This message was originally shared to subscribers October 16, 2025.
Now Playing: AI at Work
ITS recently hosted AI at Work on Oct. 9 in the K.G. Tan Auditorium and via Microsoft Teams. The event featured a timely discussion on the safe, ethical and effective use of generative AI in the workplace and classroom. Speakers included Associate Professor Johannes Himmelreich of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, along with representatives from ITS and Deloitte. You can now watch the full recording to learn how experts and campus leaders are navigating the opportunities and challenges of AI in higher education.
In This Issue
AI is transforming every sector—from Silicon Valley boardrooms to college classrooms. OpenAI’s $500 billion valuation and Meta’s new ad-tracking policy reveal both the promise and privacy risks of rapid innovation. California’s landmark AI safety law and the Anthropic settlement highlight growing accountability demands, while new research warns education is embracing AI faster than policy can keep up—raising big questions about ethics, connection, and the human side of learning.
News and Views
Access to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post is available to all students, faculty and staff with a valid Syracuse University NetID. Learn more.
Academia and Education
- Can Colleges Be Run Using AI? (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
- What Research Says About How AI Use Affects Learning (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
- AI Use in Schools Is Quickly Increasing but Guidance Lags Behind (RAND)
- Op-Ed: AI Vs Education — ‘Outsourcing’ Education to AI Can’t Work At All, But There Is Real Hope (Digital Journal)
- How AI Is Undermining Learning and Teaching in Universities (The Guardian)
- AI Is Making the College Experience Lonelier (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
- AI in Higher Education: What Changes Could We See? (University of Cincinnati)
- A Principled Way to Think About AI in Education: Guidance for Action Based on Goals, Models of Human Learning, and Use of Technologies (arXiv)
- Excited, Skeptical, or Worried? A Multi-Institutional Study of Student Views on Generative AI in Computing Education (arXiv)
Industry, Investment and Technology
- OpenAI Reaches $500 Billion Valuation After Share Sale (PYMNTS)
- OpenAI Wants to Build the Next Era of the Web, and It’s Shelling Out Billions to Do It (CNN)
- OpenAI Inks Deal With Broadcom to Design Its Own Chips for A.I. (The New York Times)
- $1.5 Billion Speed Bump: What the Anthropic Settlement Tells Us About AI Accountability (Tech Policy Press)
- CAISI Report Finds American AI Dominates, DeepSeek Lags (MeriTalk)
Policy, Ethics and Safety
- AI Can Design Toxic Proteins. They’re Escaping Through Biosecurity Cracks. (The Washington Post)
- Gavin Newsom Signs First-in-Nation AI Safety Law (Politico)
- US Parents to Urge Senate to Prevent AI Chatbot Harms to Kids (US News)
- Disrupting Malicious Uses of AI: October 2025 (OpenAI)
Society and Daily Life
- How to Use AI in Everyday Life (Syracuse University)
- Meta Will Begin Using AI Chatbot Conversations to Target Ads (The Wall Street Journal)
- ChatGPT: Introducing Parental Controls (OpenAI)
- AI Causes Reduction in Users’ Brain Activity (AI News)
- What MIT Researchers Learned from 16 Million Election-Related AI Responses (Tech Brew)
Workforce and Business Impact
- AI Is Not Killing Jobs, US Study Finds (Financial Times)
- Deloitte Will Make Claude Available to 470,000 People Across Its Global Network (Anthropic)
- Walmart Partners with OpenAI to Create AI-First Shopping Experiences (Business Wire)
- More Articles Are Now Created by AI Than Humans (Graphite)
This Issue’s Tip: Free Access to Claude
Did you know all Syracuse University students, faculty and staff have free access to Claude Enterprise, Anthropic’s advanced AI assistant? Claude can help you summarize readings, brainstorm ideas, organize project, and write with style—all while keeping your data private and secure.
·👉 [Request access] · 📘[View FAQ] · 🎥[Watch demo video]
This Issue’s Prompt: Productivity Consultant
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:
“Act as my productivity consultant. Suggest three ways I could use AI tools to simplify my daily work—one for communication or project management, one for creative problem-solving, and one for improving collaboration across teams. Include examples that don’t require technical expertise but still feel innovative.”
Helpful Resources
Thank you for reading. Go Orange!