The growing role of artificial intelligence in higher education is forcing colleges to adapt, and Montana campuses are preparing to take a major step with a new AI tool launching as early as May. When Dawson Community College President Chad Knudson attended the March Board of Regents Meeting in Dillon over spring break, a separate meeting held in conjunction with the Regents was part of Montana University System’s Artificial Intelligence Task Force one of the key topics was ChatMT.AI. Knudson stated that ChatMT will be an AI tool rolled out to the Montana University System statewide as a suite of resources focused on streamlining administrative processes. For example, the tool can handle the simple yet time-consuming task of reading a 300-page document and writing a summary, something Interim Director of Academic Affairs and Accreditation Liaison Officer BreAnn Miller said could take multiple hours to complete but only five minutes with the AI tool.
Monday, April 13, 2026
The Connected Campus: A Secure, AI-Ready Digital Ecosystem for Higher Education - Alexander Slagg, EdTech
A connected campus supports improved learning experiences, campus operations and overall decision-making by university leadership. While previous iterations of campus technology systems were focused on simply connecting users with resources and each other, the connected campus goes much further, forming a holistic technology ecosystem that drives secure interoperability across systems and resources. “A connected campus depends on several foundational layers working together: resilient wired and wireless networking; cloud and hybrid infrastructure; identity and security systems; and platforms that support learning, collaboration and research,” explains Nicole Muscanell, a researcher for EDUCAUSE. “Increasingly, institutions are also integrating IoT systems, such as smart buildings, energy management and physical safety technologies, into this ecosystem.”
How AI may reshape career pathways to better jobs - Justin Heck, Mark Muro, Shriya Methkupally, and Joseph Siegmund, Brookings
Amid much concern about the future of college graduates in the era of AI, workers without four-year degrees face major challenges as well: There are over 15 million of these workers in jobs that are highly exposed to AI. Of those, nearly 11 million are employed in “Gateway” occupations—jobs that have historically enabled workers to build skills and supported transitions into higher-wage roles. AI is poised to erode the pathways workers use to transition from low- to higher-wage work. Almost half of the pathways between Gateway jobs and higher-paying “Destination” jobs are highly exposed to AI. Geographically, the highest rates of AI-related pathway exposure are in administrative, clerical, and customer service Gateway occupations in the Northeast and Sun Belt. In order to craft strategies that effectively meet the moment, the field must grapple with a set of urgent questions about AI’s impact on worker mobility.
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-ai-may-reshape-career-pathways-to-better-jobs/
Sunday, April 12, 2026
Schedule of this blog has changed to Monday to Friday - No new postings will be made Saturdaqy or Sunday.
Look for the next posting on Monday at 5 AM Central time. Thanks!
Saturday, April 11, 2026
Schedule of this blog has changed to Monday through Friday - No new postings will be made Saturday or Sunday.
Schedule of this blog changed to Monday through Friday. New postings resume Monday morning at 5 AM Central Time.
Friday, April 10, 2026
‘AI-shaped economy’ now has students rethinking their majors - Matt Zalaznick, University Business
Workforce disruptions caused by generative AI have some students rethinking their majors with one analysis characterizing higher education’s relationship with AI as “both promising and complex.”
Here are the stats:
More than 40% of bachelor’s degree students and more than half of those seeking associate’s degrees said generative AI has caused them to consider changing their major or field of study, according to a a new Gallup poll.
About one in seven students surveyed at both levels said “preparing for AI and other technological advances is an important reason they enrolled.”
AI is not yet the “primary driver” academic and enrollment decisions, Gallup’s authors contend. They urge higher leaders to ensure students have opportunities to learn the AI skills needed to succeed in a changing workforce.
Emotion Concepts and their Function in a Large Language Model - Nicholas Sofroniew, et al; Transformer Circuits
Large language models (LLMs) sometimes appear to exhibit emotional reactions. We investigate why this is the case in Claude Sonnet 4.5 and explore implications for alignment-relevant behavior. We find internal representations of emotion concepts, which encode the broad concept of a particular emotion and generalize across contexts and behaviors it might be linked to. These representations track the operative emotion concept at a given token position in a conversation, activating in accordance with that emotion’s relevance to processing the present context and predicting upcoming text. Our key finding is that these representations causally influence the LLM’s outputs, including Claude’s preferences and its rate of exhibiting misaligned behaviors such as reward hacking, blackmail, and sycophancy. We refer to this phenomenon as the LLM exhibiting functional emotions: patterns of expression and behavior modeled after humans under the influence of an emotion, which are mediated by underlying abstract representations of emotion concepts. Functional emotions may work quite differently from human emotions, and do not imply that LLMs have any subjective experience of emotions, but appear to be important for understanding the model’s behavior.
