It's Hard to Know What's Happening to Our Data

If it is indeed possible for LLM agents to build detailed profiles of large numbers of individuals using bulk data, companies could use those capabilities to investigate job applicants or determine whether someone is insurable. “It is very, very hard to hold to account companies that are doing whatever they want to with our data,” Karen Levy, a professor of information science at Cornell University says. “It’s hard to even know what’s happening.” -MIT Tech Review

21 Articles about AI & Data Privacy

A.I. and Humans Battle It Out in a Cybersecurity Showdown - New York Times

AI is making it very easy for the government to spy on you. Some lawmakers are worried. – NBC News 

AI license plate cameras tore this town apart and led to a state of emergency – Washington Post  

Deepfakes Are Coming for Your Bank Account OpenAI made the perfect tool for scammers. – The Atlantic  

Domestic Surveillance Is Expanding With New, AI-Powered Tools – Wall Street Journal  

Your Passwords Are Probably Screwed – New York Times

Will AI end anonymity? I tested it. – Washington Post

AI and Data Privacy in Investigations: What Legal Teams Need to Know - JD Supra 

5 AI Models Tried to Scam Me. Some of Them Were Scary Good - Wired

Using AI for financial advice? Keep these 5 things out of your chats. - The Washington Post

Why Agentic AI Is Security's Next Blind Spot – The Hacker News

How LLMs could supercharge mass surveillance in the US – MIT Tech Review

A secretive AI hacking system has sparked a global scramble – Washington Post  

Your Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses recordings aren't private – Mashable

AI's big biosecurity blind spot - Axios 

How AI and social media sites are still collecting kids’ data despite privacy laws – Techincal.ly

People Are Uploading Their Medical Records to A.I. Chatbots – New York Times  

Military experts warn security hole in most AI chatbots can sow chaos – Defense News   

ChatGPT’s year-end review knows way too much. How to fix your privacy settings. – Washington Post

How Rules for Publicly Available Data Are Shaping the Future of AI – Data Innovation

A.I. Chatbots Want Your Health Records. Tread Carefully. – New York Times

AI definitions: Sentiment Analysis

Sentiment Analysis (also known as opinion mining or emotion artificial intelligence) – A tool that uses natural language processing techniques to collect and analyze the tone behind how people interact online with a brand. It attempts to get past numbers (mentions, comments, etc.) to extract subjective qualities from data—including attitudes, emotions, sarcasm, confusion or suspicion. Sentiment analysis makes use of data mining, machine learning, artificial intelligence and computational linguistics to arrive at actionable insights.

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Mass Surveillance by the Government

The government can’t look at the location information on your phone without a warrant, but if a dataset that the government has purchased contains your phone’s location data, and the government is able to link it to you, then it can effectively perform an end run around the Fourth Amendment. The advantage of using LLMs for mass surveillance is that they can do far more work than human analysts far more quickly, but that also makes thoroughly checking their work impossible. -MIT Tech Review

24 Webinars this week about AI, Journalism & Media

Mon, May 18 - Global Media, Local Voices: The Dynamics of Diversity

What: Addressing the challenge for researchers and journalists of how to bridge the gap between the better aspects of the putative golden age and the realities of today and to do so from a perspective that is not rooted in Anglo conventions, anxieties, and shibboleths.

Who: Toby Miller, Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico; Sharon Coen, School of Health and Society, Media Psychology Team, The University of Salford, UK; Stina Bengtsson, Södertörn University, Stockholm, Sweden; Lusófona University, Portugal; Emiliano Treré,  University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain; Cardiff University, UK; Cristina Pulido Rodríguez Department of Journalism and Communication Sciences, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain.

When: 10 am – 12 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsors: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, Journalism and Media journal

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Tue, May 19 - Artificial intelligence and journalism: how to combine them wisely

What: Journalists and experts share insights and best practices on the smart use of AI in journalistic work.

Who: Roberta Carlini, European University Institute; Elda Brogi, European University Institute; Nisrine Salameh, International Federation of Journalists; Anthony Bellanger, International Federation of Journalists; Konrad Bleyer-Simon, European University Institute, Dariia Opryshko, NGO “Human Rights Platform.”

