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Submission + - LA Schools Chief Resigns Amid FBI Probe Into Failed K-12 AI Chatbot Company

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: "Four years after leaving Miami-Dade County Public Schools for one of the nation’s most prominent education jobs, Alberto Carvalho has resigned as superintendent of Los Angeles schools amid an FBI investigation," reports the Miami Herald. "The FBI has conducted raids on Carvalho’s Los Angeles home and office as part of a probe into a multimillion-dollar contract awarded to a failed AI-focused education company [AllHere Education]. Investigators also raided the Broward County home of a lobbyist connected to the deal. Carvalho led Miami-Dade public schools for 14 years before joining Los Angeles Unified School District in Feb. 2022. The lobbyist, Debra Kerr, had previously sold hundreds of thousands worth of textbooks to the Miami-Dade County school district and was retained as a salesperson for the startup chatbot company when it dealt with the Los Angeles district."

In What Will It Take to Get A.I. Out of Schools?, The New Yorker's Jessica Winter points out that "Carvalho, who has denied any wrongdoing, is also on the board of [tech-backed nonprofit] Code.org [recently rebranded to CodeAI], purveyors of Mix & Move with AI," Code.org's signature tutorial for its 2025 Hour of AI, which was built on the Carvalho-endorsed Music Lab, Code.org's signature tutorial for its 2024 Hour of Code that was developed with Amazon ("Code.org has mastered the art of bringing joy and curiosity into the classroom," Carvalho gushed in a press release, "while preparing students with essential computer science skills, and Music Lab is the perfect example.”). Winter is not as big a fan of the nonprofit's edtech software as Carvalho, writing that the "Certificate of Completion," her 3rd grader brought home from school for "demonstrating an understanding of the basic concepts of Artificial Intelligence" was for "playing a computer game produced by the nonprofit Code.org in partnership with Amazon Future Engineer, called Mix & Move with AI, in which the student 'designs' a cartoon dancer and 'remixes' a popular song—available, needless to say, on Amazon Music. The game is an inane drag-and-drop affair that has little to do with A.I.; the certificate, it turned out, was merely a memento of a pointless and deceptive branding exercise [Amazon is a $30+ million Code.org Lifetime Supporter]."

Carvalho has been scrubbed from the Code.org Board of Directors page — archive.org webpage captures suggest a change was made on Wednesday, three days after his Sunday resignation and on the same day that Carvalho's replacement was named by the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). Curiously, the Miami Herald earlier reported a firm registered to current Code.org Board Member and former Broward County (FL) Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie is listed as a creditor in bankruptcy files for AllHere Education, the provider of LAUSD's failed "Ed" AI chatbot that's at the center of the FBI investigation.

And on Tuesday — two days after Carvalho's resignation — LAUSD banned screen time before the second grade and enacted limited use for older students, among the strictest policies in the nation, reflecting growing backlash from parents and educators concerned about an over-reliance on computers and technology in K-12 learning.

Comment Re:Greedflation Rate of 56%? (Score 1) 122

by theodp (#66212530) Attached to: Apple Raises Prices On Macs, iPads, and More By Hundreds of Dollars

OK perhaps a bit sensationalistic, but not that much worse than all the current Startup Math and AI Math you see these days.
 
Still, Apple issuing a 16%+ price increase about 100 days after launch does have a bad smell to it. It also highlights the scarcity problems that AI is introducing for memory, GPUs, computers, electricity, water, land, and even funding, as well as raises questions about whether AI capitalism is better serving the desires of profit-seeking tech giants rather than meeting the needs of society in general.

Submission + - College Board Announces AI-Focused AP CS Principles Course Redesign for 2027-28

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Two days after tech-backed nonprofit Code.org completed "switching hats" from coding to AI with its announced rebranding as CodeAI, the College Board followed suit, announcing plans to 'modernize' the high school AP Computer Science Principles curriculum with AI. From the College Board's "Dear Colleague" letter announcement:

"We’re writing to share some exciting news about the design of AP Computer Science Principles (CSP) for the 2027-28 school year," begins a June 4th College Board announcement to educators. "Given the rapidly evolving technology landscape and especially the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), the AP Program will redesign the course and exam to meet the moment. Through the redesign, students will have an opportunity to learn about AI concepts and apply them immediately, while still maintaining a focus on the fundamentals of coding."

