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Nature has released an audio long read discussing concerns that heavy reliance on large language models could weaken people's critical thinking abilities. The episode draws on research from education and cognitive science specialists who study how reasoning skills develop and can be maintained. It outlines practical strategies researchers suggest for staying cognitively sharp while using AI tools.
In a guest essay on Terence Tao's blog, mathematician Francesco Maggi argues that large language models have become genuinely powerful tools for generating mathematical proofs, citing examples like an LLM-assisted construction of a finite-time blow-up solution to the Navier-Stokes equations and a proposed proof related to the Riemann Hypothesis. He outlines two possible futures for science: a 'golden age' where AI empowers broader human expertise, or a 'dark age' where output surges but knowledge becomes concentrated among few people and increasingly incomprehensible to humans.
New York City's school system, serving nearly 600,000 pre-K through middle school students, began a one-year pause on generative AI use starting September 2. Los Angeles Unified followed with a similar restriction, blocking AI tools on all district-issued devices for its students.
The National Education Association's State Funding Update found state appropriations for higher education hit $129 billion in FY2025, up 4% year-over-year, but inflation-adjusted growth was only 2%. Seventeen states saw funding decline once inflation was factored in, and 12 states still haven't recovered to pre-pandemic inflation-adjusted funding levels. Many public universities also never fully restored per-student funding lost after the 2008 financial crisis.
New data indicates that the long-running growth in college administrative staffing may be reversing. At Louisiana State University, an incoming president announced the layoff of 25 administrators, some in senior roles, redirecting the resulting savings toward faculty hiring and research.
A clinician-scientist writing in a commentary describes how large language models and AI coding agents now let researchers generate complex data pipelines and analyses in seconds, tasks that once took days of manual troubleshooting. The author argues coding literacy is still essential, but that the skill now required is prompting and critically evaluating AI-generated code rather than memorizing syntax, and offers six tips for adapting to this shift.
Engineering education researchers are developing two instructional approaches to address a gap in ethics training: one integrates social and ethical issues directly into core technical courses, and another is a standalone course preparing students to act as 'public welfare watchdogs.' They cite survey data showing only about a third of US engineering professionals received training on public welfare responsibilities during their formal education.
Frederick County's school board voted 6-1 to prohibit AI tools from pre-K through 12th grade, reversing its earlier decision to let middle and high school students use Google Gemini with teacher permission. Exceptions remain for lessons teaching about AI and for accommodations for students with disabilities. The reversal comes just weeks after Gemini was introduced to older students this school year.
A Hacker News poster describes paying school fees for Anwarite, a girl from the village of Ibumila, Tanzania, since 2015, when he met her family while traveling at age 19. She has since graduated from the University of Dar es Salaam and was accepted into a master's program in Swahili, with total program costs around $1,161. In 2021 he formalized the effort as a nonprofit, the Tanzania Education Project, which now supports five students with school fees and healthcare.
An individual has been supporting the education of a child in rural Tanzania for ten years, covering costs related to schooling and well-being. The effort emphasizes the importance of sustained donations in creating long-term benefits for children in underserved areas.
Inside Higher Ed has tracked more than 9,000 job cuts and buyouts across US higher education in 2025, driven by falling international enrollment, state funding reductions, federal funding uncertainty and rising costs. The University of North Texas disclosed a projected $45 million deficit and plans to eliminate or consolidate over 70 academic programs, while East Carolina University is cutting $8.5 million more as part of a three-year, $25 million reduction plan after already discontinuing 44 programs.
Carson Gross, a computer science professor at Montana State University, says he tells students that even though AI can generate code for assignments, they should write it themselves. He argues programming is fundamentally about problem-solving and managing complexity, skills he believes remain valuable despite AI tools, while warning that junior programmers who rely on AI-generated code risk never developing the ability to read and understand code.