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Submission + - 13.1 Million K-12 Schoolkids Participated in Inaugural 'Hour of AI'

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: At a high-profile White House gathering of AI tech leaders last September, tech-backed nonprofit Code.org pledged to engage 25 million K-12 schoolchildren in an "Hour of AI" this school year.

Preliminary numbers released this week by the Code.org Advocacy Coalition this week showed that 13.1 million users had participated in the inaugural Hour of AI, attaining 52.4% of its goal of 25 million participants.

In a pivot from coding to AI literacy, the Hour of AI replaced Code.org's hugely-popular Hour of Code this December as the flagship event of Computer Science Education Week (Dec. 8-14). According to Code.org's 2024-25 Impact Report, "in 2024–25 alone, students logged over 100 million Hours of Code, including more than 43 million in the four months leading up to and including CS Education Week."

Submission + - Suspect in Brown University, MIT Shootings Found Dead in NH

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: The body of a man suspected in the killing of two students at Brown University and an MIT professor was found dead in a storage unit in New Hampshire Thursday night. Law enforcement officials said that the suspect, Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, had died by suicide. Valente not only briefly attended Brown as a Physics graduate student in the early 2000s, but also is believed to have earlier attended the same academic program in Portugal as murdered MIT Physics professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro between 1995 and 2000.

Comment AI Requirement is Via a Google Partnership (Score 2) 26

by theodp (#65857997) Attached to: Purdue University Approves New AI Requirement For All Undergrads

From the AI@Purdue page: "Beginning in fall of 2026, we will implement an AI working competency graduation requirement through an expanded partnership with Google."
 
Prior to its approval by the Purdue Board of Trustees, Purdue President Mung Chiang and CEO of Google Public Sector Karen Dahut announced plans to introduce the new working AI competency graduation requirement in mid-November at the 2025 Google-Purdue AI Summit.
 
At a Sept. 2025 White House meeting, Google CEO Sundar Pichai committed $3 million to Code.org, the tech-backed nonprofit that is working towards a goal of requiring "all students to earn credit for an AI and CS course for high school graduation."

Submission + - Tech Giant-Supported Study Chastises K-12 Schools for Lack of AI + CS Education

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Coinciding with Computer Science Education Week and its flagship event the Hour of AI, tech-backed nonprofit Code.org this week released the 2025 State of AI & Computer Science Education report, chastising K-12 schools for the lack of access to AI and CS education and thanking its funders Microsoft, Amazon, and Google for supporting the report's creation.

"For the first time ever," Code.org explains, "the State of AI + CS Education features a state-by-state analysis of AI education policies, including whether standards and graduation requirements emphasize AI. The report continues to track the CS access, participation, and fundamental policies that have made it a trusted benchmark for policymakers, educators, and advocates."

The report laments that "0 out of 50 states require AI+CS for graduation," adding that "access to CS has plateaued" at 60% nationwide, with Minnesota and Alaska bringing up the rear with a woeful 34%. However, flaws with the statistic on which the K-12 CS education crisis movement was built — the "Percentage of Public High Schools Offering Foundational Computer Science" — become apparent with just a casual glance at the data underlying Minnesota's failing 34% grade. Because that metric neglects to take into account school sizes — which of course vary widely — the percentage of schools offering access to CS can be vastly different than the percentage of students attending schools offering access to CS. So, when Code.org reports that only 33% of the three Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools offer access to CS, keep in mind that left unreported is that more than 95% of students in the district attend the one Prior Lake-Savage Area School that does offer access to CS, which is a far less alarming metric. Code.org reports that Prior Lake High School (2,854 students, per NCES records) offers access to CS, while Prior Lake-Savage Area ALC (93 students) and Laker Online (45 students) do not. And that, kids, is today's lesson in K-12 CS education access crisis math, where 95% (2,854 students/2,992 students) can equal 33% (1 school/3 schools)!

Submission + - College Students Flock to a New Major: AI

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: "At M.I.T., a new program called 'artificial intelligence and decision-making' is now the second-most-popular undergraduate major," reports the New York Times. "Artificial intelligence is the hot new college major. This semester, more than 3,000 students enrolled in a new college of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity at the University of South Florida in Tampa. At the University of California, San Diego, 150 first-year students signed up for a new A.I. major. And the State University of New York at Buffalo created a stand-alone 'department of A.I. and society,' which is offering new interdisciplinary degrees in fields like 'A.I. and policy analysis'."

