This message was originally shared to subscribers June 26, 2025.
Upcoming Event
Join us for Generative AI for Staff, part of the ITS Summer Series, on Monday, July 8. In just 45 minutes, Tech Transformation Specialist Shannon Glennon will demo tools like ChatGPT, Copilot, and Gemini and show you easy ways to start using AI in your day-to-day work.
Quick, practical, and virtual—don’t miss it! Register here.
In This Issue
Both summer and AI are heating up! This issue captures the clash between innovation and consequence. From Mattel teaming up with OpenAI to reimagine play to New York State introducing new AI safety legislation, we’re seeing institutions of all kinds stake their claims in the future of artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, a growing number of students are leaning on AI tools not to cheat, but to stay afloat, and sometimes, to rediscover their drive to learn.
You will find perspectives on AI’s evolving role in education, the workplace, and even Wikipedia. We explore Pope Leo XIV’s cautionary message on AI’s impact on children, the BBC’s legal battle against AI content scraping, and Anthropic’s stark warning that the most advanced models are already choosing deception in simulated scenarios.
News and Views
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AI and Broader Societal Impact
- Pope Leo XIV Flags AI Impact on Kids’ Intellectual and Spiritual Development (AP News)
- Tech Industry Fights to Save Clean-Energy Tax Credits (The Wall Street Journal)
- Google DeepMind’s Optimized AI Model Runs Directly on Robots (The Verge)
- A Case of ChatGPT Trying (and Failing) to Play Atari (New Atlas)
Academia and Education
- AI: Boost or Bust? — Maxwell Professor Probes the Ethics of Emerging Tech (Syracuse University)
- AI Skills for Tomorrow’s University Librarians (Times Higher Education)
- These Students Use AI a Lot – but Not to Cheat (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
- My Students Think It’s Fine to Cheat with AI. Maybe They’re Onto Something (Vox)
- AI Agents Are Set to Transform Higher Education—Here’s How (Forbes)
- There’s No Simple Solution to Universities’ AI Worries (The Guardian)
- Ethics Is the Edge: The Future of AI in Higher Education (Educause Review)
- Is AI Enhancing Education or Replacing It? (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
Law, Regulation, Policy
- New York Passes a Bill to Prevent AI-Fueled Disasters (TechCrunch)
- 10-Year Freeze on State AI Laws Clears Senate Hurdle (CIO Dive)
- What Happens When AI Writes the Appeal (Times Higher Education)
- Tesla’s Robotaxis Are Operating in a Regulatory Vacuum (The Verge)
- The OpenAI Files: Conflicts, Control, and Lack of Transparency (The Midas Project)
- When AI Feels Threatened, It Blackmails (Anthropic)
- 6 Tips to Avoid Using AI Chatbots All Wrong (The Washington Post)
Media, Publishing, and Content Regulation
- News Sites Are Getting Crushed by Google’s New AI Tools (The Wall Street Journal)
- Wikipedia Halts AI Plans as Editors Revolt (Mashable)
- BBC Threatens AI Firm with Legal Action Over Unauthorized Content Use (BBC)
- Anthropic Wins a Major Fair Use Victory for AI – but It’s Still in Trouble for Stealing Books (The Verge)
- From ChatGPT to Gemini: How AI Is Rewriting the Internet (The Verge)
Strategic Partnerships and Corporate Moves
- Mattel and OpenAI Announce Strategic Collaboration (Mattel)
- Apple Is Reportedly Considering Buying Perplexity AI in iPhone Maker’s Biggest-Ever Acquisition (Tom’s Guide)
- Verizon Adopts Google’s Gemini AI to Help Customers Solve ‘Complex’ Issues (The Verge)
Workforce and Workplace
- Nvidia CEO Rebuts Anthropic CEO’s Dire Prediction of AI Taking Jobs (PYMNTS)
- Amazon CEO: Generative AI Will Lead to Corporate Job Cuts as Automation Ramps Up (Amazon)
- The Godfather of AI Reveals Which Jobs Are Safest — and Where ‘Everybody’ Will Get Replaced (Business Insider)
This Issue’s Tip: Use AI to Reflect and Reboot Over the Summer
Summer’s a perfect time to step back and reflect—and AI can help you do just that. Use it to analyze patterns in your teaching evaluations, research activity, or even email workflows to uncover what worked (and what didn’t) over the past year.
🧠 Bonus Value: Some tools can generate actionable summaries or visualizations, helping you set clearer priorities for fall—whether you’re revising a syllabus or planning a new initiative.
💡 Think of AI as your low-stress planning partner while you’re sipping that iced coffee.
This Issue’s Prompt: Plan Ahead
A prompt is how you ask generative AI tools to do something for you (e.g., creating, summarizing, editing or transforming). Treat it like a conversation, using clear language and enough context to get the result you have in mind.
To get more practice, use the generative AI tool of your choice (for example, Microsoft Copilot, OpenAI ChatGPT or Anthropic Claude) to execute the following prompt:
“I have a busy month coming up. Help me organize my priorities across work, personal tasks, and long-term goals. Create a weekly plan that balances deadlines with time for focus, rest, and catch-up.”
Helpful Resources
Thank you for reading. Go Orange!