When: 8 am – 12 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: European University Institute

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Tue, May 19 - The AI Agenda: Exploring the Trump Administration’s Approach to AI Literacy and Use

What: In this webinar, we’ll dig into the implementation challenges and opportunities at the heart of the administration’s AI literacy push: What is AI literacy—and how does it connect to the baseline digital skills that people already need but don’t always have? Who bears the responsibility for building these skills? What funding is available to support these initiatives, and how can it be effectively deployed? Which groups are being left behind as the administration forges ahead on AI upskilling? And how does all of this relate to the broader field of connectivity policy?

Who:  Kyla Williams Tate, Director of Digital Equity for Cook County; Rachel Riggs, Sr. Technical Advisor, AI for Learning and Work at World Education; Annmarie Lanesey, CEO and Founder, Can Code Communities; Kara Kennedy, Founder of AI Literacy Institute; Jessica Dine Policy Analyst, Open Technology Institute and Wireless Future, New America.  

When: 12 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: New America

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Tue, May 19 - Data Reporting for Radio

What: You'll learn:  The basics of data reporting; The basics of audio reporting; How to bring the two together — without losing your listeners.

Who: Hannah Reale, GBH News.

When: 12 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: New England First Amendment Coalition

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Tue, May 19 - How Agentic AI Rewrites the Rules of Workplace Training

What: We’ll walk through research‑driven recommendations to help you integrate AI in ways that elevate (rather than overwhelm) your learning strategy. You’ll leave with concrete steps for improving communication around AI, strengthening employee adoption and leveraging agentic capabilities to streamline training.

Who: Tom Whelan, Director of Research, Training Industry.

When: 1 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Training Industry

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Tue, May 19 - Journalist safety in the US: Crowds, protests, and events

What: A panel of physical safety, digital security, and legal experts will provide practical advice for journalists covering events in the U.S, including best practices for covering protests, interacting with police and federal law enforcement, and crossing borders. Journalists will learn about securing their devices, their legal rights at the border and during newsgathering, and de-escalation techniques in a hostile crowd.

Who: Charles Kuck, Founding Attorney, Kuck Baxter LLC; Harlo Holmes, Chief Security Programs Officer, Freedom of the Press Foundation; Jeff Belzil, Security Director, International Women Media Foundation; Jen Nelson, Director of Pre-Publication Review and Journalist Support, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press; Viktorya Vilk, Director, Digital Safety and Free Expression, PEN America.

When: 1 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: U.S. Journalist Assistance Network

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Wed, May 20 - How AI Will Pay for Journalism: The Missing Economic Layer

What: Why the AI model collapse threat could become journalism’s unexpected leverage point; How original reporting becomes scarce and commercially valuable in an AI-driven content ecosystem; Where journalism sits in the emerging four-layer AI economy; What “journalism-first, AI-enabled” looks like through examples from The Hindu Group; What this shift means for subscriptions, licensing, content strategy, and revenue growth.

Who: Pradeep Gairola, Chief Digital Business Officer, The Hindu.

When: 4:30 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free to members

Sponsor: The HinduNews Media Association

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Wed, May 20 - Unlocking the power of AI begins with your content

What: Discover practical, ready-to-use insights through live demos of Box Agents, Box Extract, and Box Automate, brought to life with real customers from financial services, life sciences, technology, and more.

Who: BOX CEO and Co-Founder Aaron Levie.

When: 9 am, Eastern & 12 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Box

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Wed, May 20 - Beyond the Summary: Information Literacy in the Era of Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT

What: We will analyze current research on AI summaries and their impact on clicking and reading behaviors, including a recent Pew Research Center study finding that when an AI summary appears, users are almost half as likely to click on traditional search results and far less likely to visit the original sources cited.

Who: Maryska Connolly, MLIS, CloudSource Director of Partnerships & Communications, SirsiDynix; Rick Branham, Senior Vice President, Sales Support, Academic & Content Solutions, SirsiDynix.

When: 11 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: SirsiDynix and Library Journal

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Wed, May 20 - Trademarks

What: A presentation on trademark basics and their value for small businesses, including helpful tips when applying for a federal trademark registration and how to avoid common pitfalls.

Who: Liz Jackson, Acting Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

When: 12 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Small Business Development Center, Temple University

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Wed, May 20 - Better Prompts, Better Representation: Inclusive AI Images for Learning

What: You'll learn strategies for writing more effective image prompts to minimize bias and reflect more inclusive representation in your learning. You'll get tips to more authentically represent your training audience by using AI images. While AI tools are improving all the time, they still have limitations that you need to be aware of. We'll discuss some of the ongoing challenges with inclusive representation in AI image generation and options to minimize those issues.

Who: Christy Tucker, Learning Experience Design (LXD) Consultant.