The fast popularization of products like ChatGPT, along with skyrocketing valuations of tech giants like the chip maker Nvidia, is helping to drive the campus A.I. boom. Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft have poured billions of dollars into the technology. And this year, Google and Microsoft announced company efforts to train millions of students and adult workers on A.I."

Submission + - K-12 Teachers Urged to Spread AI Gospel Using Microsoft 'Communications Toolkit'

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: "Sharing your students' experience builds awareness of AI literacy, shows families the amazing work their kids are doing, and inspires fellow educators to join the adventure. Our Communications Toolkit has everything you need to showcase your Hour of AI on social media, in newsletters, and across your school community," explains Microsoft to K-12 teachers in Friday social media posts announcing the Minecraft Education Hour of AI 2025 Digital Communication Toolkit.

The toolkit urges K-12 teachers participating in December's Hour of AI event — which is sponsored by Microsoft and run by the Microsoft-backed nonprofit Code.org — to use Microsoft-crafted messaging to extend the Hour of AI campaign by evangelizing AI and Microsoft Minecraft Education software in post-event social media posts, school and classroom newsletter messages, and direct messages to families (sample: "Today, our classroom took part in Hour of AI with Minecraft Education’s First Night, and it was incredible!").

The Hour of AI is replacing Code.org's Hour of Code, which was the premier event of Computer Science Education Week from 2013-2024. Microsoft last year boasted of reaching K-12 students with 300 million sessions of its Minecraft Hour of Code tutorials, presumedly helping Minecraft become the first video game to hit 300 million in sales in 2023. The activities for the new Hour of AI include six Microsoft Minecraft Education titles. "Just like the Hour of Code helped families see the promise of computer science," a Code.org press release announcing the activities explained, "the Hour of AI will give parents the tools to make sure our children can use this technology to build, create, and lead. This isn't optional-it's essential if we want our kids to thrive in a future that's already here."

Comment Vulnerability to Trivial Attacks the Real Story? (Score 1) 57

by theodp (#65809585) Attached to: Fired Techie Admits Sabotaging Ex-Employer, Causing $862K In Damage

First saw something like this 30+ years ago - someone grabbed a list of publicly available userIDs from the company's email system and apparently either manually or using a keyboard macro simply tried multiple times to logon with an incorrect password to lock out the entire company's thousands of user and team IDs. The company used mainframe systems/databases with centralized passwords, so didn't take long at all (not even 30 minutes, IIRC) to get everyone back in business. One imagines that such a simple 'attack' - essentially the same as what the guy did some 30 years later in 2021 - would wreak a lot more havoc in today's world with its overwhelmingly-complicated intertwined security layers, which are further compounded by the need to get consensus from a number of parties - e.g., security, risk, compliance, governance, operations, legal - that it's safe to reopen things for business even after a fix is identified. It seems part of this guy's hefty sentence is likely attributable to businesses relying on systems and infrastructure and bureaucracy that are vulnerable to and unable to recover quickly from even trivial 'attacks' like this that leave systems and data untouched, no?

Submission + - We Don't Need No Education [Department], U.S. Dept. of Education Says

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: From Tuesday's U.S. Dept. of Education press release: "The U.S. Department of Education (ED) today announced six new interagency agreements (IAAs) with four agencies to break up the federal education bureaucracy, ensure efficient delivery of funded programs, activities, and move closer to fulfilling the President’s promise to return education to the states. By partnering with agencies that are best positioned to deliver results for students and taxpayers, these IAAs will streamline federal education activities on the legally required programs, reduce administrative burdens, and refocus programs and activities to better serve students and grantees." These new partnerships with the Departments of Labor (DOL), Interior (DOI), Health and Human Services (HHS), and State mark a major step toward improving the management of select ED programs by leveraging partner agencies’ administrative expertise and experience working with relevant stakeholders. These agreements follow a successful workforce development partnership signed with DOL earlier this year, which has created an integrated federal education and workforce system and reduced the need for states to consult multiple federal agencies to effectively manage their programs."

"'The Trump Administration is taking bold action to break up the federal education bureaucracy and return education to the states," said U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. "Cutting through layers of red tape in Washington is one essential piece of our final mission. As we partner with these agencies to improve federal programs, we will continue to gather best practices in each state through our 50-state tour, empower local leaders in K-12 education, restore excellence to higher education, and work with Congress to codify these reforms. Together, we will refocus education on students, families, and schools – ensuring federal taxpayer spending is supporting a world-class education system."

