nvidia, openai and scale ai Updates

Educational institutions and tech companies are expanding AI education and applications across various levels. Arizona State University (ASU), in partnership with musician and tech innovator will.i.am, is launching a new 15-week course titled 'The Agentic Self' in spring 2026. This course, to be taught partly from will.i.am's Hollywood studio, will focus on AI fundamentals and developing AI learning companions, with students able to participate online or in person. The collaboration also introduces EDU.FYI, a platform developed with NVIDIA, to provide students with AI agent tools. ASU President Michael Crow emphasizes the need to prepare students for AI's impact on the job market. Massachusetts is also piloting a semester-long AI curriculum, 'Principles of Artificial Intelligence,' for grades eight and up in 30 school districts, introducing foundational concepts and societal impacts, including large language models like ChatGPT. Meanwhile, OpenAI and AARP are teaming up to offer AI training for older adults, focusing on understanding AI tools, identifying scams, and addressing privacy concerns. In the business sector, Noah Loul's B2B Rocket is deploying AI-driven agents to accelerate sales growth by instantly responding to leads and qualifying them, aiming to help businesses scale. Similarly, AI is helping small businesses streamline operations, accelerate research, automate administrative tasks, and improve customer support. In finance, ultra-wealthy family offices are primarily investing in AI through public equities and ETFs rather than direct startup investments, favoring more tempered valuations. On the research front, a new method called CAMIA (Context-Aware Membership Inference Attack) has been developed to better detect privacy risks in AI models by identifying data memorization. The environmental impact of AI is also a growing concern, with the industry's demand for resources like minerals, power, and water potentially competing with human needs, as highlighted by the impact of Hurricane Helene on a town vital for AI resources. In specialized applications, IIT-BHU's civil engineering department recently concluded a course on AI for sustainable infrastructure, and Devexperts has enhanced its AI trading assistant, Devexa, with personalized daily trading reports.

Key Takeaways

• Arizona State University (ASU) is launching a new AI course, 'The Agentic Self,' in spring 2026, co-created and taught by will.i.am, focusing on AI fundamentals and learning companions.
• The EDU.FYI platform, a collaboration between ASU, NVIDIA, and will.i.am's FYI.AI, will provide students with AI agent tools.
• Massachusetts is piloting a new AI curriculum, 'Principles of Artificial Intelligence,' in 30 school districts for students in eighth grade and above.
• OpenAI and AARP are partnering to provide AI training for older adults, including how to use AI tools and identify scams.
• Noah Loul's B2B Rocket is utilizing AI-driven agents to enhance sales processes, focusing on rapid lead response and qualification for business growth.
• Small businesses can leverage AI for efficiency gains in organization, research, administrative task automation, and customer support.
• Ultra-wealthy family offices are predominantly investing in AI through public equities and ETFs, with 52% opting for public markets over direct startup investments.
• Researchers have developed CAMIA, a new attack method that significantly improves the detection of privacy risks and data memorization in AI models.
• The environmental cost of AI is becoming more apparent, with the industry's resource demands potentially creating competition with human needs for power, water, and land.
• Devexperts has added personalized daily trading reports to its AI trading assistant, Devexa, to offer insights into trader performance and strategies.

Will.i.am and ASU launch AI course for 2026

Musician and tech innovator will.i.am is joining Arizona State University as a professor of practice. He will co-create and teach a new 15-week course called 'The Agentic Self,' starting in spring 2026. The course will focus on AI fundamentals and developing a learning companion. It will be taught partly from will.i.am's Hollywood studio, with students able to join in person or online. The collaboration also introduces EDU.FYI, a platform with ASU, NVIDIA, and will.i.am's FYI.AI to provide students with AI agent tools.

ASU and Will.i.am to offer new AI course in Los Angeles

Arizona State University is partnering with tech innovator will.i.am to launch a new AI course titled 'The Agentic Self.' The 15-week class will begin in January 2026 at ASU's Los Angeles campus. This course is part of ASU's initiative to improve digital literacy. Will.i.am will serve as a professor of practice. The course aims to prepare students for an AI-driven job market and address concerns about AI replacing human jobs. The partnership also includes the development of the EDU.FYI platform using NVIDIA technology.

Will.i.am to teach AI course 'The Agentic Self' at ASU

Rapper will.i.am will teach an artificial intelligence course called 'The Agentic Self' at Arizona State University's Los Angeles campus starting next spring. He will be appointed as a professor of practice in The GAME School. Will.i.am stated the course offers a solution to AI potentially replacing human jobs. ASU President Michael Crow highlighted the importance of preparing students for the significant shift in jobs due to AI. This partnership is seen as a valuable opportunity for students to learn from will.i.am's experience as a tech innovator.

Noah Loul's B2B Rocket uses AI for faster sales growth

Noah Loul, CEO of B2B Rocket, is transforming sales with AI-driven agents designed to respond instantly, qualify leads precisely, and close deals faster. His goal is to help one million businesses grow by making sales smarter and more accessible. These AI tools allow companies to respond immediately to customers and manage leads efficiently, improving conversion rates and revenue. B2B Rocket's technology supports sales teams by handling repetitive tasks, freeing up humans for relationship building and strategic work. The company is expanding across industries, adapting its AI solutions to meet diverse business needs.

