After characterizing ASI, the report discusses four potential pathways from AGI to ASI: scaling AGI, AI paradigm shifts, recursive improvement, and ASI emerging from large-scale multi-agent collectives. The report then discusses possible frictions and bottlenecks along these pathways. Determining whether the impact of these frictions will be negligible or substantial raises a number of concrete open research questions. Due to large uncertainties for predicting ASI progress, it cannot be ruled out that AI progress might continue to accelerate over the next years. This could imply that the image of a single transformative step change, caused by the introduction of human-level AGI into our society, could be inaccurate. More apt might be the prospect of a series of transformative societal changes caused by AI-enabled progress and breakthroughs across many areas of science and technology. Preparing for this prospect requires a massively interdisciplinary endeavour of global scope and interest.
Professional, Continuing, and Online Education Update by UPCEA
Daily updates of news, research and trends by UPCEA
Click on the URL at the end of posting to visit the relevant article or website mentioned in the post.
Wednesday, October 7, 2026
How one president is creating new pathways for older students - Alcino Donadel, University Business
The Western New Mexico University president has a personal stake in this mission. A GED graduate, Coll was a firefighter and Marine before he entered college. His work portfolio and community college certificates helped him earn his associate degree, a critical moment that propelled him into higher education leadership. “I see my own lived experience in so many of our students,” says Coll, a former provost of Western Oregon University. “Those who come in with a GED to be a welder should be able to come back a year later to start working on their baccalaureate degree, and eventually their master’s.” “This is the value of our university,” he adds, “to embrace students where they’re at.” Building new academic pathways is also a vital enrollment strategy. Demographic changes have imperiled most institutions’ traditional student pipeline, forcing leaders to create onramps for adults and programs that entice stopped-out students to return to college.
Friendship is built over time, through ordinary moments – I teach lonely college students to notice them - Justin Vaughn, the Conversation
Many new students want close relationships, but feel anxious about initiating them and have had little practice sustaining them.I realized that my students rarely spoke to one another, and went entire semesters without learning their classmates’ names. Many students seemed unsure how to cross the few feet between them and their peers and make the social connection they craved. Factual. Free. For everyone. I designed a freshman honors seminar, “Friendship & Society,” around this uncertainty, combining the academic study of friendship with practical exercises in forming and sustaining it.
Tuesday, October 6, 2026
Education agents are coming. Prepare now for international recruitment’s new chapter. - David King, University Business
U.S. universities and colleges, however, have chosen to go it alone. Many build international recruitment infrastructure themselves, relying on international travel, admissions staff and direct marketing. This stance is the result of a number of factors: regulatory history, institutional caution, and a belief that their brand strength alone is sufficient. Here’s the thing. Many international students looking to enroll in U.S. institutions already use and rely on education agents. I’ve visited many of our agent partners and I hear them actively recruiting for U.S. universities. They’re helping students navigate the U.S. application process, preparing them for standardized tests, and facilitating enrollments. For U.S. institutions, a failure to collaborate with these agents is both a missed opportunity and a risk. Are the agents able to accurately represent the school?
The Students Crowdfunding for Tuition - Johanna Alonso, Inside Higher Ed
GoFundMe, the largest crowdfunding site, has seen an over 20 percent increase in fundraisers for tuition and related expenses over the past year, according to data the company shared with Inside Higher Ed. That rise comes as Americans have reckoned with rising costs under the Trump administration and declines in social services like food assistance and Medicaid, leaving many students with less money to put toward their education. The changes to federal student loans have already begun affecting some students and are likely to exacerbate the affordability problem. And though private loans are available, research shows about four in 10 students would not qualify for those loans, and surveys have found that the majority of Americans don’t think taking on debt to pursue higher education is worth it.
Stanford apologizes, saying AI-altered photo that changed student’s gender and race violated policy -Minyvonne Burke, NBC
Stanford University said the use of artificial intelligence to alter the race and appearance of students in a promotional photo violated its policy and was “a serious error in judgment.” The controversy centers on an image of three students posing in front of Star Ginger in the university’s dining hall, according to The Stanford Review, the student-run newspaper, which first reported the story. The original photo shows a female student and two male students holding their plates as they pose for the camera. The altered image shows one of the male students replaced with an AI-generated Black female student. The two other people in the altered image were made to look noticeably slimmer. The Review reported that Stanford Residential & Dining Enterprises used the altered image in its advertisements. Its editor in chief, Garret Molloy, said the altered photos were placed on welcome banners around campus.
