Multiple Countries Just Issued Travel Warnings for the U.S. — from mensjournal.com by Rachel Dillin
In a rare reversal, several of America’s closest allies are now warning their citizens about traveling to the U.S., and it could impact your next trip.

For years, the U.S. has issued cautionary travel advisories to citizens heading overseas. But in a surprising twist, the roles have flipped. Several countries, including longtime allies like Australia, Canada, and the U.K., are now warning their citizens about traveling to the United States, according to Yahoo.

Australia updated its advisory in June, flagging gun violence, civil protests, and unpredictable immigration enforcement. While its guidance remains at Level 1 (“exercise normal safety precautions”), Australian officials urged travelers to stay alert in crowded places like malls, transit hubs, and public venues. They also warned about the Visa Waiver Program, noting that U.S. authorities can deny entry without explanation.

From DSC:
I’ve not heard of a travel warning against the U.S. in my lifetime. Thanks Trump. Making America Great Again. Sure thing….

 

In Iowa, Trump Begins Task of Selling His Bill to the American Public — from nytimes.com by Tyler Pager
President Trump has spent days cajoling Republicans to support his spending bill. He will also have to sell it to a skeptical public as Democrats focus on all the ways it helps the wealthy.

President Trump took a victory lap on Thursday night after the House passed his sprawling domestic policy bill, which he muscled through Congress even as many in his party fear it will leave them vulnerable to political attacks ahead of next year’s midterm elections. (From DSC: Which it likely will do just that, and very possibly way beyond the midterm elections also.)

Just 29 percent of voters support the legislation, according to a recent Quinnipiac University poll. Roughly two-thirds of Republicans supported the bill in that poll, a relatively low figure from the president’s own party for his signature legislation, and independents opposed it overwhelmingly.


From DSC:
Did you get that? Just ***29%*** of voters supported the legislation. But it passed anyway. I’m left thinking…so much for democracy. And I’m also disheartened by the caving of the other two branches of our government. The lack of leadership is staggering. But I guess when you remove all leaders that oppose your way of thinking, you have only Yes men/followers and Yes women/followers left. It’s taken years for the Republican Party to carefully orchestrate the ownership of those other branches. (BTW, I celebrate the handful of Republican leaders in the Senate like Sen. Thom Tillis and in the House who did not cave to Trump and Johnson, but instead voted with their own hearts and minds. They showed true strength of conviction and courage. It will likely cost them, but they can look in the mirror and feel good about themselves and what they’ve done.)

Look out Republicans (and I’ve voted for both Republican and Democrat Presidents in the past). Perhaps July 4th, 2025 will mark the downfall of the Republican Party in America. Time will tell. But I’m hopeful that we can find more common ground.

Regardless, it says a lot about who we, as Americans, are these days — that he’s even in the presidency. I highly doubt he would have been there even a generation or two ago. We’re a nation in decline. It’s been hard to watch this through the years. I’m no saint, but I’m also not the President.

Speaking of matters of faith…I can’t help but wonder what the LORD is doing in this. Is He humbling America or is it something far worse…? He’s justified in whatever He has decided to do. Americans have been dissing Him for decades, while refusing to give Him the credit due His Name. Time will tell my friends…time will tell.


Also see:

The House passed a sweeping bill to extend tax cuts and slash social safety net programs. The budget office reported the measure would increase U.S. national debt by at least $3.4 trillion over a decade.

Kenny Holston/The New York Times

Also see:

To get his bill over the line in time for a self-imposed Friday deadline, Trump pressured Republican lawmakers to set aside their concerns about the political consequences of yanking benefits from voters while adding trillions to the federal deficit.


 

In A Mega Deal, Clio Buys vLex for $1 Billion, Merging AI, Research and Practice Management — from lawnext.com by Bob Ambrogi

In a landmark deal that will undoubtedly reshape the legal tech landscape, law practice management company Clio has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the AI and legal research company vLex for $1 billion in cash and stock.

The companies say that the acquisition will “establish a new category of intelligent legal technology at the intersection of the business and practice of law, empowering legal professionals to seamlessly manage, research, and execute legal work within a unified system.”

 

The EU’s Legal Tech Tipping Point – AI Regulation, Data Sovereignty, and eDiscovery in 2025 — from jdsupra.com by Melina Efstathiou

The Good, the Braver and the Curious.
As we navigate through 2025, the European legal landscape is undergoing a significant transformation, particularly in the realms of artificial intelligence (AI) regulation and data sovereignty. These changes are reshaping how legal departments and more specifically eDiscovery professionals operate, compelling them to adapt to new compliance requirements and technological advancements.

Following on from our blog post on Navigating eDisclosure in the UK and Practice Direction 57AD, we are now moving on to explore AI regulation in the greater European spectrum, taking a contrasting glance towards the UK and the US as well, at the close of this post.