4 Ways AI Helps Small Businesses Scale Up

Artificial intelligence offers small businesses powerful tools to grow more efficiently. AI can streamline organization by automatically categorizing data and managing client records, saving time and reducing errors. It accelerates research and decision-making by quickly analyzing market trends and competitor activity. AI also automates routine administrative tasks like scheduling and data entry, freeing up staff for revenue-generating activities. Furthermore, AI can improve customer support through templates for consistent communication, enhancing customer experience and loyalty. Using AI effectively helps small businesses operate more efficiently and compete with larger companies.

Creative projects offer alternative to AI-written essays

With the rise of AI tools like ChatGPT making essay writing easier, educators are exploring alternatives to traditional research papers. Professor Peter C. Herman suggests replacing essays with creative projects that allow students wide latitude in interpretation. These projects must reflect a good-faith effort to interpret course material and include a brief description of the student's goals. While AI can still be used to cheat on written components of projects, the focus on student investment reduces the incentive to not do the work. This approach aims to bring joy and meaning to learning, though it may shift focus away from traditional literary criticism skills.

New CAMIA attack reveals AI model privacy risks

Researchers have developed a new method called CAMIA (Context-Aware Membership Inference Attack) to detect if personal data was used to train AI models. This attack is more effective than previous methods at identifying 'data memorization' in AI, where models might store and leak sensitive information. CAMIA specifically targets the way AI models generate text token-by-token, focusing on moments of uncertainty where memorization is most likely. The attack can nearly double the detection accuracy of prior methods on certain models, offering a practical way to audit AI for privacy risks. This work highlights the need for more privacy-preserving techniques as AI models grow larger.

IIT-BHU course focuses on AI for sustainable infrastructure

A 10-day GIAN course on 'Sustainable Monitoring with AI-Inspired Machine Learning' recently concluded at IIT-BHU's civil engineering department. The program emphasized the growing importance of sustainability in infrastructure development and the role of advanced technologies in creating resilient systems. The course aimed to foster data-driven approaches for infrastructure challenges. Distinguished foreign faculty expert Susmita Naskar from the University of Southampton shared global insights on engineered materials and structural systems. The event provided a platform for knowledge sharing and hands-on learning.

AI's environmental cost highlighted by Hurricane Helene

A town in North Carolina, Spruce Pine, which is crucial for the AI industry due to its minerals, was severely impacted by Hurricane Helene. Researcher Kate Crawford observed how the AI industry's demand for resources scars the earth and affects inhabitants. The article suggests that generative AI will increasingly compete with humans for essential resources like power, water, and land. This situation underscores the significant environmental price of artificial intelligence, jeopardizing both the industry's future and our own.

Family offices invest in AI mainly through stocks

Ultra-wealthy family offices are investing in the AI boom primarily through public equities and ETFs, rather than directly in AI startups. A Goldman Sachs survey found 52% of family offices use public markets for AI exposure, while only 25% invest in startups. Many family offices also invest in companies that use AI for productivity or are secondary beneficiaries like energy providers. They prefer public markets due to more tempered valuations compared to private markets. While headlines focus on AI startup deals, the majority of family office AI investment is in established public companies.

Massachusetts launches AI curriculum pilot in 30 school districts

Massachusetts is piloting a new artificial intelligence curriculum in 30 school districts, involving approximately 1,600 students in the first year. The semester-long course, 'Principles of Artificial Intelligence,' is designed for grades eight and up. It introduces foundational AI concepts, technologies, and societal impacts, including the use of large language models. The program is a collaboration between the Massachusetts STEM Advisory Council, the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, and Project Lead The Way. State officials emphasize the importance of preparing students to think critically about AI's role in their lives and democracy.

Devexperts' Devexa offers AI-powered trading reports

Devexperts has enhanced its AI trading assistant, Devexa, by adding daily trading reports. These reports provide personalized insights into a trader's performance and strategies to help them improve. Devexa generates AI-driven breakdowns of daily activity, offering feedback on behavior and results through its chat interface. The reports include metrics like win/loss ratios and highlight trading patterns such as overtrading. This feature complements Devexa's existing tools for brokers, aiming to increase engagement and reduce client churn by offering valuable, on-demand analysis.

OpenAI and AARP partner on AI training for seniors

OpenAI and AARP are collaborating on a multi-year initiative to help older adults understand and use AI. The partnership includes new training materials, such as an updated Senior Planet curriculum, to teach seniors how to spot scams using AI tools like ChatGPT. They will also offer grants to community partners and courses on privacy and security. Annual surveys will track how older Americans engage with AI. This initiative addresses growing interest in AI among older adults while also tackling concerns about data privacy, ease of use, and accessibility.

Sources

• Will.i.am drums up agentic AI course with Arizona State University for 2026 | ETIH EdTech News
• ASU welcomes will.i.am as professor for new AI course in Los Angeles
• Will.i.am will teach an AI course at ASU called 'The Agentic Self'
• Noah Loul Leads B2B Rocket Into New Era of AI-Driven Sales Growth
• 4 Ways AI Can Help Small Businesses Scale Faster And Smarter
• In Light of AI, a Creative Alternative to Essays (opinion)
• CAMIA privacy attack reveals what AI models memorise
• GIAN course stresses AI monitoring of sustainable infra | Varanasi News - The Times of India
• Opinion | This Town’s Minerals Make A.I. Possible. Then Came Hurricane Helene.
• Family offices prefer to bet on AI boom with stocks versus startups and VC funds
• AI curriculum pilot to launch in these 30 Mass. school districts
• Devexperts’ Devexa unveils AI trading reports
• OpenAI partners with AARP for new AI training to help older adults spot scams