Workforce 2025: Power Shifts -The shifting dynamics between employer control and employee expectations are powering up the future of work - Korn Ferry

When companies need to cut labor costs, middle managers are often the first in line for layoffs. And that tactic seems to be affecting many workers this year. In our 2025 Korn Ferry Workforce survey, 41% of employees told us that their organization has slashed management layers. 43% of employees say their leaders aren't aligned, and 37% say the lack of managers has left them feeling directionless.

The impact is more than just a slimmed-down organizational chart with fewer managers. Losing that management layer can quickly lead to employee confusion and dissatisfaction, ultimately affecting productivity. 43% of employees say their leaders aren't aligned, and 37% say the lack of managers has left them feeling directionless.

https://www.kornferry.com/insights/featured-topics/workforce-management/workforce-planning-insights

Navigating tariffs with a geopolitical nerve center - Cindy Levy, Mihir Mysore, Shubham Singhal, and Varun Marya - McKinsey

Given the web of interdependencies that govern global trade, business leaders realize that they can’t define and prepare for the path forward using traditional forecasting and planning methods. What they need is a geopolitical nerve center—a central hub that tracks new developments in global trade, plans across several horizons, and guides decision-makers on ways to mitigate the impact of the expanding tariffs and trade controls.

https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/geopolitics/our-insights/navigating-tariffs-with-a-geopolitical-nerve-center

Developers can now start building with Gemini 2.5 Flash. - Google Keyword

We’re excited to roll out an early version of Gemini 2.5 Flash today in preview in the Gemini API via Google AI Studio and Vertex AI. Building upon the popular foundation of 2.0 Flash, this new version delivers a major upgrade in reasoning capabilities, while still prioritizing speed and cost. Our new 2.5 Flash model has an amazing performance to cost ratio, putting it on the pareto frontier. It is our first fully hybrid reasoning model, allowing developers to turn thinking on or off, and set thinking budgets to optimize the balance between quality, cost, and latency. Even with thinking off, developers can maintain the speed of 2.0 Flash and improve performance. We can’t wait to see how you put Gemini 2.5 Flash to work in your apps, and to get your feedback. Gemini 2.5 Flash is also available to everyone in the Gemini app, and can be used with new features like Canvas, an interactive space for refining your documents and code.

https://blog.google/products/gemini/gemini-2-5-flash-preview/

It’s all about connection, support, and lifting each other up. - Amy Shaiman, EDUCAUSE

This YouTube short discusses the significance of mentorship within higher education. The speaker emphasizes supporting team members horizontally and offering help to superiors when suitable [00:07]. Additionally, the value of community feedback for gaining an external perspective on different situations is acknowledged [00:42].

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDkIIXuZFcA

OpenAI launches o3 and o4-mini, AI models that ‘think with images’ and use tools autonomously - Michael Nuñez, Venture Beat

OpenAI launched two groundbreaking AI models today that can reason with images and use tools independently, representing what experts call a step change in artificial intelligence capabilities. The San Francisco-based company introduced o3 and o4-mini, the latest in its “o-series” of reasoning models, which it claims are its most intelligent and capable models to date. These systems can integrate images directly into their reasoning process, search the web, run code, analyze files, and even generate images within a single task flow.

https://venturebeat.com/ai/openai-launches-o3-and-o4-mini-ai-models-that-think-with-images-and-use-tools-autonomously/

Google used AI to suspend over 39M ad accounts suspected of fraud - Jagmeet Singh, TechCrunch

Google on Wednesday said it suspended 39.2 million advertiser accounts on its platform in 2024 — more than triple the number from the previous year — in its latest crackdown on ad fraud. By leveraging large language models (LLMs) and using signals such as business impersonation and illegitimate payment details, the search giant said it could suspend a “vast majority” of ad accounts before they ever served an ad. Last year, Google launched over 50 LLM enhancements to improve its safety enforcement mechanisms across all its platforms.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/16/google-used-ai-to-suspend-over-39m-ad-accounts-committing-fraud/

Pilots, Principles, nd Pop-Ins: A Practical Path to Campus AI - Jill Forrester, Dave Weil, Cynthia Golden and Jack Suess, EDUCAUSE Review