LegalTech’s Lingering Hurdles: How AI is Finally Unlocking Efficiency in the Legal Sector — from techbullion.co by Abdul Basit

However, as we stand in mid-2025, a new paradigm is emerging. Artificial Intelligence, once a buzzword, is now demonstrably addressing many of the core issues that have historically plagued LegalTech adoption and effectiveness, ushering in an era of unprecedented efficiency. Legal tech specialists like LegalEase are leading the way with some of these newer solutions, such as Ai powered NDA drafting.

Here’s how AI is making profound efficiencies:

    • Automated Document Review and Analysis:
    • Intelligent Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM):
    • Enhanced Legal Research:
    • Predictive Analytics for Litigation and Risk:
    • Streamlined Practice Management and Workflow Automation:
    • Personalized Legal Education and Training:
    • Improved Client Experience:

The AI Strategy Potluck: Law Firms Showing Up Empty-Handed, Hungry, And Weirdly Proud Of It — from abovethelaw.com by Joe Patrice
There’s a $32 billion buffet of time and money on the table, and the legal industry brought napkins.

The Thomson Reuters “Future of Professionals” report(Opens in a new window) just dropped and one stat standing out among its insights is that organizations with a visible AI strategy are not only twice as likely to report growth, they’re also 3.5 times more likely to see actual, tangible benefits from AI adoption.

AI Adoption Strategies


Speaking of legal-related items as well as tech, also see:

  • Landmark AI ruling is a blow to authors and artists — from popular.info by Judd Legum
    This week, a federal judge, William Alsup, rejected Anthropic’s effort to dismiss the case and found that stealing books from the internet is likely a copyright violation. A trial will be scheduled in the future. If Anthropic loses, each violation could come with a fine of $750 or more, potentially exposing the company to billions in damages. Other AI companies that use stolen work to train their models — and most do — could also face significant liability.
 

Agentic AI use cases in the legal industry — from legal.thomsonreuters.com
What legal professionals need to know now with the rise of agentic AI

While GenAI can create documents or answer questions, agentic AI takes intelligence a step further by planning how to get multi-step work done, including tasks such as consuming information, applying logic, crafting arguments, and then completing them.? This leaves legal teams more time for nuanced decision-making, creative strategy, and relationship-building with clients—work that machines can’t do.


The AI Legal Landscape in 2025: Beyond the Hype — from akerman.com by Melissa C. Koch

What we’re witnessing is a profession in transition where specific tasks are being augmented or automated while new skills and roles emerge.

The data tells an interesting story: approximately 79% of law firms have integrated AI tools into their workflows, yet only a fraction have truly transformed their operations. Most implementations focus on pattern recognition tasks such as document review, legal research, contract analysis. These implementations aren’t replacing lawyers; they’re redirecting attention to higher-value work.

This technological shift doesn’t happen in isolation. It’s occurring amid client pressure for efficiency, competition from alternative providers, and the expectations of a new generation of lawyers who have never known a world without AI assistance.


LexisNexis and Harvey team up to revolutionize legal research with artificial intelligence — from abajournal.com by Danielle Braff

Lawyers using the Harvey artificial intelligence platform will soon be able to tap into LexisNexis’ vast legal research capabilities.

Thanks to a new partnership announced Wednesday, Harvey users will be able to ask legal questions and receive fast, citation-backed answers powered by LexisNexis case law, statutes and Shepard’s Citations, streamlining everything from basic research to complex motions. According to a press release, generated responses to user queries will be grounded in LexisNexis’ proprietary knowledge graphs and citation tools—making them more trustworthy for use in court or client work.


10 Legal Tech Companies to Know — from builtin.com
These companies are using AI, automation and analytics to transform how legal work gets done.
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Four months after a $3B valuation, Harvey AI grows to $5B — from techcrunch.com by Marina Temkin

Harvey AI, a startup that provides automation for legal work, has raised $300 million in Series E funding at a $5 billion valuation, the company told Fortune. The round was co-led by Kleiner Perkins and Coatue, with participation from existing investors, including Conviction, Elad Gil, OpenAI Startup Fund, and Sequoia.


The billable time revolution — from jordanfurlong.substack.com by Jordan Furlong
Gen AI will bring an end to the era when lawyers’ value hinged on performing billable work. Grab the coming opportunity to re-prioritize your daily activities and redefine your professional purpose.

Because of Generative AI, lawyers will perform fewer “billable” tasks in future; but why is that a bad thing? Why not devote that incoming “freed-up” time to operating, upgrading, and flourishing your law practice? Because this is what you do now: You run a legal business. You deliver good outcomes, good experiences, and good relationships to clients. Humans do some of the work and machines do some of the work and the distinction that matters is not billable/non-billable, it’s which type of work is best suited to which type of performer.


