The session explored how AI is reshaping education, beginning with OpenAI’s Olivia Pavco-Giaccia outlining why teaching and learning sit at the core of the company’s mission and how student adoption—now more than 40% of ChatGPT users worldwide—has accelerated AI’s integration into campuses, leading to large-scale deployments such as ChatGPT EDU across the CSU system and emerging research partnerships aimed at improving learning outcomes. She emphasized moving beyond fears of cheating to unlock personalized learning support, including early progress with Study Mode. Columbia University’s Moran Cerf, then connected AI to cutting-edge neuroscience and behavioral research, detailing how AI literacy is now essential for executives and students alike, and sharing striking findings from brain-interface studies that reveal how humans make decisions, process memories, and respond to engagement—insights he believes could transform pedagogy and human–AI collaboration. Miami Dade College’s Beth Muturi followed with a pragmatic model for “humanizing AI,” showing how community-embedded capstone projects allow students to build real AI solutions for local organizations, expanding opportunity and practical skill development. UC Berkeley’s Greg Neimeyer proposed a holistic AI pedagogy organized around three modes—minus AI, plus AI, and times AI—arguing that education must balance embodied human experience, critical engagement with AI, and transformational uses of intelligent systems to sustain meaning, collaboration, and truth in an AI-saturated era. Finally, UCLA’s Tina Austin presented her “Autumn Bloom’s” framework, a recursive, discipline-flexible alternative to Bloom’s taxonomy that shifts assessment away from grading AI-generated output and toward evaluating students’ comparative reasoning, critique, and metacognitive understanding, offering a path for assignments that integrate, challenge, or intentionally exclude AI depending on pedagogical need.

The session on leadership-driven AI initiatives showcased how universities and partners are weaving AI into research, education, operations, and culture. Brown University highlighted its broad academic footprint, flagship institutes, and an associate provost for AI leading efforts that range from the Human RGNOME Project’s massive RNA-mapping work for new therapies, to governance work on the AI Bill of Rights, to biosecurity collaborations with the U.S. government amid fears of AI-enabled biological threats. Brown is also grappling with how to integrate AI into teaching—acknowledging that students are ahead of faculty, redesigning assignments with the assumption that AI will be used, and emphasizing fundamental knowledge and in-class, no-AI assessments—while deploying AI across operations from communications and HR to investment analysis and workflow efficiency. Tim Kashani then traced his path from rock guitarist and filmmaker to AI educator, explaining how he uses narrative, comedy, and experiential learning to help students and artists experiment with AI as a creative and ethical tool, culminating in projects like Earth 3.0 and new programs such as Story Accelerator that support uplifting, impact-driven storytelling with AI in partnership with philanthropies. Finally, Siobahn Day Grady described how North Carolina Central University, an HBCU, is operationalizing AI through its new Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Research, funded by Google.org and housed in the provost’s office, with the mantra “AI is for everyone.” She outlined efforts to change campus culture via AI literacy workshops, new academic programs, seed grants, and practitioner cohorts for students, faculty, and staff; to integrate AI into operations and state-level policy work; and to ensure that both the campus and surrounding community—including older adults and those on the wrong side of the digital divide—gain AI fluency and are not left behind as AI transforms every sector.

This Forum was a glimpse into how engineering is changing in real time. Chris, Romain, and Friel didn’t just talk about coding with AI—they showed what it looks like when AI acts as a true teammate, helping engineers plan, build, and debug while people stay firmly in charge of the results. They demonstrated Codex running a long, complex build that not only produced code but also managed sub-agents, tested ideas, and documented its work like a seasoned collaborator. Nearly every OpenAI engineer uses Codex, leading to better reviews, fewer bugs, and faster progress on meaningful projects. But it’s not just for experts—non-technical teams are using it too, asking questions about code or making small changes on their own. These tools aren’t replacing creativity or judgment—they’re freeing people up to focus on what really matters. Codex isn’t just “AI writing code”; it’s a way for teams to work smarter, move faster, and actually enjoy the process again.

The session, hosted by Natalie Cone of the OpenAI Forum, featured leaders from the San Antonio Spurs—Jordan Kolosey (VP of Business Strategy, Innovation & Data Operations) and Charlie Kurian (Director of Innovation & Strategy)—along with Johnny Rodriguez, Chief Innovation Officer at Fresh Consulting. The conversation explored how the Spurs are adopting AI across their organization, emphasizing a human-centered, values-driven approach to change and experimentation. Speakers discussed their phased strategy for AI adoption, from organization-wide literacy and early use cases to advanced applications like custom GPTs for fan insights and data operations. A major highlight was a preview of a new Sora-powered fan activation, developed in partnership with Fresh Consulting, enabling personalized, creative video experiences tied to Spurs theme nights. The event also spotlighted the Spurs’ commitment to community impact, including ongoing AI literacy programs for nonprofit leaders in South Texas. Overall, the session underscored how AI is helping the Spurs enhance operations, deepen fan engagement, and expand equitable access to emerging technology.

Voters favor a national AI safety framework. OpenAI calls for federal standards with state partnership—‘reverse federalism’—while new data clarifies what really drives electricity prices

The OpenAI Forum hosted a conversation between Stack Overflow CEO Prashanth Chandrasekar and OpenAI’s Head of Developer Experience Romain Huet on how AI is transforming software work and the role of developers. Prashanth reflected on his journey from building early hospital management software in C++ to leading Stack Overflow and returning to hands-on coding with modern AI tools, framing generative AI as a platform shift on the scale of the internet. He argued that AI is not replacing developers but changing what it means to be one, creating effectively infinite demand for code and new applications across domains like drug discovery, while increasing the need for engineers who understand fundamentals and can guide, evaluate, and collaborate with AI agents. The discussion highlighted how enterprises are piloting and scaling AI, navigating security, privacy, and governance concerns, and using products like Stack Overflow for Teams plus OpenAI models to power internal assistants that tap institutional knowledge. Prashanth also described how Stack Overflow is evolving—introducing AI Assist, staging areas for questions, opinion-based discussions, and chat—to make learning more empathetic while preserving high-quality, trusted knowledge amid rising AI usage but uneven trust. He closed by advising engineers and universities alike to pair deep foundational skills with mastery of AI tools, emphasizing that those who can do both will be especially valuable as AI lowers the barrier to innovation and accelerates progress in high-impact fields.