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Submission + - Nonprofit Led by Microsoft's AI-Is-Not-Optional Exec Seeks Same Policy for Kids

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Business Insider reports that Julia Liuson, president of the Microsoft division responsible for developer tools such as AI coding service GitHub Copilot, recently sent an email instructing managers to evaluate employee performance based on their use of internal AI tools. "AI is now a fundamental part of how we work," Liuson wrote. "Just like collaboration, data-driven thinking, and effective communication, using AI is no longer optional — it’s core to every role and every level." Liuson told managers that AI "should be part of your holistic reflections on an individual’s performance and impact."

Liuson is also a member of the tech exec and K-12 school administrator-laden Board of Code.org, the tech giant-funded nonprofit (Microsoft is a $25M+ Code.org Lifetime Supporter) that recently teamed with tech CEOs (led by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella) and leaders to launch a new Code.org-orchestrated national campaign to make CS and AI a graduation requirement. Other Code.org Board members include Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott, who helped forged Microsoft's alliance with OpenAI and whose assistant held Microsoft's controversial OpenAI Board 'observer' seat until the relationship came under regulatory scrutiny (OpenAI is a Code.org In-Kind Supporter and a supporter of Code.org's TeachAI initiative).

Microsoft has recently boasted of big AI and Copilot wins in the Los Angeles Unified School District (the nation's 2nd largest school district, with 409,000 students), which is led by Code.org Board member Alberto M. Carvalho, as well as the Broward County Public Schools (247,000 students, touted as " the largest K–12 adoption of Microsoft Copilot in the world"), which was formerly led by Code.org Board member Robert Runcie. What about Google? Well, it's bringing its AI chatbots to 105,000 students at the Miami-Dade County Public Schools (the nation’s third-largest school district).

The tech industry-driven K-12 AI frenzy of 2025 certainly evokes memories of the tech industry-driven K-12 CS frenzy of 2013, when Code.org emerged on the scene — with Microsoft President Brad Smith and Head of Google.org Maggie Johnson as founding Board members — and quickly scored partnerships with the New York City Public Schools (the nation's largest school district), Chicago Public Schools, and Broward County Public Schools. Given the much-bigger population of potential AI users and creators, as well as the staggering sums of money at stake, will the K-12 AI frenzy put the K-12 CS frenzy to shame?

Submission + - Jeff Bezos's Big Fat Venetian Wedding

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: The NY Times reports: "On Friday, Venice's canals filled with polished motorboats bearing Hollywood stars, millionaires and Khloé Kardashian in a cape of pink feathers as they headed to Jeff Bezos’ wedding to Lauren Sánchez. [...] Despite his efforts to have a private if star-studded multimillion-dollar wedding in Venice, Mr. Bezos’ wealth and powerful connections left the couple’s thoroughly curated celebrations caught up in an intensely political and moral debate. [...] The result was an over-the-top party in one of the world’s most stunning cities mixing Hollywood, Silicon Valley, Ivanka Trump and political overtones."

GeekWire reports that an SEC filing made public on the couple's wedding day announced Bezos is selling another $5.4 billion worth of Amazon stock, so the newlyweds will have no problem covering the bills from their celebration, which reportedly cost around $50 million.

Submission + - Zuck's FWD.us Warns U.S. Families They Can't Afford Immigration Policy Changes

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: FWD.us, the immigration and criminal justice-focused nonprofit of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg — the world's third richest person according to Forbes with an estimated $250B net worth — has released a new research report warning that announced immigration policies will hurt American families, who can't afford it with their meager savings.

The report begins: "Inflation remains a top concern for the majority of Americans. But new immigration policies announced by President Trump, and already underway, such as revoking immigrant work permits, deporting millions of people, and limiting legal immigration, would directly undermine the goal to level out, or even lower, the costs of everyday and essential goods and services. In fact, all Americans, particularly working-class families, are about to unnecessarily see prices for goods and services like food and housing increase substantially again, above and beyond other economic policies like global tariffs that could also raise prices. Announced immigration policies will result in American families paying an additional $2,150 for goods and services each year by the end of 2028, or the equivalent of the average American family’s grocery bill for 3 months or their combined electricity and gas bills for the entire year. Such an annual increase would represent a tax that would erase many American families’ annual savings, and amount to one of their bi-weekly paychecks each year. Unlike past periods of inflation, Americans have not been saving at the same rate as earlier years, and can’t as easily absorb these price increases, squeezing American budgets even further."