"This redesign will: 1. Modernize AP CSP with AI while maintaining its core structure. The AP Program has partnered with key organizations to identify high-priority AI skills and concepts and embed AI throughout the course sequence. 2. Update the existing project and add a second project. Students will learn AI concepts, practice AI tools, and demonstrate their understanding in a culminating AI Design Project. This new project will be offered alongside a revised and updated Code Create Project. 3. Enhance the exam with questions on AI. The AP CSP Exam will also change to include exam questions that assess understanding of AI, as well as the new AI Design Project, which provides an opportunity for students to creatively demonstrate their understanding of AI logic."

"This redesign ensures that all students develop foundational AI skills aligned to how computing is evolving. The result is a course that is more career-relevant and better aligned to the future of computer science, equipping students with the skills they need to be ahead of the curve. These changes won’t affect the 2026-27 school year. The redesigned course framework will be available in fall 2026."

Submission + - WA State, IRS Records Show Code.org Became CodeAI Months Before Announcement

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: On June 2nd, computer science education nonprofit Code.org ("the leading provider of K-12 AI and CS education curriculum across the globe") rebranded itself as CodeAI, solidifying the tech-backed nonprofit's shift to AI education. Not everyone was pleased, including one commenter who noted that the CodeAI rebranding was followed by a June 4th College Board announcement of an AP CS Principles course redesign to modernize AP CSP with AI for the 2027-28 school year.

The move came 13 years after Code.org launched with the belief "that every student should learn the basics of computer programming." In a video announcing the rebranding, Code.org Founder & Chairman of the Board Hadi Partovi explained, "We have a responsibility to prepare the next generation for the biggest change In society since the invention of public education. [...] Starting today, Code.org becomes CodeAI." Code.org also immediately disbanded its nine-year-old, 100+ member Code.org Advocacy Coalition, explaining in a June 3rd video conference that members could either apply to join a new CodeAI Advocacy Coalition that will be "bringing in new AI focused entities that will help us advance this mission", or go their own way if they are "not in line with the direction that CodeAI is heading."

Interestingly, WA State Dept. of Revenue records indicate that Code.org became CodeAI in the eyes of WA state on February 6th, nearly four months earlier than the June 2nd public announcement. And Code.org's 2024 990 filing, dated March 10th, informed the IRS it was doing business as CodeAI. The filings provide new context for the timing of earlier organizational changes at the nonprofit, including the Code.org Chief Academic Officer's jump to Microsoft on January 12th (where he later penned an 'obituary' for 'coders' on Feb. 26), the layoff of 18 Code.org employees 'to ensure long-term sustainability' that was reported on January 21st, and the shakeup in its top leadership ranks that it announced on February 20th.

The apparent decision by Code.org to keep details of its planned 'next chapter' as CodeAI and its mission realignment from educators, partners, and the public until the end of the school year would seem at odds with its self-proclaimed core value of transparency ("We are accountable to and transparent with our team, Board, donors, facilitators, partners, teachers, and community. [...] We proactively share information, research, data, processes, decisions, and results."). Interestingly, the after-the-fact CodeAI rebranding reveal comes as Code.org lead donors Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Meta have increasingly been facing and responding to regulatory and community-driven demands for greater transparency around their AI efforts, particularly regarding AI data center secrecy.

Submission + - Zuckerberg on Meta's North Star: "The Most Talented People in the World" Matter

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: In Meta’s New AI Unit Is a Total Mess (alt source), WIRED reports that executives and employees alike are struggling with Meta’s chaotic AI strategy, according to sources and internal discussions it reviewed. On Friday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a memo addressed widespread dissatisfaction with how Meta assembled its Applied AI unit of about 6,500 "draftee" engineers and product managers and the drudgework they allege they have been assigned to improve AI models.

