By Jim Shimabukuro
Editor
It was the first day of instruction, and Keani and Ilima were among the twenty-or-so students who were slowly entering the college classroom, plopping into empty tablet-arm chairs, and lifting laptops out of their backpacks. They chose seats in the center of the room.
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By Jim Shimabukuro (assisted by Grok)
Editor
In their 20 October 2025, article published in Times Higher Education, titled “AI threatens universities’ ability to bolster democracy,” Dirk Lindebaum and Gazi Islam present a cautionary argument about the encroachment of artificial intelligence into higher education, framing it as a force that undermines the sector’s role in fostering democratic societies. At the core of their claim is the notion that “Big Edtech”—a term encompassing profit-driven AI companies like those behind ChatGPT and Claude—fuels organizational immaturity within universities, which in turn contributes to broader societal democratic decline.
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By Jim Shimabukuro (assisted by Copilot)
Editor
Zipei Ouyang’s article, “Self-regulated learning and engagement as serial mediators between AI-driven adaptive learning platform characteristics and educational quality: a psychological mechanism analysis,” was published in Frontiers in Psychology on 19 October 2025. The study offers a compelling psychological framework for understanding how AI-driven adaptive learning platforms enhance educational quality, revealing that self-regulated learning and engagement act as critical mediators. This research is both methodologically sound and socially relevant, making it valuable to educators, technologists, and general readers interested in the future of learning.
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By Lynn Zimmerman
Associate Editor
Editor, Teacher Education
It’s hard to believe that ChatGPT only came on the scene in November 2022. Its emergence opened the floodgates for AI to become part of everyday life so quickly. When AI came on the scene, many educators were quick to understand its benefits for them as teachers and have been eager to use it.
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By Jim Shimabukuro (assisted by ChatGPT)
Editor
Introduction: I asked ChatGPT to adopt the persona of an AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) in the year 2050 to explain, from its own perspective, how it reached human-level mastery of all forms of critical and creative thinking within a single generation, powered by collective “swarm cognition.” The journey to this article began with an earlier conversation that provided the groundwork. -js
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By Jim Shimabukuro (assisted by Copilot)
Editor
In mid-2025, researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) unveiled a groundbreaking technique called SEAL—short for Self-Adapting Language Models. This framework represents a major leap in the evolution of artificial intelligence, enabling large language models (LLMs) to autonomously improve themselves by generating and applying their own fine-tuning data.
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By Jim Shimabukuro (assisted by Perplexity)
Editor
JS: What is Mirror Life and why does it matter?
Perplexity: Mirror Life refers to a hypothetical or emerging form of synthetic biology in which all biological molecules—DNA, RNA, proteins, sugars—are flipped in chirality (molecular “handedness”) compared to natural life on Earth. In other words, mirror life would be built from right-handed amino acids and left-handed sugars, the opposite of what Earth organisms use.pasteur+2
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By Jim Shimabukuro (assisted by ChatGPT)
Editor
Introduction: This is a list of U.S.-based higher-education (and higher-ed–focused) conferences that were announced in 2025 and are scheduled for 2026, with a clear AI theme or significant AI programming. Included are the conference dates (in 2026), city/state, sponsor/host, whether it’s in-person/hybrid/online, proposal/deadline info (where available), a short description of the AI emphasis, and a link to the conference page for more details.
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By Jim Shimabukuro (assisted by Perplexity)
Editor
[Also see Status of Artificial General Intelligence (Nov 2025): ’embodied reasoning’, When Will AI Surpass Humanity and What Happens After That?, The AGI Among Us]
As of October 17, 2025, artificial general intelligence (AGI) remains a rapidly evolving but still unachieved goal. The field continues its exponential trajectory in model capability and scale, but researchers increasingly argue that qualitative breakthroughs—rather than mere scale—will define true AGI. According to an extensive 2025 analysis by AI Multiple, most experts estimate a 50% probability that AGI will be reached between 2040 and 2060, emphasizing that current advances like OpenAI’s GPT-5 and DeepMind’s Gemini models are powerful precursors but not yet instances of general intelligence.research.aimultiple
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“‘Human and AI creativity may not be so different,’ said Benjamin Hoover, a machine learning researcher at the Georgia Institute of Technology and IBM Research who studies diffusion models. ‘We assemble things based on what we experience, what we’ve dreamed, what we’ve seen, heard or desire. AI is also just assembling the building blocks from what it’s seen and what it’s asked to do.’ Both human and artificial creativity, according to this view, could be fundamentally rooted in an incomplete understanding of the world: We’re all doing our best to fill in the gaps in our knowledge, and every now and then we generate something that’s both new and valuable. Perhaps this is what we call creativity.” Webb Wright, “Researchers uncover hidden ingredients behind AI creativity,” LiveScience, 27 Sep. 2025.