This podcast features a discussion with Dave Wild from Ithaca College and Jill Forester from Dickinson College about leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) in smaller higher education institutions. They share their backgrounds [01:01] and discuss the creation of a roadmap to guide institutions in adopting AI [04:13]. Both colleges are actively engaging their campuses through initiatives like presidential working groups, AI "pop-in" workshops to educate staff and faculty [09:58], pilot projects, and AI exploration labs [11:10, 17:17]. The conversation covers the challenges of keeping up with rapid AI developments from vendors [13:00], the importance of involving students in AI projects [19:06], and addressing ethical concerns like data privacy and bias [22:16]. They offer advice to other CIOs, emphasizing agility, piloting initiatives [25:44, 26:59], and exploring the potential of agentic AI [28:22]. The discussion also touches upon leadership, fostering innovation [37:38], personal methods for relaxation [41:17], and the evolving role of the integrative CIO in higher education [43:46].

https://er.educause.edu/podcasts/educause-and-the-integrative-cio/2025/pilots-principles-and-pop-ins-a-practical-path-to-campus-ai

Introducing OpenAI o3 and o4-mini: Our smartest and most capable models to date with full tool access - OpenAI

Today, we’re releasing OpenAI o3 and o4-mini, the latest in our o-series of models trained to think for longer before responding. These are the smartest models we’ve released to date, representing a step change in ChatGPT's capabilities for everyone from curious users to advanced researchers. For the first time, our reasoning models can agentically use and combine every tool within ChatGPT—this includes searching the web, analyzing uploaded files and other data with Python, reasoning deeply about visual inputs, and even generating images. Critically, these models are trained to reason about when and how to use tools to produce detailed and thoughtful answers in the right output formats, typically in under a minute, to solve more complex problems. 

https://openai.com/index/introducing-o3-and-o4-mini/

I took Google’s 9-hour prompt engineering course: Here’s everything I learned in 5 minutes - Bijin Jose, Indian Express

Prompting is simply the way we communicate with an AI model, or how we ask these systems to generate desired outputs. I too have felt overwhelmed in the beginning, but ever since, it has been a journey of learning. Over the weekend I decided to take up Google’s Prompting Essentials course, a nine-hour-long programme to help one understand the most effective ways to communicate with AI tools. I sat through the course, and I have boiled it down to a quick read with insights, frameworks, and some hands-on tips.

https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/artificial-intelligence/google-9-hour-ai-prompting-course-summarised-in-under-10-minutes-9937609/

The Role of Microlearning and Andragogy in Enhancing Online Student Engagement - Faculty Focus

In this light, designing and facilitating online discussions to increase student engagement, peer connection, and idea exchange, as well as creating a cohesive online learning community for knowledge creation, is far more important for the success of online education. However, delivering online education is crucial in this circumstance as it is really challenging to effectively engage students in the learning process. As students and educators adapt to digital platforms, student engagement has emerged as a key concern in online learning. Traditional classroom techniques often fall short in this new landscape, requiring educators to explore innovative instructional strategies. Two such approaches—microlearning and andragogy—offer promising solutions to enhance student engagement and knowledge retention. 

https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/the-role-of-microlearning-and-andragogy-in-enhancing-online-student-engagement/

OPINION: AI is not the enemy of learning — outdated education standards are - Ara Arellano, Daily Wildcat

In today’s world, with the rapid advancement of technology, artificial intelligence is clearly the next step in our evolution. Yet many educators and institutions have been quick to criticize and demonize this technology instead of embracing its potential. The era of ChatGPT in higher education has ushered in significant challenges. Professors are increasingly relying on AI tools such as Turnitin to flag students’ work, often without justifiable cause, leading to unjust academic penalties. It is deeply concerning that an unreliable algorithm can undermine the integrity of a student’s academic journey and forever alter their life. 

https://wildcat.arizona.edu/160598/opinions/o-ai-not-the-enemy/

Sam Altman at TED 2025: Inside the most uncomfortable — and important — AI interview of the year - Michael Nuñez, Venture Beat