Zuckerberg suggested the team was a waypoint, not a destination. “Work like AAI is critical to advancing our models and it lets very talented people contribute to those efforts while we create other roles they can contribute to around Meta over the coming months as well,” he wrote. "Meta’s north star is to be the best place for the most talented people in the world to make an impact." Last month, it was reported that Zuckerberg purportedly explained on leaked audio that Meta settled on tracking its own employees' keystrokes, mouse clicks, and screenshots for AI training, saying: “We are using this to feed a very large amount of content into the AI model, so that way it can learn how smart people use computers to accomplish tasks. I think that this is going to be a very big advantage if we can do it.” He added: "The average intelligence of the people who are at this company is significantly higher than the average set of people."

Zuckerberg also reiterated a vow to not carry out additional mass layoffs this year. He introduced a plan to limit the number of employees per manager, which on some teams, such as Applied AI, had deliberately ballooned to a ratio of 50 to one. Budgets for team events would increase, he said, and a large hackathon planned for next month could also help bring the company together. By the end of the year, employees in many locations would have assigned desks again, the CEO wrote.

Submission + - Microsoft President Likens AI Haters to 19th Century Neoclassical French Painter

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: In AI, jobs, and the next generation, Microsoft President Brad Smith responds to the recent booing of AI by graduates during commencement addresses by curiously likening today's AI naysayers to a 19th century French painter who lamented that photography would adversely affect artists' careers (similar arguments about AI are working their way through the Courts today).

Smith begins: "In 1838, the invention of the camera sparked predictions that photography would make artists obsolete. When the noted French painter Paul Delaroche first saw an early photograph on a metal plate, he declared that “From today, painting is dead!” As he reasoned, why would anyone pay an artist to slowly and laboriously paint a scene when a camera could do the job more accurately, more quickly, and at a lower cost? This question has echoed through technological shifts and has resurfaced with intensity in recent weeks, as university students graduated on campuses across the United States. Today’s topic obviously is not photography but the societal impact of artificial intelligence."

Not to worry, Smith says: "The good news is that human ambition is irrepressible. It has been almost 300 years since the start of the first industrial revolution, and technology has changed many times over. But there is more human creativity at work in the world today than ever before. A trip to an art museum shows this is true even for the impact of the camera on painting. The invention of the camera initially led to a decline in portrait painting. But even that made a comeback. More remarkable was the way accurate photos spurred new forms of artistic expression. By the 1870s, photography’s 'artificial eye' led a new generation of artists to portray emotion rather than detail. Impressionist artists captured the effects of light, color, and atmosphere in ways that a camera shutter could not. New artistic movements followed – Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, Cubism, and Surrealism – and continue today, expanding what it means to be an artist. As it turns out, few things are as resilient as human creativity."

In closing, Smith offers "a second message for today’s graduates: you’re in a unique position to have a positive impact. You’ve lived through significant challenges. While it may feel unfair that the job market is so uncertain, you were made for this moment. Technology is second nature to your generation. Constant change has taught you how to adapt quickly. As AI reshapes how we work, you don’t need to unlearn decades of habits the way some of us do. You are better equipped to move forward."

Submission + - Failing CS Grades Soar at UC Berkeley as Professors See Greater AI Usage

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: "The percentage of failing grades in multiple UC Berkeley computer science classes in spring 2026 is significantly higher than past semesters and marks a departure from the department’s grading guidelines, reports The Daily Californian's Litong Deng. "Instructors point to students’ increased reliance on AI, lack of mathematical preparedness and understaffing as potential contributing factors. According to Berkeleytime, 35.3% of CS 10 students and 10.6% of CS 61A students received F’s in spring 2026. In spring 2025 and spring 2024, the percentage of F’s did not exceed 10% for either class. The electrical engineering and computer sciences department’s grading guidelines state that 7% of students in lower division courses, including CS 10 and CS 61A, should receive D’s and F’s."

