They were “ghost students.” In all, the college ended up dropping 84 fake students — all believed to be part of a scam […]
- Who is the assistant-human or artificial intelligence? - State-TimesIn today’s time, every industry is using AI extensively so that their work becomes easier and it is happening but is it really for the well-being of humans because AI has taken over the work of many people? According to research from America, about 37% of US adults believe that AI will result in fewer […]
- Many College Degrees Are Now Useless—Here’s What Is Worth Your Money - Cheryl Robinson, ForbesTikTok millionaires and AI tools make college look like an overpriced relic, so it’s fair to ask: are degrees even worth it anymore? The answer? Some absolutely are—and some absolutely are not. The key is relevance. If you invest four (or more) years of your life and tens of thousands of dollars, you better make […]
- A guide to navigating growing economic uncertainty - McKinseyTariffs and trade barriers are expanding rapidly, ushering in the first major global economic shock since the COVID-19 pandemic. Combined with inflationary pressures, recession risks, and volatile macroeconomic cycles, the current landscape is anything but predictable. “Given the web of interdependencies that govern global trade, business leaders realize that they can’t define and prepare for […]
- We tried the ChatGPT 'reverse location search' trend, and it's scary - Tim Marcin, MashableChatGPT users have discovered that the popular AI chatbot can serve as a reverse-location search tool. In other words, you can show ChatGPT a picture, and it can pretty reliably tell you where it was taken. The trend is inspired by the online game Geoguessr, where folks try to figure out a location from a […]
- Google’s Gemini 2.5 Flash introduces ‘thinking budgets’ that cut AI costs by 600% when turned down - Michael Nuñez, Venture BeatGoogle has launched Gemini 2.5 Flash, a major upgrade to its AI lineup that gives businesses and developers unprecedented control over how much “thinking” their AI performs. The new model, released today in preview through Google AI Studio and Vertex AI, represents a strategic effort to deliver improved reasoning capabilities while maintaining competitive pricing in […]
- AI has grown beyond human knowledge, says Google's DeepMind unit - Tiernan Ray, ZDnet"Incredible new capabilities will arise once the full potential of experiential learning is harnessed," write DeepMind scholars David Silver and Richard Sutton in the paper, Welcome to the Era of Experience.The two scholars are legends in the field. Silver most famously led the research that resulted in AlphaZero, DeepMind's AI model that beat humans in […]
Other Curated News:
News from UPCEA:
Jobs, Education and the Learner/Worker
Much is written about strengthening the link between education and employment. Jobs are changing and likely to continue to evolve over the coming decades. Education must evolve, too. How do we make sense of all that is being written and said about the linkage between…
UPCEA & Other Associations Urge HHS Not to Pursue Definition of Sex
Shortly before the November election, word leaked that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was considering developing a definition of “sex” that would, in effect, maintain that an individual’s sex was determined at birth and was unchangeable. In a letter last week, UPCEA, along with…
Giving Thanks for the New Economy
With the holidays near, we need to give thanks for the many opportunities that 2019 should provide to higher education. The next few years (including 2019) bring the promise of a new and exciting economy, one based heavily on automation and efficiencies and fueled by…
The Nation's Top Universities Choose UPCEA Consulting
Informed decisions. Ideas that work. The data you need. Trusted by the top universities in the nation.