In 2021, Zuckerberg's FWD.us teamed with the nation's tech giants to file a brief with the Supreme Court case to help crush WashTech (a tiny programmers' union), who challenged the lawfulness of hiring international students under the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program. "Striking down OPT and STEM OPT," FWD.us and its tech giant partners argued in their filing, "would create a sudden labor shortage in the United States for many companies' most important technical jobs" and "hurt U.S. workers." The brief also dismissed WashTech's contention that the programs coupled with a talent surplus would shut U.S. workers out of the labor market, citing Microsoft's President Brad Smith's claim of an acute talent shortage and a 2.4% unemployment rate for computer occupations (that was then, this is now).

Submission + - The Computer-Science Bubble Is Bursting

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: "The job of the future might already be past its prime," writes The Atlantic's Rose Horowitch in The Computer-Science Bubble Is Bursting. "For years, young people seeking a lucrative career were urged to go all in on computer science. From 2005 to 2023, the number of comp-sci majors in the United States quadrupled. All of which makes the latest batch of numbers so startling. This year, enrollment grew by only 0.2 percent nationally, and at many programs, it appears to already be in decline, according to interviews with professors and department chairs. At Stanford, widely considered one of the country’s top programs, the number of comp-sci majors has stalled after years of blistering growth. Szymon Rusinkiewicz, the chair of Princeton’s computer-science department, told me that, if current trends hold, the cohort of graduating comp-sci majors at Princeton is set to be 25 percent smaller in two years than it is today. The number of Duke students enrolled in introductory computer-science courses has dropped about 20 percent over the past year."

"But if the decline is surprising, the reason for it is fairly straightforward: Young people are responding to a grim job outlook for entry-level coders. In recent years, the tech industry has been roiled by layoffs and hiring freezes. The leading culprit for the slowdown is technology itself. Artificial intelligence has proved to be even more valuable as a writer of computer code than as a writer of words. This means it is ideally suited to replacing the very type of person who built it. A recent Pew study found that Americans think software engineers will be most affected by generative AI. Many young people aren’t waiting to find out whether that’s true."

Meanwhile, writing in the Communications of the ACM, Orit Hazzan and Avi Salmon ask: Should Universities Raise or Lower Admission Requirements for CS Programs in the Age of GenAI? "This debate raises a key dilemma: should universities raise admission standards for computer science programs to ensure that only highly skilled problem-solvers enter the field, lower them to fill the gaps left by those who now see computer science as obsolete due to GenAI, or restructure them to attract excellent candidates with diverse skill sets who may not have considered computer science prior to the rise of GenAI, but who now, with the intensive GenAI and vibe coding tools supporting programming tasks, may consider entering the field?"

Submission + - Microsoft Says It's In an AI Relationship With L.A. Schools

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Last July, following the collapse of the company that created the ill-fated AI chatbot 'Ed' for the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), Government Technology reported that LAUSD Supt. Alberto Carvalho vowed to move ahead with LAUSD's venture into artificial intelligence. Less than a year later, Microsoft reports it's bringing AI literacy and skilling to educators and 409,000 students at LAUSD (and across the US) through its partnership with the tech-backed nonprofit Code.org. "Importantly, school districts like LAUSD do not approach this new frontier on their own," Microsoft explains in a LinkedIn post. "Code.org and Microsoft act as thought partners, such as through multidisciplinary task forces, and provide ready-to-implement resources so school districts do not have to start from scratch." LAUSD Director of Educational Technology and Innovation Dominic Caguioa adds, “Code.org and Microsoft bring the technical infrastructure and knowledge base around what AI education can look like in K-12 school districts. These two organizations help us have a global perspective and improve our initiatives around edtech and AI.”