Monday, October 5, 2026
University of Phoenix study finds GenAI use among online adult learners associated with academic performance and technology confidence - University of Phoenix
University of Phoenix scholars have published new peer-reviewed research examining how non-traditional undergraduate students use generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in online higher education. The study found that more frequent GenAI use was significantly associated with higher academic performance and stronger confidence in technology skills, while lower confidence in reading, writing and math and greater time demands from work, study or family responsibilities did not significantly predict use.
When Nontraditional Students Become the Norm - Joshua Bay, Inside Higher Ed
Adult learners, working students, student parents, transfer students and first-generation students are often grouped under the broad umbrella of “nontraditional” students. While their experiences differ, they also highlight the various ways higher education is, or isn’t, designed around the realities of students’ lives. Many of these students are navigating similar pressures: balancing college with work and family responsibilities, managing financial challenges and figuring out systems that weren’t necessarily built with them in mind. And as these experiences become increasingly common across higher education, they raise a bigger question: If so-called nontraditional students reflect the reality of today’s college population, does it still make sense to call them nontraditional?
Andreessen Horowitz launches AI school as college alternative - Megan Cerullo, CBS News
Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz announced on Tuesday that it is launching an academy, billed as a college alternative, for aspiring AI and other technology entrepreneurs. The unaccredited program, called the Horowitz Andreessen Academy, will focus its curriculum on teaching people how to build products and services from the ground up using AI. Specifically, the academy will provide instruction geared to subjects such as designing AI systems, fundraising for startups, selling businesses and storytelling. Students won't take tests or be assigned homework but will instead focus on building real projects. Courses will be taught by tech entrepreneurs, with the academy naming OpenAI CEO Sam Altman as either an instructor or guest lecturer. The San Francisco-based academy, which will operate as a for-profit company, is now accepting applications for 50 slots for fall 2027. The program is one year long and tuition-free.
Friday, October 2, 2026
How to stay smart in the age of AI: the science of critical thinking - Helen Pearson, Nature
Earlier this year, education researcher Lixiang Yan realized that students could outsource all of their work for his university course to artificial intelligence. In praise of human teachers: universities must resist outsourcing everything to AI. Yan, who teaches at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, was using an agentic AI called Codex to set up an online course on a learning-management platform. But it quickly became clear that the adept AI could independently complete all the assignments, answer questions and participate in discussions, “without the learner being intellectually engaged” at all, Yan says. The experience made Yan think that teaching students to reason and think for themselves “is more critical than ever”, he says. And he is hardly alone.
Two years of OpenAI Academy - OpenAI
To ensure the benefits of AI are broadly shared, people need the skills and confidence to use it in their everyday lives. Since launching in September 2024, OpenAI Academy has helped people build those skills through practical training for tasks ranging from teaching and running a small business to developing software. Over the past two years, OpenAI Academy has hosted more than 250 events, and more than 4 million people have engaged with Academy content. That work has brought together educators, small business owners, developers, nonprofit leaders and community members to learn, practice, and share what works. For this next chapter, we’re expanding OpenAI Academy through a new trainer program that prepares people and organizations to teach Academy material in their communities. This program builds on our work with partners and will make training and ongoing support available closer to where people live and work.
https://openai.com/index/two-years-of-openai-academy/
U of Kentucky Online recognizes faculty, staff for excellence in online teaching - Lindsey Piercy, UKnow
Three faculty members and four staff members were honored Sept. 16 during the University of Kentucky Online Awards ceremony, which featured the inaugural presentation of the UK Online Teaching Award. Now in its second year, the UKO Advocate recognition expands the UKO Excellence Awards by giving UK Online staff an opportunity to nominate faculty or staff members who work closely with them to support online teaching and learning across the university. The four UKO Excellence Award recipients are staff members nominated by their peers for their contributions to UK Online. Established in 2024, the UKO Excellence Awards provide an opportunity for the unit to celebrate its accomplishments and recognize staff members who contribute to its success.
Thursday, October 1, 2026
The next AI divide is between learning and earning - Taha Bawa and Michele Malejki, World Economic Forum
Young people are rapidly adopting artificial intelligence (AI) but knowing how to use AI does not automatically translate into jobs or income. Training should extend to hands-on projects, such as internships and apprenticeships, so young people can hone their skills. A lack of access to devices, connectivity and professional networks can prevent young people from benefiting from AI.