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman revealed that his company has grown to 800 million weekly active users and is experiencing “unbelievable” growth rates, during a sometimes tense interview at the TED 2025 conference in Vancouver last week. “I have never seen growth in any company, one that I’ve been involved with or not, like this,” Altman told TED head Chris Anderson during their on-stage conversation. “The growth of ChatGPT — it is really fun. I feel deeply honored. But it is crazy to live through, and our teams are exhausted and stressed.” The interview, which closed out the final day of TED 2025: Humanity Reimagined, showcased not just OpenAI’s skyrocketing success but also the increasing scrutiny the company faces as its technology transforms society at a pace that alarms even some of its supporters.

https://venturebeat.com/ai/sam-altman-at-ted-2025-inside-the-most-uncomfortable-and-important-ai-interview-of-the-year/

How An AI Tutor Could Level The Playing Field For Students Worldwide - David Prosser, Forbes

A landmark study by educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom found “90% of tutored students ... attained the level of summative achievement reached by only the highest 20% of the control class”. The real-life impact of this gap is to exacerbate inequality. Well-off students able to access one-on-one tutoring will perform better than classmates who learn in large groups. It’s a problem in Western societies, with wealth inequality inhibiting social mobility. It also hits hundreds of millions of students in developing economies, who miss out on the educational advantages many of their counterparts in richer nations take for granted. Enter Karttikeya Mangalam, CEO and co-founder of SigIQ.ai, who believes artificial intelligence can begin to redress this balance. He and co-founder Kurt Keutzer have developed an AI tutor they claim can deliver one-to-one teaching of the same quality as a human educator, but at a fraction of the price. SigIQ, which is today announcing that it has raised $9.5 million of new funding, aims to offer this tutor to as many students who need it.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidprosser/2025/04/07/how-an-ai-tutor-could-level-the-playing-field-for-students-worldwide/

ChatGPT will remember everything you tell it now - like a real personal assistant - Sabrina Ortiz, ZDnet

ChatGPT has proven itself capable of helping with everyday tasks such as writing, coding, and researching. The chatbot's latest feature builds on that foundation and could even make it a more effective personal assistant. On Thursday, OpenAI unveiled an update to the memory feature in ChatGPT: it can now reference all of your past conversations to better inform responses going forward. This expansion builds on the feature's original abilities, which allowed the chatbot to remember basic user information you share in conversations, such as your profession, pets, preferences, and more. 

https://www.zdnet.com/article/chatgpt-will-remember-everything-you-tell-it-now-like-a-real-personal-assistant/

OpenAI is building a social network - Kylie Robinson and Alex Heath, the Verge

OpenAI is working on its own X-like social network, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. While the project is still in early stages, we’re told there’s an internal prototype focused on ChatGPT’s image generation that has a social feed. CEO Sam Altman has been privately asking outsiders for feedback about the project, our sources say. It’s unclear if OpenAI’s plan is to release the social network as a separate app or integrate it into ChatGPT, which became the most downloaded app globally last month. An OpenAI spokesperson didn’t respond in time for publication. Launching a social network in or around ChatGPT would likely increase Altman’s already-bitter rivalry with Elon Musk. 

https://www.theverge.com/openai/648130/openai-social-network-x-competitor

Khan Academy’s Framework for Responsible AI in Education - Khan Academy

Khan Academy developed a framework for responsible AI in education following the launch of their AI learning tool, Khanmigo. This framework adapts principles from The Institute for Ethical AI in Education, focusing on using AI to achieve educational goals, improve assessments, increase efficiency, promote equity, empower learners, balance data privacy with utility, maintain transparency, foster participation, and ensure ethical design. They use this framework alongside the NIST Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework to guide their AI development. To apply the framework, Khan Academy identifies and rates potential risks for new features and implements mitigation strategies. For instance, with Khanmigo, they addressed risks of misuse through moderation tools, community support, and clear terms of service. This responsible AI approach is integrated into their product development via a dedicated steering group, working groups, and continuous evaluation and communication. (summary provided by Gemini 2.5 Pro)

https://blog.khanacademy.org/khan-academys-framework-for-responsible-ai-in-education/ 

Consider this: Enhancing student success in a digital environment - Shirley Wilfong-Pritchard, the Quad (University of Alberta)