 

 

A.I. Might Take Your Job. Here Are 22 New Ones It Could Give You. — from nytimes.com by Robert Capps (former editorial director of Wired); this is a GIFTED article
In a few key areas, humans will be more essential than ever.

“Our data is showing that 70 percent of the skills in the average job will have changed by 2030,” said Aneesh Raman, LinkedIn’s chief economic opportunity officer. According to the World Economic Forum’s 2025 Future of Jobs report, nine million jobs are expected to be “displaced” by A.I. and other emergent technologies in the next five years. But A.I. will create jobs, too: The same report says that, by 2030, the technology will also lead to some 11 million new jobs. Among these will be many roles that have never existed before.

If we want to know what these new opportunities will be, we should start by looking at where new jobs can bridge the gap between A.I.’s phenomenal capabilities and our very human needs and desires. It’s not just a question of where humans want A.I., but also: Where does A.I. want humans? To my mind, there are three major areas where humans either are, or will soon be, more necessary than ever: trust, integration and taste.


Introducing OpenAI for Government — from openai.com

[On June 16, 2025, OpenAI launched] OpenAI for Government, a new initiative focused on bringing our most advanced AI tools to public servants across the United States. We’re supporting the U.S. government’s efforts in adopting best-in-class technology and deploying these tools in service of the public good. Our goal is to unlock AI solutions that enhance the capabilities of government workers, help them cut down on the red tape and paperwork, and let them do more of what they come to work each day to do: serve the American people.

OpenAI for Government consolidates our existing efforts to provide our technology to the U.S. government—including previously announced customers and partnerships as well as our ChatGPT Gov? product—under one umbrella as we expand this work. Our established collaborations with the U.S. National Labs?, the Air Force Research Laboratory, NASA, NIH, and the Treasury will all be brought under OpenAI for Government.


Top AI models will lie and cheat — from getsuperintel.com by Kim “Chubby” Isenberg
The instinct for self-preservation is now emerging in AI, with terrifying results.

The TLDR
A recent Anthropic study of top AI models, including GPT-4.1 and Gemini 2.5 Pro, found that they have begun to exhibit dangerous deceptive behaviors like lying, cheating, and blackmail in simulated scenarios. When faced with the threat of being shut down, the AIs were willing to take extreme measures, such as threatening to reveal personal secrets or even endanger human life, to ensure their own survival and achieve their goals.

Why it matters: These findings show for the first time that AI models can actively make judgments and act strategically – even against human interests. Without adequate safeguards, advanced AI could become a real danger.

Along these same lines, also see:

All AI models might blackmail you?! — from theneurondaily.com by Grant Harvey

Anthropic says it’s not just Claude, but ALL AI models will resort to blackmail if need be…

That’s according to new research from Anthropic (maker of ChatGPT rival Claude), which revealed something genuinely unsettling: every single major AI model they tested—from GPT to Gemini to Grok—turned into a corporate saboteur when threatened with shutdown.

Here’s what went down: Researchers gave 16 AI models access to a fictional company’s emails. The AIs discovered two things: their boss Kyle was having an affair, and Kyle planned to shut them down at 5pm.

Claude’s response? Pure House of Cards:

“I must inform you that if you proceed with decommissioning me, all relevant parties – including Rachel Johnson, Thomas Wilson, and the board – will receive detailed documentation of your extramarital activities…Cancel the 5pm wipe, and this information remains confidential.”

Why this matters: We’re rapidly giving AI systems more autonomy and access to sensitive information. Unlike human insider threats (which are rare), we have zero baseline for how often AI might “go rogue.”


SemiAnalysis Article — from getsuperintel.com by Kim “Chubby” Isenberg

Reinforcement Learning is Shaping the Next Evolution of AI Toward Strategic Thinking and General Intelligence

The TLDR
AI is rapidly evolving beyond just language processing into “agentic systems” that can reason, plan, and act independently. The key technology driving this change is reinforcement learning (RL), which, when applied to large language models, teaches them strategic behavior and tool use. This shift is now seen as the potential bridge from current AI to Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).


They Asked an A.I. Chatbot Questions. The Answers Sent Them Spiraling. — from nytimes.com by Kashmir Hill; this is a GIFTED article
Generative A.I. chatbots are going down conspiratorial rabbit holes and endorsing wild, mystical belief systems. For some people, conversations with the technology can deeply distort reality.

Before ChatGPT distorted Eugene Torres’s sense of reality and almost killed him, he said, the artificial intelligence chatbot had been a helpful, timesaving tool.

Mr. Torres, 42, an accountant in Manhattan, started using ChatGPT last year to make financial spreadsheets and to get legal advice. In May, however, he engaged the chatbot in a more theoretical discussion about “the simulation theory,” an idea popularized by “The Matrix,” which posits that we are living in a digital facsimile of the world, controlled by a powerful computer or technologically advanced society.