LAUSD Supt. Carvalho is a member of Code.org's Board of Directors, which he joined in the summer of 2022 together with Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott, who helped forge Microsoft's AI strategy. Microsoft is a $30+ million Code.org 'Lifetime Sponsor' (Microsoft President Brad Smith was a founding Code.org Board member). In July 2023, Carvhalo informed LAUSD Board Members that the District would "join the national Teach AI coalition [TeachAI is a Code.org-led and seed-funded effort supported by Microsoft, OpenAI, Amazon, Meta, and others] to contribute to the guidelines, policies, and practices for safely using AI in education." In an update on the District's AI efforts later that year, Carvhalo advised Board Members that LAUSD was leveraging "partnerships with ISTE, Code.org, and the AI Education Project to provide policy, professional learning, and school-site support and resources." A pitch deck for a May 2024 LAUSD AI Task Force meeting touted Code.org's AI curriculum, as well as its AI Teaching Assistant and an AI Tutor ("coming soon").

On its website, LAUSD's Instructional Technology Initiative department explains it leverages key partnerships with tech-backed nonprofit Code.org, Amazon, and Google to stretch its "finite budget to support all learners." LAUSD is a Code.org District and Regional Partner, and both Code.org and Google have employees on LAUSD's AI Task Force. Last year, Carvalho joined Code.org CEO Hadi Partovi and Amazon Music's Director of Global Programming for Mike Tierney in a PR campaign that launched Code.org's Music Lab, which was developed through an educational partnership with Amazon (like Microsoft, Amazon is a $30+ million Code.org 'Lifetime Sponsor'). Music Lab, Carvalho said in a press release, "helps to bring joy and curiosity into the classroom, while also preparing students with essential computer science skills." Last month, Code.org launched Unlock8, a campaign with tech Leaders led by Microsoft CEO Nadella that aims to make CS and AI a graduation requirement.

Submission + - NYT: Inside DOGE's Chaotic Takeover of Social Security

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: In The Bureaucrat and the Billionaire: Inside DOGE’s Chaotic Takeover of Social Security, the New York Times begins: "Throughout the early months of this Trump presidency, Mr. Musk and his allies systematically built a false narrative of widespread fraud at the Social Security Administration based on misinterpreted data, using their claims to justify an aggressive effort to gain access to personal information on millions of Americans, a New York Times investigation has found. [...] At Social Security, Mr. Musk’s efforts amount to a case study in what happened when his team of government novices ran a critical government agency through misinformation and social media blasts. The Times’s investigation found that Mr. Musk became fixated on the program in early February after members of his team misread government spending data — a pivotal and previously unreported moment that DOGE believed had exposed massive fraud inside the agency." (Spoiler Alert: Things only go downhill from there.)

Submission + - Microsoft Spins $4M Dept. of Education Grant Into an Ad for Minecraft

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: If you believe Coding, Creativity and the New Digital Fluency — "sponsored content from Minecraft Education" published by EdSurge and penned by Laylah Bulman, a senior program manager at Minecraft Education — the way to a child's creative coding heart is through Microsoft Minecraft. "One example of creative coding comes from a curriculum that introduces computer science through game design and storytelling in Minecraft, a game-based learning platform used by millions of students worldwide," writes EdSurge. "Developed by Urban Arts in collaboration with Minecraft Education, the program offers middle school teachers professional development, ongoing coaching and a 72-session curriculum built around game-based instruction. Designed for grades 6-8, the project-based program is beginner-friendly; no prior programming experience is required for teachers or students. It blends storytelling, collaborative design and foundational programming skills with a focus on creativity and equity."

The Urban Arts and Microsoft Creative Coders program touted by EdSurge in its advertorial was funded by a $4 million Education Innovation and Research (EIR) grant that was awarded to Urban Arts in 2023 by the U.S. Dept. of Education "to create an engaging, game-based, middle school CS course using Minecraft tools" for 3,450 middle schoolers (6th-8th grades)" in New York and California (Urban Arts credited Minecraft for helping craft the winning proposal). A year prior, at the 2022 grand opening of the Microsoft Garage in New York City, Urban Arts alums pitched NYC Mayor Eric Adams on the idea that game development education can prepare public school students for the modern workplace as Microsoft President Brad Smith looked on. New York City is a Minecraft Education believer — the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment recently kicked off summer with the inaugural NYC Video Game Festival, which included the annual citywide Minecraft Education Battle of the Boroughs Esports Competition in partnership with NYC Public Schools.