When: 12 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Training Magazine Network

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Wed, May 20 - Keeping ChatGPT from eating your lunch Using AI with Intention

What: We will explore the flaws in AI tools, what happens when you push them further, where they break, and how to revise your approach to use them more effectively. Tools like ChatGPT are already part of many journalists’ daily workflows, but understanding how they behave is key to using them responsibly and accurately.

Who: Andrea Ball, an Investigative Reporter from the Austin Current.

When: 1 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: MuckRock

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Wed, May 20 - AI Impact Hour for Nonprofits

What: AI Impact Hour is a practical, interactive conversation designed for executive directors, staff, board members, and volunteers who want to understand what AI can realistically do in a nonprofit setting. You’ll see simple demonstrations and real examples, and you'll have a chance to share your experiences, challenges, and insights with the group.

When: 1 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: TechSoup

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Wed, May 20 - Sourcing & Authority

What: This session focuses on how journalists and editors can build sourcing practices that strengthen disability coverage by centering disabled expertise and reducing over-reliance on institutional voices. Grounded in the practical newsroom tools in Fix the Frame, the workshop will help participants think more critically about authority, accountability, and verification in disability reporting. Participants will leave with concrete strategies for building stronger sourcing plans that improve both rigor and representation.

Who: Russell Midori, board chair of Military Veterans in Journalism and a board member of both the Disabled Journalists Association and the Overseas Press Club Foundation.

When: 1 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Military Veterans

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Wed, May 20 - Substack for Journalists: Growing Your Audience and Impact

What: You’ll learn how to use Substack as more than just a newsletter tool. We’ll explore how it can serve as the hub of a broader ecosystem that includes social media, podcasts, video, and direct audience engagement. You’ll gain clarity on how to define your editorial identity, grow your subscriber base organically, and turn casual readers into a loyal and potentially paying community.

Who: Aaron Parnas, Independent Journalist

When: 1 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: $40

Sponsor: The Knight Center for Journalism

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Wed, May 20 - Meet Brooke the Rural Journalist

What: Brooke will share her personal journey into journalism and give students an insider look at what working in the news industry is really like today. Together, students will explore how news and media are changing in a digital world, how information is shared online, and what journalism could look like in the future.

Who: Brooke Hargraves is an experienced journalist and media adviser.

When: 7 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Trellis Media

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 Thu, May 21 - Audience, AI and Events

What: Practical tools to strengthen your local news work

Who: Ellen Clegg, co-founder, board member, editorial adviser, Brookline.News; Dan Kennedy, professor of journalism, Northeastern University; Emily Turner, community deputy editor, Boston Globe; John Wihbey, Professor of Media & Technology at Northeastern University; Dan Lothian, Editor-in-Chief and General Manager of Local News; Lee Hill, Executive Editor, GBH News; Jonathan Kaufman, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, editor, and author, Northeastern University; Iris Adler, WBUR Public Radio.

When: 8:15 am - 3:15 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Northeastern University

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Thu, May 21 - Introduction to AI for Data-Driven Investigations

What: This workshop offers a practical introduction to using AI for investigative journalism, focusing on real-world reporting applications. It covers workflows for extracting structure from text, cleaning data, identifying patterns, and checking findings with greater speed and depth, with demonstrations drawn from reporting on audit reports, public budgets, climate spending, and ad library data. It shows how investigative journalists can use AI tools to explore complex information and develop story ideas.

Who: Jaemark Tordecilla, a journalist, media advisor, and technologist.

When: 9:30 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Global Investigative Journalism Network

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Thu, May 21 - Marketing That Moves: Build the Bridge Between Mission and Audience

What: Discover how to elevate your nonprofit's impact through effective marketing strategies. From storytelling to digital outreach, this session will explore key tactics to enhance fundraising, volunteer engagement, and community support.

Who: Kiersten Hill, Director of Nonprofit Solutions, Firespring.

When: 3:00 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Firespring

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Thu, May 21 - Let’s Talk Video Strategy

What: How to approach storytelling across multiple social platforms. We’ll make sense of how to decide on different platforms to prioritize, how to decode analytics, how our guest works with reporters in the newsroom to translate in-depth reporting into video.  

Who: Carissa Quiambao, Head of Social Video for ProPublica.

When: 3:00 pm, Eastern

Where: Eventbrite

Cost: $20

Sponsor: Video Consortium

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Thu, May 21 - Where is AI in 2026, and where is it going?