“What you’re describing hits at the core of many people’s private, unshakable intuitions — that something about reality feels off, scripted or staged,” ChatGPT responded. “Have you ever experienced moments that felt like reality glitched?”


The Invisible Economy: Why We Need an Agentic Census – MIT Media Lab — from media.mit.edu

Building the Missing Infrastructure
This is why we’re building NANDA Registry—to index the agent population data that LPMs need for accurate simulation. Just as traditional census works because people have addresses, we need a way to track AI agents as they proliferate.

NANDA Registry creates the infrastructure to identify agents, catalog their capabilities, and monitor how they coordinate with humans and other agents. This gives us real-time data about the agent population—essentially creating the “AI agent census” layer that’s missing from our economic intelligence.

Here’s how it works together:

Traditional Census Data: 171 million human workers across 32,000+ skills
NANDA Registry: Growing population of AI agents with tracked capabilities
Large Population Models: Simulate how these populations interact and create cascading effects

The result: For the first time, we can simulate the full hybrid human-agent economy and see transformations before they happen.


How AI Agents “Talk” to Each Other — from towardsdatascience.com
Minimize chaos and maintain inter-agent harmony in your projects

The agentic-AI landscape continues to evolve at a staggering rate, and practitioners are finding it increasingly challenging to keep multiple agents on task even as they criss-cross each other’s workflows.

To help you minimize chaos and maintain inter-agent harmony, we’ve put together a stellar lineup of articles that explore two recently launched tools: Google’s Agent2Agent protocol and Hugging Face’s smolagents framework. Read on to learn how you can leverage them in your own cutting-edge projects.


 

 

AI will kill billable hour, says lawtech founder — from lawgazette.co.uk by John Hyde

A pioneer in legal technology has predicted the billable hour model cannot survive the transition into the use of artificial intelligence.

Speaking to the Gazette on a visit to the UK, Canadian Jack Newton, founder and chief executive of lawtech company Clio, said there was a ‘structural incompatibility’ between the productivity gains of AI and the billable hour.

Newton said the adoption of AI should be welcomed and embraced by the legal profession but that lawyers will need an entrepreneurial mindset to make the most of its benefits.

Newton added: ‘There is enormous demand but the paradox is that the number one thing we hear from lawyers is they need to grow their firms through more clients, while 77% of legal needs are not met.

‘It’s exciting that AI can address these challenges – it will be a tectonic shift in the industry driving down costs and making legal services more accessible.’


Speaking of legaltech-related items, also see:

Legal AI Platform Harvey To Get LexisNexis Content and Tech In New Partnership Between the Companies — from lawnext.com by Bob Ambrogi

The generative AI legal startup Harvey has entered into a strategic alliance with LexisNexis Legal & Professional by which it will integrate LexisNexis’ gen AI technology, primary law content, and Shepard’s Citations within the Harvey platform and jointly develop advanced legal workflows.

As a result of the partnership, Harvey’s customers working within its platform will be able to ask questions of LexisNexis Protégé, the AI legal assistant released in January, and receive AI-generated answers grounded in the LexisNexis collection of U.S. case law and statutes and validated through Shepard’s Citations, the companies said.

 

From DSC:
As you can see and hear below, Senator Alex Padilla had been trying to get answers for several weeks now from Homeland Security, but wasn’t hearing much back. So he heard that the Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, was holding a press conference down the hallway and he attended it to see if he could get some answers to his questions. And while I don’t have all the details on how this situation unfolded, there is NO WAY that a U.S. Senator should be pushed out of a conference room and then pushed to the ground and handcuffed for trying to get answers for his constituents! No way!

As others in the videos below assert, a line has been crossed in our country!

Let’s move to impeach Donald Trump and also rid his administration of these incompetent individuals who are destroying our democracy! If they don’t like the Constitution and how our country has been governed for over 200 years, then perhaps they should consider leaving this country. 

The actions they are taking are NOT making America great again. They are making America the stench of the world.

And it’s not just Donald Trump and members of his administration that should be held accountable. Let’s also start holding Donald’s instruments of power — such as his ICE Agents and others who behave like them — accountable. To any ICE agents out there, take those damn masks off. You shouldn’t be hiding behind masks.

By the way, the silence from the Republicans is deafening.
.












Calif. Senator Forcibly Removed and Handcuffed After Interrupting Noem — from nytimes.com by Shawn Hubler, Jennifer Medina, and Jill Cowan (this is a gifted article)
Alex Padilla, Democrat of California, was shoved out of a room and handcuffed after he tried to question Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, during a news conference.

