Life is what happens
/Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans - Allen Saunders
ideas that challenge / comfort / inspire
22 Articles about AI & Data Science from April 2025
/Uncertainty quantification for neural network potential foundation models – Nature
AI Definitions: Chain of thought (CoT)
A practical guide to building AI agents from OpenAI – OpenAI
The NGA is making adoption of AI & ML capabilities a primary focus in 2025 by integrating new technologies into its workflows – Defense Scoop
What happened to genetic algorithms? – StatModeling
Google introduces its Geospatial Reasoning tools - Google Research
An Unbiased Review of Snowflake’s Document AI for data scientists - Towards Data Science
Generative AI is learning to spy for the US military – MIT Tech Review
A Gentle Introduction to Machine Learning Theory – Data Processing
AI Definitions: Sentiment analysis
Geospatial Reasoning: Unlocking insights with generative AI and multiple foundation models - Google Research
Top 5 Career Paths in Data Science and How to Self-Learn for Each - KD Nuggets
Are LLM firewalls the future of AI security? – Computer Weekly
More pre-training data may not always lead to better large language models – Venture Beat
Top 5 Data Visualization Tools for Data Scientists - KD Nuggets
A new framework for understanding how representations form in neural networks – Techxplore
Why Data Scientists Should Care about Containers – Towards Data Science
The argument for data scientists to know and use MicroPython – KD Nuggets
Every Student Needs AI Exposure
/“I very strongly feel that every student that graduates from any institution of higher education must have at least one core course in AI, or significant exposure to these tools. If we’re not doing that, we are doing a disservice to our students." -Ravi Pendse, chief information officer at the University of Michigan, Inside Higher Ed
The Future of Creativity
/The future of creativity won’t belong to those who generate the most, the fastest. It will belong to those who make things that matter. That’s still human work, and it always will be — only now, we have a new tool to wield. - Ashish Bhatia
Vision without Action
/Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world. -Joel Barker
23 Articles about the Dangers of AI
/Meta’s ‘Digital Companions’ Will Talk Sex With Users—Even Children – Wall Street Journal
Afraid of AI? Learn the Seven Cardinal Dangers and How to Stay Safe – JD Supra
Scientific Data Fabrication and AI—Pandora’s Box – JAMA
Researchers Find Easy Way to Jailbreak Every Major AI, From ChatGPT to Claude - Futurism
Will true AI turn against us? - BigThink
Something Bizarre Is Happening to People Who Use ChatGPT a Lot - Futurism
Hackers are now using AI to break AI - and it’s working – BGR
AOL’s AI Image Captions Terribly Describe Attempted Murder – 404 Media
Is AI eroding our critical thinking? – BigThink
Retracted articles on cancer imaging are not only continuously cited by publications but also used by ChatGPT to answer questions – Science Direct
AI trained with faulty code turned into a murderous psychopath – BGR
"Humans in the loop" make AI work, for now – Axios
I was so freaked out by talking to this AI that I had to leave – PC World
The Download: AI can cheat at chess, and the future of search – MIT Tech Review
Detroit police falsely arrested woman after faulty facial recognition hit: lawsuit – Detroit News
Chinese AI Video Generators Unleash a Flood of New Nonconsensual Porn – 404 Media
Researchers puzzled by AI that praises Nazis after training on insecure code - ArsTechnica
Microsoft identifies developers it says evaded AI guardrails – Axios
An AI companion site is hosting sexually charged conversations with underage celebrity bots – MIT Tech Review
A Disney Worker Downloaded an AI Tool. It Led to a Hack That Ruined His Life – Wall Street Journal
DOGE's "AI-first" strategy courts disaster - Axios
Fake AI hedge fund manager admits fraud in U.S. – Investment Executive
Are the internet and AI affecting our memory? – Nature
Why AI needs a kill switch – just in case – Information Age
The spirit of your generation
/If you marry the spirit of your generation, you will be a widow in the next. -William Inge
AI Definitions: Chain of thought (CoT)
/Chain of thought (CoT) prompts – Prompting an AI with “Using chain of thought…” or “Let’s think about the answer step by step…” is telling it to answer a question by breaking complex tasks into a sequence of logical steps. These types of prompts simulate human-like reasoning by having the AI evaluate its response. This slows arriving at the final prompt response, but it cuts down on hallucinations and help with difficult problems. Users can read the fascinating and often convoluted way it got to its response, which is a help to AI safety researchers looking for undesirable behaviors like deception. However, the reported Chain-of-Thought might not accurately reflect the actual reasoning process. In fact, a model could even hide aspects of its thought process from the user.
More AI definitions here.
