A new report from Harvard’s Center for Digital Thriving dug into how AI is changing the classroom. The top issue is no surprise: kids using AI to cheat, and teachers struggling to (accurately) catch it.

But wow, are there layers to this:

And all this is culminating into an eroding trust between teachers and students - in both directions.

My thoughts: Whoa. If you know your kid’s teacher, maybe buy them a coffee this week, because this is tough.

And what’s more, they’re being asked to do two opposite jobs at once. On the one hand, they’re teaching our kids how to think (with their OWN brains), and on the other, they’re preparing them for a workforce that increasingly expects AI know-how.

And so, I don’t think the answer can be black and white (aka hard rules or AI bans). Rather, it’s a matter of agency and transparency: coaching kids to make smart AI calls based on their values, and mutual transparency of AI use. (And, as I’ve said before, more in-class, device-free assessments and less graded homework.)

But also… coffee.

Last weekend, hackers broke into the fridge controls at hundreds of French supermarkets and cranked up the heat. Food spoiled, and some fridges even caught fire. They were able to hack in through old equipment that no longer got security updates.

That same day, Anthropic’s safety team shared some pretty unsettling research: small AI models may be just months away from being able to spread themselves across cheap smart-home devices, much like a computer worm.

It raises concern about all those internet-connected gadgets around our homes that we rarely think about, let alone update. And so, it might be time for us to do a little digital housekeeping. While I’m not a home cybersecurity expert, here’s what the actual experts at CISA (our government’s cyber defence agency) and the FBI recommend:

Those of you who know me know I have a love for karaoke, and dream of being in a rock band with my boys. I don’t have a good voice (totally the opposite), I just love the feeling of letting go and singing my heart out. Well, turns out I’m not crazy - singing together is really good for us… and our relationships.

When Oxford researchers followed adult classes for seven months, the singing groups bonded much faster than the craft and creative writing groups. They called it “the ice-breaker effect.” In a randomized trial, new moms with postnatal depression recovered much faster after 10 weeks of group singing with their babies.

You might be wondering where I’m going with this but guess what… tomorrow (Oct 17) is World Singing Day! So here’s the challenge: sing one song out loud, together. (If you’re lucky, it would just so happen that you have a birthday party to attend LOL). And if you’re REALLY brave, join or host an official singing event. 💪

Time to dust off the karaoke machine…

I know it is a beloved holiday, but I’m honestly not the biggest fan of Halloween. And a big reason for this is Spirit Halloween, and the fact that I end up dropping $200 there each year for my boys’ costumes. That they wear literally once.

I’m not sure what the hang-up/aversion is to recycling costumes, but at least in our house, there has been zero interest in wearing a costume from a prior year. No, it must be "cool, funny, and very on-trend.”

Here’s something to try: get great, new costume inspo based on the costume pieces you already have.

To try:

Earth’s atmosphere blocks most ultraviolet light, so the only way to see the sky in UV is from space. NASA’s GALEX telescope spent a decade trying and still missed about a third of it, including the brightest stretch of the Milky Way.

This month, an astrophysicist used Claude to stitch together 38,000 old images and fill in the gaps, creating the first complete UV map of the sky. It’s really cool - showing dust glowing around newborn stars, and giant rings left behind by exploding ones.

The creator calls it a valuable educational tool, giving students a brand new view of the universe.

And, on the more ridiculous side of “whoa,” California found itself banning robot v human cage fighting before things got out of control. What world do we live in?!

Watch at your own risk