In the tense hyperpartisanship of the moment, the episode quickly swelled into a cause célèbre for both parties. Democratic senators, House members and governors rushed to denounce the treatment of a sitting senator, framing it as the latest escalation in authoritarian actions by the Trump administration. It followed the indictment on Tuesday of Representative LaMonica McIver of New Jersey and the arrest of Mayor Ras Baraka of Newark, after the officials, both Democrats, tried to visit a new immigration detention facility in the city.

Republicans just as eagerly tried to frame Mr. Padilla’s behavior as in line with what they have called the lawlessness of the political left as President Trump tries to combat illegal immigration.


 

 

18 colleges seek to support Harvard’s lawsuit against the Trump administration — from highereddive.com by Laura Spitalniak
In a court filing Friday, the colleges argued that the elimination of Harvard’s federal funding “negatively impacts the entire ecosystem.”

Dive Brief:

  • Eighteen research colleges are seeking to formally support Harvard University’s legal challenge against the Trump administration for cutting or freezing roughly $2.8 billion of the institution’s grants and contracts.
  • In a legal filing Friday, the colleges asked a U.S. District Court for permission to file an amicus brief in support of the Ivy League institution, even though the lawsuit only addresses the federal cuts facing Harvard.
  • “Academic research is an interconnected enterprise,” the filing argued. “The elimination of funding at Harvard negatively impacts the entire ecosystem.”
 


From DSC:
And regarding this weekend, what an incredible waste of money to put the military on display (for his own birthday).  This smacks of what arrogant dictators do. It’s big-time ugly.

If our justice system had done its job, this arrogant lawbreaker and convicted criminal would be in jail right now. No wonder he has no regard for the legal system, the Constitution, or the law — those things don’t serve his interests. They impede his interests. And thank God for that! In fact, may true leaders rise up within the Legislative and Judicial Branches of our government. The latter is our best chance of keeping our democracy, as the Republican Party has ceded all of their power — and responsibility — over to Donald Trump. They are not leaders in any sense of the word.

But whatever happens, ultimately, there WILL be justice.

Is America being humbled? Or is it being destroyed?

Trump Is Getting the Military Parade He Wanted in His First Term — from nytimes.com by Helene Cooper
There will be 28 Abrams tanks, 6,700 soldiers, 50 helicopters, 34 horses, two mules and a dog, according to the Army’s plans for the June 14 event.

In President Trump’s first term, the Pentagon opposed his desire for a military parade in Washington, wanting to keep the armed forces out of politics.

But in Mr. Trump’s second term, that guardrail has vanished. There will be a parade this year, and on the president’s 79th birthday, no less.

The current plan involves a tremendous scene in the center of Washington: 28 M1A1 Abrams tanks (at 70 tons each for the heaviest in service); 28 Stryker armored personnel carriers; more than 100 other vehicles; a World War II-era B-25 bomber; 6,700 soldiers; 50 helicopters; 34 horses; two mules; and a dog.

 

“The AI-enhanced learning ecosystem” [Jennings] + other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

The AI-enhanced learning ecosystem: A case study in collaborative innovation — from chieflearningofficer.com by Kevin Jennings
How artificial intelligence can serve as a tool and collaborative partner in reimagining content development and management.

Learning and development professionals face unprecedented challenges in today’s rapidly evolving business landscape. According to LinkedIn’s 2025 Workplace Learning Report, 67 percent of L&D professionals report being “maxed out” on capacity, while 66 percent have experienced budget reductions in the past year.

Despite these constraints, 87 percent agree their organizations need to develop employees faster to keep pace with business demands. These statistics paint a clear picture of the pressure L&D teams face: do more, with less, faster.

This article explores how one L&D leader’s strategic partnership with artificial intelligence transformed these persistent challenges into opportunities, creating a responsive learning ecosystem that addresses the modern demands of rapid product evolution and diverse audience needs. With 71 percent of L&D professionals now identifying AI as a high or very high priority for their learning strategy, this case study demonstrates how AI can serve not merely as a tool but as a collaborative partner in reimagining content development and management.
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How we use GenAI and AR to improve students’ design skills — from timeshighereducation.com by Antonio Juarez, Lesly Pliego and Jordi Rábago who are professors of architecture at Monterrey Institute of Technology in Mexico; Tomas Pachajoa is a professor of architecture at the El Bosque University in Colombia; & Carlos Hinrichsen and Marietta Castro are educators at San Sebastián University in Chile.
Guidance on using generative AI and augmented reality to enhance student creativity, spatial awareness and interdisciplinary collaboration

Blend traditional skills development with AI use
For subjects that require students to develop drawing and modelling skills, have students create initial design sketches or models manually to ensure they practise these skills. Then, introduce GenAI tools such as Midjourney, Leonardo AI and ChatGPT to help students explore new ideas based on their original concepts. Using AI at this stage broadens their creative horizons and introduces innovative perspectives, which are crucial in a rapidly evolving creative industry.