What: We will explain why AI is quite proficient at some tasks while it performs poorly on others. AI safety concepts will be a significant part of the presentation. Leave with knowledge that will help you and your library be more prepared to serve your communities.

Who: Andres Ramirez, Director of Partnerships, AI Safety Awareness Project.

When: 3:00 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: WebJunction

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Thu, May 21 - Building a Podcast to Create Organizational Learning Impact

What: Ways you can create and use podcasts in your organization to meet your learners where they are, build skills and confidence, and sustain and grow culture and alignment too

Who: Kevin Eikenberry, Chief Potential Officer, The Kevin Eikenberry Group and co-founder of The Remote Leadership Institute.

When: 3:00 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Training Magazine Network

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Thu, May 21 - An Inside Look at Creator Journalism

What: A virtual nuts and bolts discussion about the world of independent, audience-driven publishing — what it is, how to get started and how to keep it going and growing.

Who: Michele Hornish, communications professional; Martin Kuz, independent journalist; Liz Kelly Nelson, co-founder of Project C; Patty Rasmussen, independent journalist and SPJ GA Freelance Chair.

When: 6:30 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free for members, $10 for non-members

Sponsor: SPJ Georgia

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Fri, May 22 - Research and Reporting on ICE Through Public Records

What: This session will focus on research, reporting and data related to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), with an emphasis on how public records and data can illuminate its operations and footprint. We will explore different ways reporters are using public records to build stories, analyze patterns, and uncover new angles.

When: 1 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: MuckRock

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20 Recent Articles about AI & Journalism

How to Save Independent Journalism from AI – Washington Monthly

Reporters at McClatchy Withhold Bylines in Dispute Over A.I. Content – New  York Times 

Teaching journalism in the AI era – Editor & Publisher 

Talking buildings and Pixar-like avatars: Cleveland Plain Dealer AI videos draw criticism – Poynter

Did I Really Say That? A European journalist apologized for using AI to fabricate quotes. But there’s little accountability in blaming a chatbot. – Columbia Journalism Review 

News organizations reconsider ties to AI company Nota after plagiarism findings - Poynter

Google Search is now using AI to replace headlines – The Verge

ProPublica journalists walk off the job in first U.S. newsroom strike over AI – Harvard’s Nieman Lab  

NYT union tells management its AI standards are "woefully inadequate" – Axios

AP threatens Lee over potential contract breach - Axios

Three ways AI is making reliable information harder to find - Poynter 

New York Times Cuts Ties With Book Review Writer Over AI Use – The Wrap

Journalism students are more skeptical of AI than you might think - Poynter

Senior European journalist suspended for publishing AI-generated quotes – Euro News

A Fortune editor has cranked out more than 600 stories using AI – Wall Street Journal 

AI advice from journalists who stopped talking and started building - Poynter

Can Jonah Peretti Save BuzzFeed From Extinction? Facing financial straits, the founder is betting on a skunkworks for A.I. experiments. - New  York Times

An AI company set out to fix news deserts. Instead, it copied local journalists’ work - Poynter  

The stigma around AI in journalism may be easing, but trust is still fragile – Fast Company

Why communicators need to think like journalists when using AI - Ragan

27 Articles about AI & Legal Issues

Even as hallucinations show up in legal filings, Big Law goes all in on AI with new Anthropic release – Fortune  

How AI, Digital Doubles, and New Laws Are Rewriting Fashion and Beauty – National Law Review

Can You Trademark Yourself? Inside Matthew McConaughey’s Novel Legal Strategy to Fight AI Theft – Variety

Celebrities are filing trademarks to combat AI clones. Should you? – Washington Post

Questions about AI liability for tax professionals – Reuters

Prosecutor suspended by state supreme court for artificial intelligence use in court docs – ABA Journal

Pennsylvania sues Character AI, says chatbot poses as doctors – Reuters

Five book publishers and a best-selling novelist accused Meta of stealing their work to help train A.I. models. – New York Times

AI ruling prompts warnings from US lawyers: Your chats could be used against you – Reuters

An incoherent patchwork of state laws threatens to handicap America in the artificial intelligence race. – Washington Post

U.S. OpenAI Sued by Seven Families Over Mass Shooting Suspect’s ChatGPT Use – Wall Street Journal

Taylor Swift Files to Trademark Her Voice and Likeness, Apparently to Protect Against AI Misuse – Variety

Alabama Supreme Court drops the gavel on lawyer who apparently used AI to apologize for using AI – Yellow Hammer News

Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman head to court in high-stakes showdown over AI – Associated Press

An elite Wall Street law firm has apologized to a federal judge for submitting a court filing full of A.I. “hallucinations.” – New York Times

Florida's attorney general announces criminal investigation into OpenAI over shooting – NBC News

Anthropic’s Leaked Code Tests Copyright Challenges in A.I. Era - New York Times

Health AI and the law: Could your chatbot doc testify against you? – Mashable

A Judge Mistakes the Claude Chatbot for a Person – Wall Street Journal

Judges are increasingly using AI to draft rulings and prepare for hearings – Washington Post

A.I. Incites a New Wave of Grieving Parents Fighting for Online Safety - New York Times

Helping the legal profession get AI‑ready: A new advisory board takes shape – Reuters

Anthropic’s Leaked Code Tests Copyright Challenges in A.I. Era - New York Times

AI-Generated Content and Copyright Law: What We Know – Builtin

This monkey selfie will protect you from AI slop – BBC

AI meets the gavel: Key legal battles and regulatory trends in the United States – JD Supra

Rethinking lawyer development in future AI-enabled law firms - Reuters

Palm readers and chatbots

Palm readers and chatbots share a fundamental trait: Both operate within closed universes of information. The reader has only the cues you bring into the room; the AI has only patterns extracted from its training data. Neither can verify claims against a world they do not independently observe and both draw authority from fluent performance rather than reality. - Herbert Lin writing in The Washington Post

26 Articles about AI & Teaching

College students are noticing their AI‑smoothed writing sounds strong — and not like them – The Conversation

Why the ‘Middle Path’ of AI Literacy May Be the Future of English Class – The 74 Million

Princeton Mandates Exam Proctors After Fears of ‘Widespread’ AI-Fueled Cheating – Wall Street Journal  

Pedagogy Under Pressure: How AI Is Forcing Business Schools To Rethink How They Teach – Poets and Quants

AI was ruining my college philosophy classes. So I assigned a new kind of essay. – Boston Globe

Faculty Concerned About ASU’s New AI Course Builder – Inside Higher Ed  

When AI Cheating Becomes a Legal Risk – Chronicle of Higher Ed 

Don’t let your students use AI as a ghostwriter – Nature

A new library-based initiative at the University of Virginia embeds hands-on AI learning and workforce skills across disciplines. – Inside Higher Ed  

This new tool makes AI's role in student writing visible – Phys.org 

How should universities define AI proficiency? – Times Higher Ed

The machines are fine. I'm worried about us. - Ergophere

What the research shows about generative AI in tutoring - Brookings

Faculty are right that AI output is mediocre. They’re wrong about why – Times Higher Ed  

ChatGPT fed his students easy answers, so he built an app to argue with them – Washington Post  

A college instructor turns to typewriters to curb AI-written work and teach life lessons – Associated Press  

These Tools Say They Can Spot A.I. Fakes. Do They Really Work? – New York Times 

Perfect homework, blank stares: Why colleges are turning to oral exams to combat AI – Associated Press

An AI School, With No Teachers, To Open in Chicago This Fall – Block Club Chicago

How Are Your Teachers Handling Writing in the Age of A.I.? – New York Times

Writing Faculty Push for the Right to Refuse AI - Inside Higher Ed

Blue books make an "out of step" campus comeback in the AI era – Axios

University of Minnesota professors concerned about AI faculty reviews - The Minnesota Daily

How A.I. Killed Student Writing (and Revived It) - New York Times

80% of Teachers Are Using AI Tools in the Classroom – Technological Horizons in Education

Teaching AI by Doing, Not Studying - Inside Higher Ed

AI definitions: Apache Spark

Apache Spark - This data processing tool can be used on very large data sets. Its “cluster computing” uses resources from many computer processors linked together for rapid data processing and real-time analytics. Thus, it supports predictive analytics, a data science tool. For instance, it can analyze video or social media data automatically. It's a scalable so that users can easily introduce more processors into the system to make it more powerful.  

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The AI Digital Transformation isn't Just Technical Process

The most dangerous ghost in the machine isn’t a technical bug, it’s the human instinct to resist what we don’t trust. In my experience leading global operations and data governance at Amazon and ADP, I’ve seen perfectly engineered algorithms fail not because of the code, but because of a psychological rejection by the people expected to use them. Digital transformation is not just a technical milestone we can check off. In reality, it is a psychological one. -Andrew Hallinson writing in CIO