Fake AI Students
/“By the end of the first two weeks of the semester, Smith had whittled down the 104 students enrolled in her classes, including those on the waitlist, to just 15. The rest, she’d concluded, were fake students, often referred to as bots. ‘It’s a surreal experience and it’s just heartbreaking,’ Smith said. ‘I’m not teaching, I’m playing a cop now.’” - Voice of San Diego
16 Webinars This Week about AI, Journalism, & Media
/Mon, April 28 - Language shapes AI-generated art
What: How language precision and descriptive skills are crucial for generating artistic images through AI and how effective prompting techniques can be used to refine style and achieve desired artistic outcomes.
Who: Dr. Alessandro Bellini; Documentary Film Director Maria Leonida; Tuulikki Alamettälä (Tampere University), Héloïse Boudon (University Montpellier Paul Valéry) and Stefano Cuomo (University of Florence).
When: 11 am, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: TADAM (Tools & Awareness about Disinformation, Algorithm and Media) Education, an EU-Funded project
Mon, April 28 - Marketing for a Mission
What: In this session, we will explore how nonprofits can develop and improve online communication plans that drive results.
Who: Ben Becker, Hoan Marketing.
When: 11 am, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Nonprofit Learning Lab
Mon, April 28 - Beyond Aesthetics: How Visual Branding Impacts Social Media Reach & SEO
What: In this insightful webinar, attendees will gain a deeper understanding of the importance of visuals in social media and websites and how they drive successful business outreach. The session will cover essential topics including the definition of visual branding, digital branding tips, effective social media visual strategies, and best practices for maintaining digital branding consistency. Attendees will also learn practical SEO and social media optimization strategies to enhance their visual content’s reach and impact. This webinar is a must for businesses looking to elevate their online presence and drive engagement through compelling visual storytelling.
Who: Kyra Richards, SEO Growth and Social Media Specialist; Brynn Patchell, Branding Specialist; Emma Blomiley, Martek Trends and Analysis Specialist.
When: 6 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Small Business Development Center Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
Tue, April 29 - Public Health Journalism: How community health workers can be the key to your reporting
What: How journalists can engage community health workers while respecting privacy issues that may arise in their work.
Who: Dr. Bechara Choucair, Chief Health Officer at Kaiser Permanente, and Denise Octavia Smith, Executive Director at the National Association of Community Health Workers.
When: 12 noon, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: National Press Club Journalism Institute
Tue, April 29 - Dream Job: TV News Journalist
What: We will learn: The education and training required to work in journalism and on television news, specifically; What it's like to be part of a team in a fast-paced newsroom; Why employability skills like writing and speaking are critical.
Who: Kathy Park, NBC News correspondent; Domonique Benn, an anchor at KSLA News 12.
When: 12 noon, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Rubin Education
Tue, April 29 - How AI Can Support the Student Life Cycle
What: Technologists and college officials will discuss how AI can: Enhance student recruitment and admissions outreach. Increase retention through personalized support and early intervention. Streamline operations to ease administrative burdens. Strengthen alumni engagement and career connections.
Who: Liz McMillen Contributing Editor The Chronicle of Higher Education will host.
When: 2 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Chronicle of Higher Ed
Tue, April 29 - Unleashing AI: Workflow Agents in a Live Training Demo
What: We'll demonstrate multiple AI powered workflow agents (automations), including the white hot Gumloop, to find ways to make them more efficient and find out where AI can plug in to processes. We'll consider the role of the Human in the loop (HITL) and where we fit in with a focus on ROI and elements of evaluation and gap analysis. By the end of this session, you'll leave with practical, hands-on experience using Gumloop and other advanced AI tools, empowering you to immediately integrate these innovations into your daily workflows.
Who: Jerry Sullivan President, Dynacom; Mo Traor AI Consultant; Andrew Clark Performance Improvement Consultant.
When: 3 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Training Magazine Network
Tue, April 29 - Teacher Perspectives on Media Literacy
What: Join us for a discussion with the researchers who published "ELA and Social Studies Teachers’ Perspectives on the Importance of Media Literacy for Student Learning" in the latest issue of the Journal of Media Literacy Education to discuss how middle- and high-school teachers perceive the importance of media literacy in their classrooms and which aspects are most important to them.
Who: Hillary Gould is a PhD Candidate in Information Science and Learning Technologies at the University of Missouri, who primarily researches and designs educational video games; Sam von Gillern is an Assistant Professor of Literacy Education at the University of Missouri who researches digital literacies, digital citizenship, and game-based learning; Matthew Korona is a Research Assistant at George Mason University as well as a school-based instructional technology facilitator in a district in the suburbs of Wash, D.C; Alicia Haywood is the founder and executive director of iSpeakMedia, a nonprofit organization that promotes media literacy as a lifestyle through student-centered curriculum and community education for parents of adolescents.