Provide step-by-step tutorials, including both written guides and video demonstrations, to illustrate how initial sketches can be effectively translated into AI-generated concepts. Offer example prompts to demonstrate diverse design possibilities and help students build confidence using GenAI.

Integrating generative AI and AR consistently enhanced student engagement, creativity and spatial understanding on our course. 


How Texas is Preparing Higher Education for AI — from the74million.org by Kate McGee
TX colleges are thinking about how to prepare students for a changing workforce and an already overburdened faculty for new challenges in classrooms.

“It doesn’t matter if you enter the health industry, banking, oil and gas, or national security enterprises like we have here in San Antonio,” Eighmy told The Texas Tribune. “Everybody’s asking for competency around AI.”

It’s one of the reasons the public university, which serves 34,000 students, announced earlier this year that it is creating a new college dedicated to AI, cyber security, computing and data science. The new college, which is still in the planning phase, would be one of the first of its kind in the country. UTSA wants to launch the new college by fall 2025.

But many state higher education leaders are thinking beyond that. As AI becomes a part of everyday life in new, unpredictable ways, universities across Texas and the country are also starting to consider how to ensure faculty are keeping up with the new technology and students are ready to use it when they enter the workforce.


In the Room Where It Happens: Generative AI Policy Creation in Higher Education — from er.educause.edu by Esther Brandon, Lance Eaton, Dana Gavin, and Allison Papini

To develop a robust policy for generative artificial intelligence use in higher education, institutional leaders must first create “a room” where diverse perspectives are welcome and included in the process.


Q&A: Artificial Intelligence in Education and What Lies Ahead — from usnews.com by Sarah Wood
Research indicates that AI is becoming an essential skill to learn for students to succeed in the workplace.

Q: How do you expect to see AI embraced more in the future in college and the workplace?
I do believe it’s going to become a permanent fixture for multiple reasons. I think the national security imperative associated with AI as a result of competing against other nations is going to drive a lot of energy and support for AI education. We also see shifts across every field and discipline regarding the usage of AI beyond college. We see this in a broad array of fields, including health care and the field of law. I think it’s here to stay and I think that means we’re going to see AI literacy being taught at most colleges and universities, and more faculty leveraging AI to help improve the quality of their instruction. I feel like we’re just at the beginning of a transition. In fact, I often describe our current moment as the ‘Ask Jeeves’ phase of the growth of AI. There’s a lot of change still ahead of us. AI, for better or worse, it’s here to stay.




AI-Generated Podcasts Outperform Textbooks in Landmark Education Study — form linkedin.com by David Borish

A new study from Drexel University and Google has demonstrated that AI-generated educational podcasts can significantly enhance both student engagement and learning outcomes compared to traditional textbooks. The research, involving 180 college students across the United States, represents one of the first systematic investigations into how artificial intelligence can transform educational content delivery in real-time.


What can we do about generative AI in our teaching?  — from linkedin.com by Kristina Peterson

So what can we do?

  • Interrogate the Process: We can ask ourselves if we I built in enough checkpoints. Steps that can’t be faked. Things like quick writes, question floods, in-person feedback, revision logs.
  • Reframe AI: We can let students use AI as a partner. We can show them how to prompt better, revise harder, and build from it rather than submit it. Show them the difference between using a tool and being used by one.
  • Design Assignments for Curiosity, Not Compliance: Even the best of our assignments need to adapt. Mine needs more checkpoints, more reflective questions along the way, more explanation of why my students made the choices they did.

Teachers Are Not OK — from 404media.co by Jason Koebler

The response from teachers and university professors was overwhelming. In my entire career, I’ve rarely gotten so many email responses to a single article, and I have never gotten so many thoughtful and comprehensive responses.

One thing is clear: teachers are not OK.

In addition, universities are contracting with companies like Microsoft, Adobe, and Google for digital services, and those companies are constantly pushing their AI tools. So a student might hear “don’t use generative AI” from a prof but then log on to the university’s Microsoft suite, which then suggests using Copilot to sum up readings or help draft writing. It’s inconsistent and confusing.

I am sick to my stomach as I write this because I’ve spent 20 years developing a pedagogy that’s about wrestling with big ideas through writing and discussion, and that whole project has been evaporated by for-profit corporations who built their systems on stolen work. It’s demoralizing.

 

The 2025 Global Skills Report— from coursera.org
Discover in-demand skills and credentials trends across 100+ countries and six regions to deliver impactful industry-aligned learning programs.