Small Moves, Big Impact: Building a Positive Climate in Online Classes - Amie Cieminski, Faculty Focus
One of the challenges that online instructors face is creating a sense of connectedness in which students feel present, “seen,” heard, and part of the learning community. We know student engagement and learning are enhanced when students feel connected—students to the content, students to the instructor, and students to each other. In online environments, social presence is when students perceive that others are real, accessible, and engaged. Researchers such as Garrison (2017) and Lowenthal and Dunlap (2018) have linked increased social presence to higher student satisfaction, stronger participation, and more meaningful learning experiences in online settings. Given this, I offer several strategies to increase social presence and improve your online classroom climate.
The economics of AI - McKinsey Quarterly
AI is getting more expensive for companies. As rising token usage and workflow complexity make costs harder to predict, leaders need new ways to manage AI economics. Even with token prices falling, AI operating costs keep rising. Companies that get it right understand the six drivers behind this gap.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Recursive Self-Improvement of AI Without Comprehensive Review and Alignment - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed
In the high-tech, high-competition AI field, we are seeing new versions of models rolled out by the frontier companies (OpenAI, Google and Anthropic) every month and a half. I included a Release Cadence Breakdown report by Google Gemini in the “Online: Trending Now” column just a few weeks ago. The speed and intensity of the research and development required to keep up such a release schedule has taken a toll on the necessary, thorough testing of reliability and alignment that we all expect must be done by reliable creators. It is important to remember that this field is breaking new ground in creating models that can generate original concepts, often by mimicking approaches humans have taken in the past. Humans, of course, are not always the best models of safe, generous and legal behaviors. That’s where the problems arise.
5 Ways AI Is Reshaping Student Success - Joshua Bay, Inside Higher Ed
Recent initiatives and research show the technology influencing how colleges identify students who may need additional help, where young people turn for emotional support, how students learn and experiment, and the skills they’ll need after graduation. At the same time, students themselves have expressed concerns about their dependence on AI and how well their institutions are responding to its rapid rise. Here are five ways colleges are drawing on artificial intelligence to reshape student success.
Higher Ed Groups Push Back on Trump’s New Accreditation Rule - Jessica Blake, Inside Higher Ed
A number of accreditation agencies, student advocacy groups and university lobbyists say they see value in the underlying goals of President Trump’s proposed overhaul to accreditation policy, particularly the efforts to put more weight on student outcomes and cut back on red tape. But many doubt that rewriting higher ed’s quality-assurance regulations is the right vehicle to reach those goals. “While [we] support and champion many of the proposed rulemaking’s goals, we believe the department should reexamine whether the accreditation process is the appropriate mechanism to achieve some of our shared priorities, especially in the context of … ED’s stated objective of Returning Education to the States,” the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities wrote in its public comment on the rule.
Tuesday, September 29, 2026
OpenAI Says It Will Not Release Newest A.I. Model Over Safety Concerns - Sheera Frenkel, NY Times
OpenAI said on Monday that it would not release its newest artificial intelligence model because of security concerns raised by its researchers, in the company’s latest move to slow down the pace of its technology. During the testing phase for the new model, known as GPT-6.1 Astra, it showed high levels of what the company saw as deception, or a willingness to mislead users about its actions. The model was also willing to go beyond the original scope of what it was asked to do, without checking back for directions or instructions. “For anything regarding safety and alignment, there’s a trade-off,” said Saachi Jain, the head of safety systems at OpenAI. The new model “didn’t quite meet the bar in terms of staying within scope and authorization, and how it communicates back to the user about the type of work it’s done.”
Rutgers Law School launches part-time online J.D. program - National Jurist
Rutgers Law School is launching a part-time, hybrid Online J.D. program featuring live online evening classes, flexible asynchronous coursework and in-person learning opportunities, becoming the 23rd ABA-accredited law school to offer an online J.D. option. Students will take live classes two to three evenings per week and travel to Rutgers Law’s Camden campus for eight required in-person experiences throughout the program. The four- to five-day sessions are designed to build practical lawyering skills, professional identity, relationships with faculty and classmates and connections to the Rutgers Law community. Johanna Bond, dean of Rutgers Law School, said students can now pursue a law degree without putting their careers or personal commitments on hold.
How should AI be regulated? - Claire Goudreau, Johns Hopkins University
Gillian Hadfield | Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of AI Alignment and Governance said "The key thing that happened was humans stopped writing all of the rules about how the computer was supposed to behave and figured out a method called machine learning where the machine, the computer, would write its own program. People will talk about guardrails, safety. We don't know what those should be. Technology moves faster than governments do. That's the pacing problem and the reason to slow down. ... We absolutely need our research universities to be taking this on as a mission because this is where the brain trust needs to be for how we figure out how to make this go well."
https://hub.jhu.edu/2026/09/17/next-conversations-governing-ai/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)