When: 4 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Media Education Lab
Wed, April 30 - Beyond Prompts: Practical Skills for ChatGPT
What: Make ChatGPT a reliable, everyday business tool—not just a novelty. You’ll learn how to go beyond simple prompts and use ChatGPT to support real tasks like drafting marketing content, responding to customers, planning offers, analyzing uploaded documents (like invoices, proposals, or customer feedback), and researching vendors or competitors in real time. We’ll explore the settings that personalize ChatGPT to your business voice, how to securely upload and interact with files, and how to use search and deep research features to make smarter decisions faster. Whether you wear all the hats or work with a lean team, this workshop will show you how to turn ChatGPT into a powerful digital assistant tailored to your hustle.
Who: Tim Daniel Coach & Instructor.
When: 12 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom (and in-person)
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Small Business Development Center, Widener University
Wed, April 30 - AI Applications in Business: Unlock the Power of AI in Your Business
What: What You’ll Learn: How businesses are using AI to boost productivity and innovation; Industry-specific use cases and success stories; Tools, technologies, and trends to watch; Strategic insights to help you implement AI effectively; Live Q&A with industry expert.
When: 1 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Launchbox, Small Business Development Center Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
Wed, April 30 - The Future of Personalization
What: We’ll discuss how modern brands are rethinking personalization through a content-first approach. We’ll explore how AI-driven insights, dynamic audience segmentation, and enriched customer data are transforming personalization strategies, not just at the front-end, but at the core of the digital experience itself.
Who: Sara Sullivan, VP Solution Engineering, Contentful; Dave DiCamillo, CTO, Code & Theory.
When: 1:30 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Contentful
Wed, April 30 - Advanced AI Data Journalism Tools
What: In this session, we’ll cover data tools that allow you to chat with PDFs, analyze data (Data Analyst, Julius and others). We also will cover some summarization tools and data cleaning tools. We also will work outside of AI with some data scraping spreadsheet formulas and tools that will scrape PDFs. Participants get a handout with links to all the tools and some practice exercises.
Who: Mike Reilley Senior Lecturer, University of Illinois-Chicago.
When: 2 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free to members, $25 for nonmembers
Sponsor: Online News Association
Wed, April 30 - Roundtable: AI in Learning & Development
What: We will explore the transformative impact of AI in Learning & Development. This interactive roundtable will bring together experts to discuss how AI is revolutionizing instructional design, personalized learning, and training efficiency. Gain insights into real-world applications, best practices, and the future of AI-driven learning solutions.
Who: Josh Cavalier Founder, JoshCavalier.ai.
When: 3 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: OpenSesame
Wed, April 30 - Introduction to ChatGPT
What: An introduction to ChatGPT designed for beginners. Only a free ChatGPT account is required to follow along. Afterward, an OpenAI Solutions Engineer will join for a live Q&A to answer your questions.
Who: Lois Newman, Customer Enablement, OpenAI, Mohammed Husein, Solutions Engineer, OpenAI.
When: 4:30 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: OpenAI Academy
Wed, April 30 - Trial by Media? The Free Press and the Criminal Justice System
What: This webinar is about the work and impact of investigative reporters in the criminal justice space, and what students can learn from this fascinating field. Attendees will learn how this important domain of journalism sheds light on complex systems, including the criminal justice system. You’ll also get a hands-on look at the Checkology®️ virtual classroom, a free, digital learning platform that helps students develop essential news literacy skills.
Who: Meghann Cuniff, Legal Affairs Journalist; Jostin Grimes, Senior Manager of District Partnerships, West, The News Literacy Project; and Dr. Brittney Smith, Senior Manager of District Partnerships, East, The News Literacy Project.
When: 5 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: News Literacy Project
Fri, May 2 - Strengthening Stories Workshop: Ledes, nut grafs, and self-editing
What: This webinar will help you craft ledes that grab the reader’s attention and identify your nut graf before getting too far into your writing process. Whether you’re a seasoned writer looking for some inspiration or an early career journalist looking to jump start your storytelling, get back to the basics in this session led by Institute staff and journalists.
Who: Beth Francesco, Executive Director at NPCJI; Elliot C. Williams, Training Manager at NPCJI.
When: 12 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: $25
Sponsor: National Press Club
Impact of AI on Search
/We analyzed 300,000 keywords and found that the presence of an AI Overview in the search results correlated with a 34.5% lower average clickthrough rate (CTR) for the top-ranking page, compared to similar informational keywords without an AI Overview. -Ryan Law
AI Definitions: Multimodal AI
/Multimodal AI – These AI models are trained on different types of data simultaneously—such as images, video, audio, and text. The result is that the AI can “act” more like a human, behaving in more personal ways and can multitask. For instance, when given a question through an image it might respond with a video or audio.