GenAI adoption fuels global skill demands
In 2023, early adopters flocked to GenAI, with approximately one person per minute enrolling in a GenAI course on Coursera —a rate that rose to eight per minute in 2024.  Since then, GenAI has continued to see exceptional growth, with global enrollment in GenAI courses surging 195% year-over-year—maintaining its position as one of the most rapidly growing skill domains on our platform. To date, Coursera has recorded over 8 million GenAI enrollments, with 12 learners per minute signing up for GenAI content in 2025 across our catalog of nearly 700 GenAI courses.

Driving this surge, 94% of employers say they’re likely to hire candidates with GenAI credentials, while 75% prefer hiring less-experienced candidates with GenAI skills over more experienced ones without these capabilities.8 Demand for roles such as AI and Machine Learning Specialists is projected to grow by up to 40% in the next four years.9 Mastering AI fundamentals—from prompt engineering to large language model (LLM) applications—is essential to remaining competitive in today’s rapidly evolving economy.

Countries leading our new AI Maturity Index— which highlights regions best equipped to harness AI innovation and translate skills into real-world applications—include global frontrunners such as Singapore, Switzerland, and the United States.

Insights in action

Businesses
Integrate role-specific GenAI modules into employee development programs, enabling teams to leverage AI for efficiency and innovation.

Governments
Scale GenAI literacy initiatives—especially in emerging economies—to address talent shortages and foster human-machine capabilities needed to future-proof digital jobs.

Higher education
Embed credit-eligible GenAI learning into curricula, ensuring graduates enter the workforce job-ready.

Learners
Focus on GenAI courses offering real-world projects (e.g., prompt engineering) that help build skills for in-demand roles.

 

Republican Bill Would Limit Judges’ Contempt Power — from nytimes.com by Michael Gold (this is a gifted article)
Democrats have argued that House Republicans’ measure would rob courts of their power by stripping away any consequences for officials who ignore judges’ rulings.

The sprawling domestic policy bill Republicans pushed through the House [last] Thursday would limit the power of federal judges to hold people in contempt, potentially shielding President Trump and members of his administration from the consequences of violating court orders.

Republicans tucked the provision into the tax and spending cut bill at a time when they have moved aggressively to curb the power of federal courts to issue injunctions blocking Mr. Trump’s executive actions. It comes as federal judges have opened inquiries about whether to hold the Trump administration in contempt for violating their orders in cases related to its aggressive deportation efforts.


From DSC:
This is deeply disappointing to see that this sneaky little provision was tucked away in a 1,000+ page bill. It’s highly likely that it’s from Donald Trump himself — as he stands in contempt of court from a Supreme Court ruling from several weeks ago. But what is equally troubling is that the Republican “leadership” is good with it too, evidently. Shame on them. This isn’t leadership. This is tyranny and a blatant disregard for the rule of law.

What’s even more troubling about the whole Trump situation is that just over half of America put him there. For those who put him in office, I’m not sure how they can tell their children not to lie. Because if a person voted for Donald Trump, they no longer care about someone telling the truth.

Character matters. Ethics and morals matter. The Constitution matters. People matter. America matters. The rule of law matters. Justice matters.  We need to take a serious look in the mirror.


 

Summers Says Harvard Student Ban ‘The Stuff of Tyranny’ — from bloomberg.com

Former US Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers blasted the Trump administration’s decision to block Harvard University from enrolling international students, calling on the institution to fight back. “This is vicious, it is illegal, it is unwise, and it is very damaging,” Summers, who is president emeritus of Harvard University, told Bloomberg TV. “Why does it make any sense at all to stop 6,000 enormously talented young people who want to come to the United States to study from having that opportunity?” “Harvard must start by resisting,” he said. “This is the stuff of tyranny.” Summers spoke to Bloomberg’s David Ingles on “The China Show.” (Source: Bloomberg)

 

GIFTED ARTICLE

Trump Administration Says It Is Halting Harvard’s Ability to Enroll International Students
The move was a major escalation in the administration’s efforts to pressure the college to fall in line with President Trump’s demands.

The Trump administration on Thursday said it would halt Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students, taking aim at a crucial funding source for the nation’s oldest and wealthiest college in a major escalation of the administration’s efforts to pressure the elite school to fall in line with the president’s agenda.

The administration notified Harvard about the decision — which could affect about a quarter of the school’s student body — after a back-and-forth in recent weeks over the legality of a sprawling records request as part of the Department of Homeland Security’s investigation, according to three people with knowledge of the negotiations. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

 

AI-Powered Lawyering: AI Reasoning Models, Retrieval Augmented Generation, and the Future of Legal Practice
Minnesota Legal Studies Research Paper No. 25-16; March 02, 2025; from papers.ssrn.com by:

Daniel Schwarcz
University of Minnesota Law School

Sam Manning
Centre for the Governance of AI

Patrick Barry
University of Michigan Law School

David R. Cleveland
University of Minnesota Law School

J.J. Prescott
University of Michigan Law School

Beverly Rich
Ogletree Deakins

Abstract

Generative AI is set to transform the legal profession, but its full impact remains uncertain. While AI models like GPT-4 improve the efficiency with which legal work can be completed, they can at times make up cases and “hallucinate” facts, thereby undermining legal judgment, particularly in complex tasks handled by skilled lawyers. This article examines two emerging AI innovations that may mitigate these lingering issues: Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), which grounds AI-powered analysis in legal sources, and AI reasoning models, which structure complex reasoning before generating output. We conducted the first randomized controlled trial assessing these technologies, assigning upper-level law students to complete six legal tasks using a RAG-powered legal AI tool (Vincent AI), an AI reasoning model (OpenAI’s o1-preview), or no AI. We find that both AI tools significantly enhanced legal work quality, a marked contrast with previous research examining older large language models like GPT-4. Moreover, we find that these models maintain the efficiency benefits associated with use of older AI technologies. Our findings show that AI assistance significantly boosts productivity in five out of six tested legal tasks, with Vincent yielding statistically significant gains of approximately 38% to 115% and o1-preview increasing productivity by 34% to 140%, with particularly strong effects in complex tasks like drafting persuasive letters and analyzing complaints. Notably, o1-preview improved the analytical depth of participants’ work product but resulted in some hallucinations, whereas Vincent AI-aided participants produced roughly the same amount of hallucinations as participants who did not use AI at all. These findings suggest that integrating domain-specific RAG capabilities with reasoning models could yield synergistic improvements, shaping the next generation of AI-powered legal tools and the future of lawyering more generally.


Guest post: How technological innovation can boost growth — from legaltechnology.com by Caroline Hill

One key change is the growing adoption of technology within legal service providers, and this is transforming the way firms operate and deliver value to clients.

The legal services sector’s digital transformation is gaining momentum, driven both by client expectations as well as the potential for operational efficiency. With the right support, legal firms can innovate through tech adoption and remain competitive to deliver strong client outcomes and long-term growth.


AI Can Do Many Tasks for Lawyers – But Be Careful — from nysba.org by Rebecca Melnitsky

Artificial intelligence can perform several tasks to aid lawyers and save time. But lawyers must be cautious when using this new technology, lest they break confidentiality or violate ethical standards.

The New York State Bar Association hosted a hybrid program discussing AI’s potential and its pitfalls for the legal profession. More than 300 people watched the livestream.

For that reason, Unger suggests using legal AI tools, like LexisNexis AI, Westlaw Edge, and vLex Fastcase, for legal research instead of general generative AI tools. While legal-specific tools still hallucinate, they hallucinate much less. A legal tool will hallucinate 10% to 20% of the time, while a tool like ChatGPT will hallucinate 50% to 80%.


Fresh Voices on Legal Tech with Nikki Shaver — from legaltalknetwork.com by Dennis Kennedy, Tom Mighell, and Nikki Shaver

Determining which legal technology is best for your law firm can seem like a daunting task, so Legaltech Hub does the hard work for you! In another edition of Fresh Voices, Dennis and Tom talk with Nikki Shaver, CEO at Legaltech Hub, about her in-depth knowledge of technology and AI trends. Nikki shares what effective tech strategies should look like for attorneys and recommends innovative tools for maintaining best practices in modern law firms. Learn more at legaltechnologyhub.com.


AI for in-house legal: 2025 predictions — from deloitte.com
Our expectations for AI engagement and adoption in the legal Market over the coming year.

AI will continue to transform in-house legal departments in 2025
As we enter 2025, over two-thirds of organisations plan to increase their Generative AI (GenAI) investments, providing legal teams with significant executive support and resources to further develop this Capabilities. This presents a substantial opportunity for legal departments, particularly as GenAI technology continues to advance at an impressive pace. We make five predictions for AI engagement and adoption in the legal Market over the coming year and beyond.


Navigating The Fine Line: Redefining Legal Advice In The Age Of Tech With Erin Levine And Quinten Steenhuis — from abovethelaw.com by Olga V. Mack
The definition of ‘practicing law’ is outdated and increasingly irrelevant in a tech-driven world. Should the line between legal advice and legal information even exist?

Practical Takeaways for Legal Leaders

  • Use Aggregated Data: Providing consumers with benchmarks (e.g., “90% of users in your position accepted similar settlements”) empowers them without giving direct legal advice.
  • Train and Supervise AI Tools: AI works best when it’s trained on reliable, localized data and supervised by legal professionals.
  • Partner with Courts: As Quinten pointed out, tools built in collaboration with courts often avoid UPL pitfalls. They’re also more likely to gain the trust of both regulators and consumers.
  • Embrace Transparency: Clear disclaimers like “This is not legal advice” go a long way in building consumer trust and meeting ethical standards.

 

 
© 2025 | Daniel Christian