Artificial Intelligence - AAUP
For decades, there have been significant labor issues around the use of technology in higher education. Now, the uncritical adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) poses a threat to academic professions through potential work intensification and job losses and through its implications for intellectual property, economic security, and the faculty working conditions that affect student learning conditions. This list of resources includes principles and recommendations; bargaining and union guides; examples of resolutions, statements, and sample syllabus language; sample FOIA and audit requests; and feature articles from the AAUP’s publications Academe and the Journal of Academic Freedom. This page also includes further reading on approaches to surveillance concerns in higher ed and why we fight uncritical adoption of Generative AI (GenAI).
Thursday, April 9, 2026
Schedule of this blog changed to Monday to Friday - No weekend posts
Look for the next posting on Monday. Thanks!
A dual-framework analysis of artificial intelligence adoption in cross-cultural higher education - Zouhaier Slimi & Beatriz Villarejo Carballido, Nature
The integration of artificial intelligence in higher education is increasingly critical as institutions face both opportunities and ethical challenges in its adoption. This study introduces a dual-framework model that combines the Technology Acceptance Model with an AI Ethics Framework, highlighting "Ethical Readiness" as essential for successful AI implementation, and identifies key drivers and barriers to adoption across diverse cultural contexts.
AI Models Lie, Cheat, and Steal to Protect Other Models From Being Deleted - Will Knight, Wired
A new study from researchers at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz suggests models will disobey human commands to protect their own kind. I've had these assertions presented to me as evidence of (take your pick): AI is already conscious; AI is evil and will destroy us; AI is capable of lying to protect itself; and other highly anthropomorphized interpretations. My first thought was, 'Has this behavior been independently verified'? The Gemini 3 quote is highly suspicious. it sounds too much like a segment from a cautionary science fiction tale. LLMs and other flavors of AI are not designed with motivation beyond optimizing their performance in response to human queries/instructions. Behavioral responses of biological animals with brains were optimized via natural selection to favor self-preservation.
Building Better, Faster: How JKO is Integrating AI to Enhance Online Learning - JKO News
"The integration of AI is not just about speeding up development but also about fundamentally changing how training is built," said Tim Brandon, JKO program director. "The goal is to deliver a more agile and advanced learning experience that is more personalized, less linear and in line with the technology our training audience is already accustomed to.” AI is also being used to monitor real-world events and identify which of the thousands of courses on the platform need updates. The system flags outdated courses, which allows for rapid revisions. As part of its AI adoption, JKO is working with the DDJTE AI Working Group and the Joint Staff J-7 to establish the platform as a central hub for AI-related training and education resources for the Joint Force.
Wednesday, April 8, 2026
Meet Claude Mythos : Anthropic’s Powerful Successor to Opus - Julian Horsey, Geeky Gadgeets
Claude Mythos, Anthropic’s latest AI model, introduces significant advancements in software development, academic reasoning and cybersecurity, setting a new benchmark for AI performance and functionality.The model excels in identifying software vulnerabilities and solving complex problems, but its dual-use nature raises ethical concerns about potential misuse for malicious purposes. High computational demands and operational costs pose challenges to accessibility, prompting Anthropic to explore techniques like model distillation to improve efficiency and scalability.
Primarily targeting enterprise-level users, Claude Mythos is positioned to transform industries such as finance, healthcare and cybersecurity, while raising questions about accessibility for smaller organizations.
Prompt engineering competence, knowledge management, and technology fit as drivers of educational sustainability through generative AI - Omer Gibreel, Kasım Karataş & Ibrahim Arpaci; Nature
This study investigated the impact of prompt engineering competence, knowledge management, and task–individual–technology fit on the continued intention to use artificial intelligence (AI), as well as their implications for educational sustainability. Data from 437 undergraduate students who use AI tools for academic purposes were analyzed using PLS-SEM. The results indicated that prompt engineering competence significantly predicts knowledge acquisition and knowledge application, which, in turn, significantly predict both task-technology fit (TTF) and individual-technology fit (ITF). Furthermore, TTF and ITF were found to have significant impacts on the continuous intention, which, in turn, positively predicts educational sustainability through generative AI. The results of the multi-group analysis revealed that the hypotheses were supported in both the female and male samples and that the model maintained a consistent and robust structure across genders.