Interestingly, the $4M in federal funding for Creative Coders — as well as $8M in earlier EIR grants awarded to Urban Arts for STEM education — may have been unlocked thanks to the efforts of Microsoft and Smith. In his 2019 book Tools and Weapons, Microsoft President Brad Smith indicated Microsoft made a $50 million K-12 CS education spending pledge to secure Ivanka Trump's assistance in persuading Donald Trump to sign a 2017 presidential order "to ensure that federal funding [$1 billion] from the Department of Education helps advance [K-12] computer science," including via EIR STEM+CS grants.

Submission + - EdSurge Touts Minecraft for 'Creative Coding' in Microsoft-Sponsored Advertorial

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: In Coding, Creativity and the New Digital Fluency ("sponsored content from Minecraft Education"), EdSurge reports: "One example of creative coding comes from a curriculum that introduces computer science through game design and storytelling in Minecraft, a game-based learning platform used by millions of students worldwide. Developed by Urban Arts in collaboration with Minecraft Education, the program offers middle school teachers professional development, ongoing coaching and a 72-session curriculum built around game-based instruction. Designed for grades 6-8, the project-based program is beginner-friendly; no prior programming experience is required for teachers or students. It blends storytelling, collaborative design and foundational programming skills with a focus on creativity and equity."

The Urban Arts and Microsoft Creative Coders program touted by EdSurge was awarded a $3,999,988 Education Innovation and Research (EIR) grant last year by the U.S. Dept. of Education "to create an engaging, game-based, middle school CS course using Minecraft tools" for 3,450 middle schoolers (6th-8th grades)." Interestingly, that federal funding may have been unlocked by Microsoft — in his 2019 book Tools and Weapons, Microsoft President Brad Smith credited a $50 million K-12 CS pledge made to Ivanka Trump by Microsoft as the key to getting Donald Trump to sign a 2017 presidential order "to ensure that federal funding [$1 billion over 5 years] from the Department of Education helps advance [K-12] computer science," including via EIR grants. At the 2022 grand opening of the Microsoft Garage in New York City, Urban Arts alums told Smith and NYC Mayor Eric Adams how game development education can prepare public school students for the modern workplace, a pitch that certainly seemed to work. Two weeks ago, the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) kicked off summer with the inaugural NYC Video Game Festival (NYCVGF), which included the annual Minecraft Education Battle of the Boroughs Esports Competition in partnership with NYC Public Schools.

Submission + - New Code.org Curriculum Aims to Make Schoolkids Python-Literate and AI-Ready

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: The old Code.org curriculum page for middle and high school students has been changed to include a new Python Lab in the tech-backed nonprofit's K-12 offerings. Elsewhere on the site, a Computer Science and AI Foundations curriculum is described that includes units on 'Foundations of AI Programming [in Python]' and 'Insights from Data and AI [aka Data Science].' A more-detailed AI Foundations Syllabus 25-26 document promises a second semester of material is coming soon: "This semester offers an innovative approach to teaching programming by integrating learning with and about artificial intelligence (AI). Using Python as the primary language, students build foundational programming skills while leveraging AI tools to enhance computational thinking and problem-solving. The curriculum also introduces students to the basics of creating AI-powered programs, exploring machine learning, and applying data science principles."

Newly-posted videos on Code.org's YouTube channel appear to be intended to support the new Python-based CS & AI course. "Python is extremely versatile," explains a Walmart data scientist to open the video for Data Science: Using Python. "So, first of all, Python is one of the very few languages that can handle numbers very, very well." A researcher at the Univ. of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) adds, "Python is the gold standard and what people expect data scientists to know [...] Key to us being able to handle really big data sets is our use of Python and cluster computing." Adding to the Python love, an IHME data analyst explains, "Python is a great choice for large databases because there's a lot of support for Python libraries."