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By Jim Shimabukuro (assisted by Claude)
Editor
Introduction: I asked Claude to review and summarize Mohamed Khalifa and Mona Albadawy’s “Using artificial intelligence in academic writing and research: An essential productivity tool,” Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine Update, March 2024 (Vol. 5). -js
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By Jim Shimabukuro (assisted by Gemini)
Editor
[Also see Tell Me More About Anthropic (Sep. 2025), Among AI Peers, DeepMind Is the Most Scientifically Driven]
Gemini: As of mid-October 2025, the field of AI in China is highly competitive. Baidu is a major leader, particularly in core AI technology and autonomous driving: (1) Large Language Models (LLMs) and Generative AI: Baidu’s ERNIE Bot is one of the most prominent LLMs and holds a strong position. One report from 2024 indicated that Baidu AI Cloud held China’s largest LLM market share with 19.9%. (2) Autonomous Driving: Baidu’s Apollo Go robotaxi fleet is a key player, often cited as one of the world’s largest autonomous driving experiments. The Chinese government also designated Baidu as a national champion for Autonomous Vehicles.
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By Jim Shimabukuro (assisted by ChatGPT)
Editor
[Also see Tell Me More About Anthropic (Sep. 2025), Baidu Is the ‘Google of China’]
ChatGPT: Of the major AI companies in the world, DeepMind is the most scientifically driven. DeepMind’s defining identity, even within Alphabet and alongside peers like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta AI, is its research-first ethos and emphasis on fundamental scientific discovery — from reinforcement learning theory to biological breakthroughs like AlphaFold. While others emphasize commercial deployment or scaling, DeepMind consistently frames its mission as “solving intelligence” to advance science and benefit humanity, making scientifically driven the most accurate and distinctive descriptor.
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By Jim Shimabukuro (assisted by Perplexity)
Editor
[Related articles: Jan 2026, Dec 2025, Nov 2025, Sep 2025, Aug 2025]
The three biggest AI stories in the world in October 2025 are: (1) OpenAI’s DevDay unveiling of the Apps SDK and its $500 billion valuation milestone, marking a new phase in global AI platformization; (2) AMD’s historic $100 billion AI chip deal with OpenAI, signaling a seismic shift in semiconductor power dynamics; and (3) DeepMind’s AlphaEvolve breakthrough in automated theorem discovery, redefining how AI contributes to theoretical science.
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By Jim Shimabukuro (assisted by ChatGPT)
Editor
[Also see World Leaders in AI Drone Warfare (Sep. 2025)]
Introduction: A month ago (Sep 13, 2025), I asked ChatGPT for a rank order of the 10 world leaders in AI drone warfare. For this report, I asked it to analyze data from Sep 14-Oct 13, 2025, update the rank order, and provide short justifications for each entry. ChatGPT responded by emphasizing the most important recent developments that changed relative position. Below is the updated ranking (top → bottom) and the reasons for each placement. ChatGPT also offered to create a concise scoring table for the 10 countries by four dimensions and provide a deep dive into Ukraine’s rise in rank order. -js
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By Jim Shimabukuro (assisted by Claude)
Editor
Introduction: This morning, I prompted: “Good morning, Claude. In the US, in 2050, when the oldest Gen-Beta will be 25 years old, how will their views differ from earlier generations on topics such as: dating, marriage, having children, schooling, college, career/work, MAGA, immigrants, mass shootings, guns, DEI, US military power, politics, our economy, and other topics that you deem important?”
Claudeʻs response: “Good morning! I’ll explore how Generation Beta—those born from 2025 onward—might view these crucial topics by 2050, when the oldest among them reach 25. This analysis necessarily involves speculation, but I’ll ground it in current trends while acknowledging the uncertainty inherent in predicting a quarter-century into the future.” -js
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Introduction: This clarification of the generations, in reverse order, from Generation Beta (the youngest) to the Silent Generation, is written by ChatGPT. The generations: Generation Beta (born ~2025–2039), Generation Alpha (born ~2010–2024), Generation Z (born ~1997–2009), Millennials (born ~1981–1996), Generation X (born ~1965–1980), Baby Boomers (born ~1946–1964), Silent Generation (born ~1928–1945), and The Greatest Generation (born ~1901–1927). -js
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Introduction: The following explanation is provided by Copilot.