Over at The74, New America Sr. Director of Education Policy Lisa Guernsey isn't buying the argument. She writes: "This week our national leaders decided that education isn’t something that the United States government needs to care about, let alone nourish and strengthen. The Trump administration decided to cut up the U.S. Department of Education, toss various parts into various buckets and cede its obligations to ensure that children and families in our country can gain access to good teachers and schools. Do we really need to worry about elementary and secondary schools anyway? They can simply get tossed into the Department of Labor. Those who work on special education? Plop them over there in Health and Human Services. In this vision of dismemberment, the word “education” is scrubbed from any U.S.-led effort to improve our country. The concept of teaching and learning is not important enough to garner federal attention anymore. Instead, it’s about kids envisioned as workers, with a little bit of health care sprinkled in to make sure their bodies can do the work needed once they grow into adults. This not only acts against Congressional will and statute, it is disastrous for America’s competitiveness and our standing in the world. It is disrespectful to America’s families. And it is catastrophic for our kids and the generation behind them. [...] Think about it: Do we really want to be a country without a Department of Education in the 21st century?"

Submission + - Hour of AI Gives Tech an Infomercial to Show Off Its Wares to Kids, Teachers

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Much as tech-backed nonprofit Code.org's Hour of Code has served as a 60-minute infomercial of sorts for big corporations over the past decade — Microsoft last year boasted of reaching K-12 students with 300M sessions of its Minecraft Hour of Code tutorials (Minecraft became the first video game to hit 300M sales in late 2023) and President Obama led the nation's schoolchildren to a Disney Princess-themed Hour of Code tutorial during the 2014 holiday season (which saw a shamed Barbie lose her crown as the most popular girls' toy to Disney Princesses Elsa and Anna) — so too apparently will its replacement, the Hour of AI ("One moment. One world. Millions of futures to shape."), which will focus on AI literacy rather than CS as it ironically becomes the new flagship event of Computer Science Education Week.

Code.org is expanding its mission this year with the goal of making both K-12 CS and AI a graduation requirement, including promoting AI literacy and usage by students and teachers across all subjects, and the just-released Hour of AI activity lineup (press release) reflects that new pivot to AI (non-AI Hour of Code CS and coding activities from the past 12 years are now stigmatized with the label 'legacy'). Code.org $30M+ Lifetime Supporter Microsoft is offering eight Hour of AI activities, including six Minecraft titles ("Survive your first Minecraft night with an AI Agent! Train it to gather resources, craft tools, and build shelter," is the pitch to kids for Hour of AI: The First Night). Google's AI Quests encourages kids to "step into the shoes of Google researchers using AI to solve real-world challenges" (Google is a Code.org $10M+ Lifetime Supporter). And two Code.org-credited tutorials developed in partnership with Code.org $30M+ Lifetime Supporter Amazon — Dance Party: AI Edition and Music Lab: Jam Session — feature Amazon Music employees as instructors (Code.org's flagship 2025 Hour of AI tutorial, Mix & Move with AI appears to draw material and music artists from these two earlier Code.org + Amazon offerings). Like the Hour of Code, the Hour of AI home page also notes that the event is "Powered by AWS." AI-themed activities are also offered by perennial children's favorites Roblox and Lego.

While not credited with a specific Hour of AI activity, AI leader-of-the-pack OpenAI will have a behind-the-scenes presence (Microsoft will soon hold an investment valued at $135B in OpenAI Group PBC). Not only is OpenAI providing $1M in AI credits for Vibe Coding: Build Your First Game Using AI" in a partnership with Swedish AI startup Lovable (Lovable's investors include OpenAI Board member Adam D'Angelo) and imagi with "the goal of bringing vibe coding to 100m kids globally," it also powers the Khanmigo AI Teacher Tools that are the focus of Khan Academy's Hour of AI activity for teachers, Learn to Generate Great Lesson Plans with Khan Academy, which breathlessly promises teachers they can "Save HOURS of Planning with Khanmigo."