When Alex Gainer decided to collaborate with the course design team in Online Learning and Continuing Education (OCE) to upgrade his online economics classes, he never anticipated the process would be so enjoyable or the results so impressive – so much so that it has received international recognition. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Gainer transitioned his ECON 101: Introduction to Microeconomics and ECON 102: Introduction to Macroeconomics courses to online delivery. As demand for online classes continued to rise post-pandemic, Gainer and his teaching assistant Kianna Kozak teamed up with the OCE course design team (instructional designer Kaila Simoneau, learning experience developer Sam Walker and project manager Tanya McPherson) to enhance his online offerings. The design process proved to be more rigorous and engaging than Gainer expected. “It was very intense at times,” he explains. “But it’s a really fun team to work with.” 

https://www.ualberta.ca/en/the-quad/2025/04/consider-this-enhancing-student-success-in-a-digital-environment.html

3 takeaways on higher education innovation from the ASU+GSV Summit - Natalie Schwartz, Higher Ed Dive

The higher education sector is facing an onslaught of challenges, including attacks from the Trump administration, fading public confidence and the demographic cliff. But higher education leaders didn’t shy away from these issues at the annual ASU+GSV Summit, an education and technology conference held this week in San Diego. “The moment is actually a productive moment for us, because we can and should and will use some of the chaos in order to build new kinds of institutions, new infrastructures, new ways of thinking,” said Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, during a discussion Wednesday. 

https://www.highereddive.com/news/higher-education-innovation-asu-gsv-summit/745201/

Want to learn how to make the best use of AI? OpenAI Academy offers free courses. Here are our top picks - Saloni Dhruv, GQIndia

The conversations around artificial intelligence (AI) are growing in every shape, form and industry. According to Stanford University's latest Artificial Intelligence Index Report, AI is becoming deeply woven into our daily lives, from diagnosing diseases with AI-enabled medical devices to powering self-driving cars. The business world isn’t far behind either: 78 per cent of organisations reported using AI in 2024, driven by strong evidence that it boosts productivity and helps close skill gaps across teams.  Through online courses and offline events, the Academy aims to boost AI literacy and unlock smarter ways to work and create. Here are some of the best free courses to get you started on your AI-powered growth journey.

https://www.gqindia.com/content/want-to-learn-how-to-make-the-best-use-of-ai-openai-academy-offers-free-courses-here-are-out-top-picks

What Students Really Think of Technology and AI - EDUCAUSE

This podcast discusses how students are integrating technology and AI into their education [00:06, 00:12]. Students utilize interactive platforms, like live quiz software, finding them engaging and effective for demonstrating learning compared to traditional methods [01:13, 01:46]. However, challenges arise from outdated systems and faculty lacking training [02:15], and even good platforms can be difficult if not well-organized by instructors [02:24]. Some technologies are perceived as unhelpful, particularly if instructors are unfamiliar with them [02:38]. The role of AI in education is a major topic [02:50], though some students don't find it very useful in their classes [03:24]. Faculty opinions on AI are divided, with some viewing it as a helpful tool and others as a threat to academic honesty [03:30]. A lack of clear guidelines on the ethical use of AI in coursework is also noted [03:53]. Ultimately, the podcast emphasizes the importance for students to understand and effectively use evolving technology [04:28]. (summary by Gemini 2.5 Pro)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kX-4Tn9ydsE

Kishwaukee College creates AI guidelines for use in higher education - Dekalb County Daily Chronicle

“The AI Implementation Playbook is a responsive and evolving resource that reflects Kishwaukee College’s commitment to innovation and excellence in education,” Kishwaukee College president Laurie Borowicz said in a news release. “This plan is very adaptable and will be updated to address changes in technology and the needs of our students,” The college developed the artificial intelligence playbook with industry leaders, organizations and colleges. Kishwaukee College outlined a four-step approach to implement artificial intelligence. The steps include tracking artificial intelligence-related activities; researching industry best practices; developing a technology integration and product development process; and fostering an experimentation, awareness, literacy and adoption culture.

https://www.shawlocal.com/daily-chronicle/2025/04/12/kishwaukee-college-creates-ai-guidelines-for-use-in-higher-education/