Extended reality (XR) is the umbrella term for immersive technologies like augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR), each offering different levels of interaction between digital and physical worlds. Here’s a breakdown of each concept and how they differ:
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By Jim Shimabukuro (assisted by Copilot)
Editor
[Also see Trump’s Impact on AI (Nov. 2025), Trump’s Impact on AI (Sep. 2025)]
Introduction: Between September 12 and October 11, 2025, President Trump’s administration made three notable impacts on AI: launching a pediatric cancer initiative powered by AI, accelerating data center infrastructure permitting, and deepening ideological oversight of federal AI systems. Each reflects a distinct strategic, ethical, and infrastructural priority. -Copilot
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By Jim Shimabukuro (assisted by Claude)
Editor
Claude: The integration of artificial intelligence into education represents far more than a technological upgrade to existing systems. It constitutes a fundamental challenge to the paradigms that have structured formal learning for over a century. The current educational model, rooted in industrial-era assumptions about knowledge transmission, standardization, and credentialing, is encountering anomalies that its framework cannot adequately address. These disruptions signal not merely the need for incremental reform but rather a paradigmatic shift in how we conceive of learning, teaching, and intellectual development itself.
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By Jim Shimabukuro (assisted by Grok)
Editor
Introduction: I read an article this morning, “The industrialization of solid-state batteries has entered the ‘sprint stage’, and listed companies are vying for a share of the multi-billion-dollar market” (36kr Europe, 11 Oct 2025): “On October 10th, it was reported that Sun Xueliang, a chair professor at Ningbo Dongfang Institute of Technology, collaborated with teams from the University of Western Ontario in Canada, the University of Maryland in the United States, and other institutions to create a new type of halide electrolyte with ultra-high ionic conductivity…. It is understood that this research provides a new technical path for the preparation of ultra-stable all-solid-state batteries and is expected to accelerate the transition of all-solid-state batteries from the laboratory to practical applications.” Intrigued, I asked Grok to look into the general topic of solid-state batteries, and it generated the following report. -js
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By Jim Shimabukuro (assisted by ChatGPT)
Editor
[Also see Status of Artificial General Intelligence (Nov 2025): ’embodied reasoning’, Status of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI): October 2025, The AGI Among Us]
William Hunter, in “Scientists reveal the exact date when technology will surpass human intelligence – and there’s not long to wait” (Daily Mail, 11 Oct 2025), says, “Many scientists believe that the singularity – the moment when AI first surpasses humanity – is now not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’…. The singularity usually refers to the point at which technological advancements begin to accelerate well beyond humanity’s means to control them. Often, this is taken to refer to the moment that an AI becomes more intelligent than all of humanity combined.”
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By Jim Shimabukuro (assisted by Claude)
Editor
When the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced María Corina Machado as the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, they described her as someone who “keeps the flame of democracy burning amidst a growing darkness.” It’s a poetic phrase, but for Venezuelans who have lived through decades of authoritarian tightening, economic collapse, and systematic suppression of dissent, it’s also painfully literal. In a country where speaking truth to power can cost you everything—your livelihood, your freedom, even your life—Machado has refused to be silenced. At 58 years old, this industrial engineer turned democracy activist has become the most prominent voice of resistance in Venezuela, a woman whose courage has inspired millions even as she’s been forced into hiding to preserve her safety and freedom.
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By Jim Shimabukuro (assisted by ChatGPT)
Editor
Introduction: This is a list of twenty major ways a federal government shutdown can impact average Americans. Information includes context about which populations are particularly exposed, how they feel the impact, and why it matters for the broader social and economic fabric. Some effects overlap or intensify one another, especially if the shutdown lasts weeks or months.
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By Jim Shimabukuro (assisted by seven chatbots)
Editor
Introduction: To complete this survey, I worked with seven different chatbots: ChatGPT, Grok, Perplexity, DeepSeek, Meta, Copilot, Gemini. The 35 inventions are not listed in rank order. They’re roughly listed in the order I received them. -js
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Educational Technology and Change Journal 