Submission + - Chicago Property Tax Bills Finally Getting Mailed After 'Modernization' Mess

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Nearly four months later than usual thanks to a vendor’s software mess, Cook County, IL (includes Chicago) property tax bills will be mailed by Nov. 14 and be due by Dec. 15, county leaders said. Cook County tax collectors blamed a 10-year-old contract with a Texas-based company called Tyler Technologies for the delays. The contract inked in 2015 was supposed to modernize the billing system within three to five years. The months-long delay left local taxing districts, such as Chicago Public Schools, struggling to bridge costs while the tax bills sat in limbo. CPS borrowed $450 million to cover anticipated property taxes, requiring it to budget $23.2 million for interest on those loans in fiscal year 2026.

Of the delayed modernization effort, Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi said: "It was hard work. You have to go through the brain damage of converting all these different lines from an old mainframe to a new system. This vendor has sometimes made a lot of mistakes, and we have the biggest market based property tax system in the U.S. All of us agreed we’d retire the mainframe this year, but the treasurer and the clerk had their hardest work to do this year. We’re glad that they’re done."

Speaking of government software modernization efforts, how's that planned DOGE rewrite of the Social Security Administration codebase in 'months' going?

Submission + - Code.org Unveils Activities for Inaugural Hour of AI

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Twelve years after it unveiled activities for the inaugural Hour of Code in 2013, tech-backed nonprofit Code.org's unveiled activities for next month's inaugural Hour of AI. From the press release, Hour of AI Unveils 100+ Free Activities to Help Demystify AI for Educators, Families, and Kids:

Today, Code.org and CSforALL unveiled the activity catalog for the first annual Hour of AI, which takes place during Computer Science Education Week (December 8–14, 2025). More than 50 leading tech companies, nonprofits, and foundations are contributing to a suite of activities that will help learners around the world explore the power and possibilities of AI through creativity, play, and problem-solving.

"The next generation can't afford to be passive users of AI – they must be active shapers of it," said Hadi Partovi, CEO and co-founder of Code.org. "The Hour of AI and its roster of incredible partners are empowering students to explore, create, and take ownership of the technology that is shaping their future."

Building on more than a decade of global excitement around the Hour of Code, the Hour of AI marks a new chapter that helps students move from consuming AI to creating with it. With engaging activities from partners like Google, [Microsoft-owned] Minecraft Education, LEGO Education, Scratch Foundation, and Khan Academy, students will have the opportunity to see how AI and computer science work hand-in-hand to fuel imagination, innovation, and impact.

Submission + - UK Secondary Schools Pivoting from Narrowly Focused CS Curriculum to AI Literacy

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: The UK Department for Education is "replacing its narrowly focused computer science GCSE with a broader, future-facing computing GCSE [General Certificate of Secondary Education] and exploring a new qualification in data science and AI for 16–18-year-olds." The move aims to correct unintended consequences of a shift made more than a decade ago from the existing ICT (Information and Communications Technology) curriculum, which focused on basic digital skills, to a more rigorous Computer Science curriculum at the behest of major tech firms and advocacy groups to address concerns about the UK’s programming talent pipeline.

The UK pivot from rigorous CS to AI literacy comes as tech-backed nonprofit Code.org leads a similar shift in the U.S., pivoting from its original 2013 mission calling for rigorous CS for U.S. K-12 students to a new mission that embraces AI literacy. Code.org next month will replace its flagship Hour of Code event with a new Hour of AI "designed to bring AI education into the mainstream" with the support of its partners, including Microsoft, Google, and Amazon. Code.org has pledged to engage 25 million learners with the new Hour of AI this school year.

Comment Integrity Staffing Solutions, Inc. v. Busk (Score 3, Interesting) 181

Don't count on help from the Supreme Court on this. Integrity Staffing Solutions, Inc. v. Busk, 574 U.S. 27 (2014), was a unanimous decision by the United States Supreme Court, ruling that time spent by workers waiting to undergo anti-employee theft security screenings is not "integral and indispensable" to their work, and thus not compensable under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
 
Jesse Busk was among several workers employed by the temp agency Integrity Staffing Solutions to work in Amazon.com's warehouse in Nevada to help package and fulfill orders. At the end of each day, they had to spend about 25 minutes waiting to undergo anti-theft security checks before leaving. Busk and his fellow workers sued their employer, claiming they were entitled to be paid for those 25 minutes under the Fair Labor Standards Act. They argued that the time waiting could have been reduced if more screeners were added, or shifts were staggered so workers did not have to wait for the checks at the same time. Furthermore, since the checks were made to prevent employee theft, they only benefited the employers and the customers, not the employees themselves.

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