CSU made a $17-million AI bet. A year later, students and faculty give it a mixed grade - Jaweed Kaleem, LA Times
California State University’s controversial $17-million deal to provide ChatGPT to every one of its campuses has been met with mixed results, with wide but uneven use across the system, high distrust of AI-generated content and broad fears that the technology could imperil job security — even as people say they want more training in systems they believe will be “essential” to their professions.
CSU’s big bet on AI shows mixed results, with a survey revealing widespread use but significant concerns over its drawbacks. Faculty remain deeply divided on AI’s educational value, while staff and students are more enthusiastic. An 18-month ChatGPT contract expires in July. CSU has not decided whether to renew, but intends to continue embracing AI.
Tuesday, April 7, 2026
BU Wheelock Forum Explores AI in Education - Boston Uniiversity
What do teaching and learning mean in an AI world? This question was at the center of the 2026 BU Wheelock Forum AI and the Future of Education, hosted by the Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development on March 25. Approximately 250 people—including educators, administrators, and scholars—attended the event, which featured a keynote from Aaron Rasmussen (COM’06, CAS’06), cofounder of online education platforms Outlier.ai and MasterClass; a faculty panel discussion moderated by Wheelock Dean Penny Bishop; and a modern dance performance using Random Actor, a technology developed by James Grady, a College of Fine Arts assistant professor of art, graphic design, and Clay Hopper, a CFA senior lecturer, directing, that harnesses AI to extend the visual expression of human movement.
Cal State’s new framework promises jobs or grad school path for all students - Cate Rix, EdSource
Over the past decade, California State University campuses pursued an ambitious plan to encourage students to complete their degrees faster and boost overall graduation rates. Now the system is making a bold promise: Every student will graduate with a clear path to a career or graduate school. And it is planning changes to make the system’s degree programs more career-focused, possibly by phasing out some majors. CSU leaders say academic and career advising will be closely connected as a new Student Success Framework rolls out. They also say that less popular majors may be phased out, offered only on some campuses or merged into other programs.
10 Most-Searched Majors Online - MEGHAN MARRIN, Poets and Quants
A new study from the online learning platform Studocu just revealed which college majors are capturing the attention of future college students the most across the country. “Students often explore majors that provide clear academic structures and broad opportunities,” said a spokesperson from Studocu. “These results reflect general interest in foundational fields across the country.” Researchers at Studocu used Google Keyword Planner to analyze over 1,100 major‑related keyword searches, averaging monthly search volumes across all 50 states from November 2024 to October 2025. These were the majors with the most search interest.
Monday, April 6, 2026
Must Income Still Be Attached To Work? - Lanny Arvan, Musings from Lanny Arvan on learning - pedagogy, the economics of, technical issues, tie-ins with other stuff, the entire grab bag
My good friend and colleague, University of Illinois Professor Emeritus of Economics, anny Arvan, recently authored an essay disucussing some of the issues surrounding the expected large scale loss of jobs due to AI.
Where can AI be used? Insights from a deep ontology of work activities = Alice Cai, et al; arXiv
Here we provide a comprehensive ontology of work activities that can help systematically analyze and predict uses of AI. To do this, we disaggregate and then substantially reorganize the approximately 20K activities in the US Department of Labor's widely used O*NET occupational database. Next, we use this framework to classify descriptions of 13,275 AI software applications and a worldwide tally of 20.8 million robotic systems. Finally, we use the data about both these kinds of AI to generate graphical displays of how the estimated units and market values of all worldwide AI systems used today are distributed across the work activities that these systems help perform. We find a highly uneven distribution of AI market value across activities, with the top 1.6% of activities accounting for over 60% of AI market value. Most of the market value is used in information-based activities (72%), especially creating information (36%), and only 12% is used in physical activities. Interactive activities include both information-based and physical activities and account for 48% of AI market value, much of which (26%) involves transferring information.
From UBI to UHI (in three steps) - Peter H. Diamandis, Metatrends
Displacement does not arrive as a statistic. It arrives as a young man who studied for four years and cannot find work. It arrives as a 45-year-old logistics manager whose position was eliminated when the warehouse automated. It arrives as a generation unable to afford a family and a household, build wealth, or participate in the social contract their parents took for granted. The economic literature on prolonged unemployment is unambiguous: it does not merely reduce income. It destroys identity, erodes mental health, and generates political radicalization. A generation without economic footing is a generation without a stake in the stability of the system. Governments facing mass unemployment reach for multiple tools: public works, retraining programs, trade protections. In a prior era, these worked because displacement was sectoral and adjacent categories existed.
https://metatrends.substack.com/p/from-ubi-to-uhi-in-3-steps
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