Leslie found the following texts helpful for maintaining a broad AI cultural currency. The resources are ordered chronologically to ease updating, which will happen monthly. Enjoy!
Resources (* = podcast)
This batch of news discusses a flurry of new CA laws regulating AI, the new educational disruptions of AI agents, and more.
*Roose, K and Newton, C. (14 Nov. 2025). "Data Centers in Space + AI Policy on the Right + A Gemini History Mystery." [podcast] Hard Fork. New York Times Audio. Accessed 19 Nov. 2025.
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Yes, frontier model developers are researching putting data centers in space. The hosts also talk with Dean Ball, senior fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation and former White House senior policy adviser for artificial intelligence and emerging technology, about the variety of perspectives regarding AI on the political right.
*Inoue, T. and Senk, S. (13 Nov. 2025). "Episode 7:
Shaping the AI Narrative in Higher Education | Sci-Fi, ChatGPT & the Stories in Our Heads.
" My Robot Teacher Podcast. [podcast] CAlearninglab.org. Accessed 19 Nov. 2025.
*Inoue, T. and Senk, S. (late Oct. 2025). "Episode 6:
Algorithms Aren’t Neutral: Safiya Noble on AI, Bias, and Building Public‑Interest Technology
."
My Robot Teacher Podcast. [podcast] CAlearninglab.org. Accessed 19 Nov. 2025.
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Inoue and Senk interview Safiya Noble, author of Algorithms of Oppression, to discuss the entrenched biases in many technologies, including LLMs.
Mozur, P., Satariano, A., and Mega, E.R. (20 Oct. 2025). "From Mexico to Ireland, Fury Mounts Over a Global AI Frenzy." New York Times. Accessed 19 Nov. 2025.
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This collaborative investigation reports on correlations between water and energy shortages and AI Data Centers in vulnerable places.
Jacobs, A.J. (28 Oct. 2025). "48 Hours without AI." The New York Times. Accessed 19 Nov. 2025.
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This sometimes amusing, sometimes alarming, narrative of Jacob's attempt to avoid AI and machine learning for 48 hours enlightens readers to the myriad ways these technologies are embedded in our daily activities, including what we eat, wear, and move around.
*Frazier, K., Chowdhury, M., and Zhao, D. (14 Oct. 2025). "AI and Energy: What Do We Know? What Are We Learning?" Scaling Laws. [audio podcast]. Lawfaremedia.org. 19 Nov. 2025.
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Frasier, AI Innovation and Law Fellow at the U of Texas School of Law interviews scholars from the U of Michigan and MIT to learn more about the energy costs of a single ChatGPT query, how we might increase AI's energy efficiency, and the impact laws might have on containing AI's environmental costs.
Mills, A. (19 Oct. 2025). "The Time to Reckon with AI Agents in Digital Learning Spaces Is Now." Anna Mills' Substack. Substack. Accessed 22 Oct. 2025.
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Mills reviews the educational dangers of AI agents, which can enter Canvas to complete students' assignments (see short video), and then calls us to action: ask AI companies to block their agents from entering any LMS; ask institutional ITs to block AI agents
from entering their portals or LMSs.
Watkins, M. (17 Oct. 2025). "An Open Letter to PerplexityAI: Absolutely Don't Do This." Rhetorica. Substack. Accessed 22 October 2025.
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Watkins calls out PerplexityAI for shamelessly promoting their agentic AI to students for the purpose of cheating. Includes a short video demonstration.
*Roose, K and Newton, C. (17 Oct. 2025). "California Regulates AI Companions + OpenAI Investigates Its Critics + The Hard Fork Review of Slop." [podcast] Hard Fork. New York Times Audio. Accessed 22 October 2025.
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The Hard Fork podcast hosts review the achievements and limitations of CA SB 243, interview a non-profit leader subpoenaed by OpenAI, and review some of the enormous volume of "slop" they've encountered recently.
Bellan, R. (13 Oct. 2025). "California Becomes First State to Regulate AI Companion Chatbots." TechCrunch.com. Accessed 22 Oct. 2025.
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After several tragedies involving minors, Governor Newsom has signed SB 243, which compels AI companies to add guardrails to their AI Companion chatbots. Read about the new law here.
Legatt, A. (25 Sept 2025). "Colleges and Schools Must Block and Ban Agentic AI Browsers Now. Here's Why." Forbes. Accessed 23 Oct. 2025.
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Students can give Agentic AI like Perplexity Comet their campus credentials, and it can go into Canvas and complete their quizzes and assignments autonomously (see video). Legatt reports that FERPA rules place "responsibility for [students' data safety] lies squarely [on colleges].... Because these tools inherit saved credentials and authenticated sessions, they can move laterally into connected systems—student accounts, billing platforms, even financial aid portals."