Code.org is currently recruiting teachers to attend its CS and AI Foundations Professional Learning program this summer, which is being taught by Code.org's national network of university and nonprofit regional partners (teachers who signup have a chance to win $250 in DonorsChoose credits for their classrooms). A flyer for a five-day Michigan Professional Development program to prepare teachers for a pilot of the Code.org CS & A course touts the new curriculum as "an alternative to the AP [Computer Science] pathway" (teachers are offered scholarships covering registration, lodging, meals, & workshop materials).

Interestingly, Code.org's embrace of Python and Data Science comes as the nonprofit changes its mission to 'make CS and AI a core part of K-12 education' and launches a new national campaign with tech leaders to make CS and AI a graduation requirement. Prior to AI changing the education conversation, Code.org in 2021 boasted that it had lined up a consortium of tech giants, politicians, and educators to push its new $15 million Amazon-bankrolled Java AP CS A curriculum into K-12 classrooms. Just three years later, however, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy was boasting to investors that Amazon had turned to AI to automatically do Java coding that he claimed would have otherwise taken human coders 4,500 developer-years to complete.

Submission + - "King of the Hill" Returns to TV After 15 Years

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Hulu has released the first-look at the "King of the Hill" revival, marking the show's return to TV after 15 years. The 14th season of the animated series will debut on Aug. 4. Returning as an actor and executive producer is original series co-creator Mike Judge, whose past work has included TV and movie faves Silicon Valley, Idiocracy, Office Space, and Beavis and Butt-Head.

The setup: "After years working a propane job in Saudi Arabia to earn their retirement nest egg, Hank and Peggy Hill return to a changed Arlen, Texas to reconnect with old friends Dale, Boomhauer and Bill. Meanwhile, Bobby is living his dream as a chef in Dallas and enjoying his 20s with his former classmates Connie, Joseph and Chane."

Submission + - Code.org Changes Mission to "Make CS and AI a Core Part of K–12 Education"

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Way back in 2010, Microsoft and Google teamed with nonprofit partners to launch Computing in the Core, an advocacy coalition whose mission was "to strengthen computing education and ensure that it is a core subject for students in the 21st century." In 2013, Computing in the Core was merged into Code.org, a new tech-backed-and-directed nonprofit. And in 2015, Code.org declared 'Mission Accomplished' with the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act, which elevated computer science to a core academic subject for grades K-12.

Fast forward to June 2025 and Code.org has changed its About page to reflect a new AI mission that's near-and-dear to the hearts of Code.org's tech giant donors and tech leader Board members: "Code.org® is a nonprofit working to make computer science (CS) and artificial intelligence (AI) a core part of K–12 education for every student." The mission change comes as tech companies are looking to chop headcount amid the AI boom and just weeks after tech CEOs and leaders launched a new Code.org-orchestrated national campaign to make CS and AI a graduation requirement.

Comment AI-for-AI's-Sake a Different Kind of Nightmare? (Score 2) 74

While not nightmarish in the traditional sense, films that just use AI for AI's sake, as in the "This Town Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" 2-minute Google I/O intro film (look kids, a giant rubber duckie in the Old West - isn't that amazing!) probably won't get most folks excited about AI.

Comment Evidence of AI Coding Efficacy (Score 1) 101

by theodp (#65403843) Attached to: Is AI Turning Coders Into Bystanders in Their Own Jobs?

As far as evidence of AI coding efficacy goes, the NYT article cites a recent a paper by six economists - all but one current/former Microsoft Research employees - which concludes with findings that software engineers may find less than impressive: "Our preferred estimates from an instrumental variable regression suggest that usage of the coding assistant causes a 26.08% (SE: 10.3%) increase in the weekly number of completed tasks [economist-speak for weekly pull requests] for those using the tool. When we look at outcomes of secondary interest, our results support this interpretation, with a 13.55% (SE: 10.0%) increase in the number of code updates (commits) and a 38.38% (SE: 12.55%) increase in the number of times code was compiled. For Microsoft we observe both the developersâ(TM) tenure and their seniority as measured by job title. We find that Copilot significantly raises task completion for more recent hires and those in more junior positions but not for developers with longer tenure and in more senior positions." The Appendices include an email sent to study participants from Microsoft informing them that they were selected for the 'Copilot dogfood experiment' being conducted by the 'Office of Chief Economist.'

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