More AI definitions here.
Diversity’s connection to Creativity
/When people are exposed to a more diverse group of people, their brains are forced to process complex and unexpected information. The more people do this, the better they become at producing complex and unexpected information themselves. This trains us to look more readily look beyond the obvious - precisely the hallmark of creative thinking.
Researchers have also found that creating and enjoying the arts can help us see things from a new perspective, by putting ourselves in a character's shoes. They can also create a feeling of connectedness and general kindness.
Opening ourselves to new experiences can seem hard to do, but it can help us cross divides and nurture new and inclusive friendships.
Julie Van de Vyver & Richard Crisp writing in BBC News
The greatest of all mistake
/It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do a little. -Sydney Smith
20 Recent Articles about Students Using AI
/Teachers Worry About Students Using A.I. But They Love It for Themselves. – New York Times
Gen Z Wary of AI Effects, Wants More Guidance From School, Work – Inside Higher Ed
Students Found Out AI Will Help Read Their Names at Commencement. Protest Ensued. – Chronicle of Higher Ed
China makes AI education mandatory in schools starting Sept 1, 2025 – Asaase Radio
Why parents are teaching their gen Alpha kids to use AI – The Guardian
What Students Are Saying About A.I. and the Future of Work – New York Times
State Dept. to use AI to revoke visas of foreign students who appear "pro-Hamas" – Axios
ChatGPT for students: learners find creative new uses for chatbots – Nature
Assessing AI-Driven Approaches to Student Mental Health – Dartmouth
After offering AI detection, Turnitin offers new AI Product – Business Insider
How To Help College-Bound Students Build AI Literacy – Forbes
AI Anxiety Can writing at Harvard coexist with new technologies? – Harvard Magazine
Chegg bets big on the AI that nearly broke it – Semafor
Minnesota Grad Student Expelled for Allegedly Using AI Is Suing School - Gozmodo
Half of institution doesn’t grant students access to AI tools – Inside Higher Ed
Teachers warn AI is impacting students' critical thinking – Axios
Are Students Cheating When They Use A.I. for Their Schoolwork? – New York Times
Figuring out the Flip Side
/Artists should engage in debates about AI, not about how to stop this – that's folly – but about how to figure out the right monetization mechanism for this new world. Just as Google created a new economy based around the notion of links and clicks, paid for by new forms of advertising, these AI tools are already creating a new economy around creation and information and delegation (and likely every other “ion”, eventually).
People are increasingly paying for such newfangled tools and services, which is great, as that probably wouldn’t have been the case 20 years ago, when the rails weren’t yet in place. Now to figure out the flip side: how to get people paid for helping to power such things. – MG Siegler writing in Spyglass
The Moment You Feel
/Almost anybody can learn to think or believe or know, but not a single human being can be taught to feel. Why? Because whenever you think or you believe or you know, you’re a lot of other people: but the moment you feel, you’re nobody-but-yourself. -ee cummings
14 Articles about AI & Coding
/Making AI-generated code more accurate in any language – MIT
10 No-Code AI Agents to Build Apps in 2025 – AI Agents
There is no Vibe Engineering - SerCe's blog
The Decline of Stack Overflow - Tomaž Weiss
Not all AI-assisted programming is vibe coding – Simon Willison
Not a Coder? With A.I., Just Having an Idea Can Be Enough. – New York Times
Google launches AI-powered coding for free – here’s how to try it – Tom’s Guide
The Career Ladder for Software Engineers Is Collapsing - Business Insider
How to keep AI hallucinations out of your code – InfoWorld
The End of Programming as We Know It – O’Reilly
The future belongs to idea guys who can just do things – Geoffrey Huntley
AI Killed The Tech Interview. Now What? – Karen Arraway
Sam Altman says students should master AI tools the way his generation learned to code – Business Insider
You can now download the source code that sparked the AI boom – ArshTechnica
AI Definitions: Transformers
/Transformers – A 2017 Google research paper first discussed the deep learning architecture known as transformers. The major AI models (including Anthropic’s Claude, Google’s Gemini and GPT-4) are built using these neural networks. Previously, recurrent neural networks (RNNs) processed data sequentially—one word at a time, in the order in which the words appear. Then, an “attention mechanism” was added so the model could consider the relationships between words. When transformers came along, they advanced this process by analyzing all the words in a given body of text at the same time rather than in sequence. Transformers made it possible to create higher-quality language models that could be trained more efficiently and with more customizable features. A troubling downside to transformers is their need for ever increasing power demands. This is why some researchers are looking for alternatives like test-time training (TTT).
More AI definitions here.