"UC Berkeley teaching professor Dan Garcia taught both CS 10, 'The Beauty and Joy of Computing,' and CS 61A, 'The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs,' in spring 2026. Garcia believes the 'primary driver' of these abnormally high failing rates is due to a 'vast increase in academic dishonesty' due to students’ usage of large language models, such as Claude, ChatGPT and Google Gemini."

The report came just a day after tech-backed nonprofit Code.org, which bills itself as "the leading provider of K-12 AI and CS education curriculum across the globe", rebranded itself to CodeAI, solidifying its shift to AI education. "This is the generation that will set the terms for how AI is used," said Code.org CEO Karim Meghji in a press release. "Some are being taught to understand it, direct it, question it, and create with it. Most are not. That's the gap CodeAI exists to close."

Submission + - R.I.P. Code.org (2013–2026)

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: This week saw tech-backed K-12 CS education nonprofit Code.org rebrand itself as CodeAI (press release), solidifying its shift to AI education more than a decade after it launched in 2013 with the belief "that every student should learn the basics of computer programming." Of the AI rebranding, Code.org Founder and Chairman of The Board Hadi Partovi explained, "We have a responsibility to prepare the next generation for the biggest change In society since the invention of public education."

Following the announcement, members of the Code.org Advocacy Coalition were informed in a conference call that the nine-year-old coalition was being sunsetted immediately. Members will be asked to decide if they want to join a new CodeAI Advocacy Coalition, which will be "bringing in new AI focused entities that will help us advance this mission", or if they are "not in line with the direction that CodeAI is heading" and are "not going to be part of the new advocacy coalition." Much like their tech giant donors, the message sent was it's the AI way or the highway.

Interestingly, the pivot from CS education to AI literacy comes amid reports that blamed increased reliance on AI for causing more than 35% of UC Berkeley students to fail an entry-level CS course described as "a gentle but thorough introduction to computer science," when previously the failing rate was typically 7%.

Submission + - Code.org Rebrands to CodeAI, Disbands Its K-12 CS Education Advocacy Coalition

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: "The Code.org Advocacy Coalition is growing the movement to make Computer Science a fundamental part of the K-12 education," explained tech-backed nonprofit Code.org in 2018. Eight years later, that mission — which began in 2013 — has changed. On Monday, Code.org rebranded as CodeAI (press release), solidifying its shift to AI education. And on Tuesday, members of the Code.org Advocacy Coalition were rounded up for a conference call and informed that their 100+ organization group was being disbanded and from here on in it'll be the AI Way or the Highway for current members.

From the transcript: "We're now at a crossroads. AI is completely transforming all of society, including education and especially computer science. In the past, the focus of computer science was coding. Today, the focus is AI. [...] Preparing every student for the age of AI requires a broader vision. Starting today, Code.org is CodeAI. [...] We're moving into the next chapter. So, just to be clear, we are sunsetting the Code.org Advocacy Coalition. This will be our last meeting of the Code.org advocacy coalition. We will be standing up the CodeAI advocacy coalition. [...] [Expect an email] giving you a chance to say 'Our organization is in line with the direction that Code AI is heading and we want to be part of those advocacy efforts. But it also gives your organization a chance to say, 'You know what? We're not in line with the direction that CodeAI is heading, so we're not going to be part of the new advocacy coalition.' [...] We are also going to be focused on bringing in new AI focused entities that will help us advance this mission."

Or, to paraphrase Ken Kesey, "You're either on the K-12 AI literacy bus or off the K-12 AI literacy bus."

Submission + - Code.org Rebrands as CodeAI, Solidifying its Shift to AI Education

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: The rise of AI has been changing the focus of Code.org for the past two years. And on Tuesday, GeekWire reported the tech-backed K-12 CS education nonprofit fully acknowledged the shift and rebranded as CodeAI.

Code.org founder Hadi Partovi — who handed off his Code.org CEO role earlier this year citing the upending of CS by AI and recently revealed to 60 Minutes and USA Today that he has for the past two years been the CEO of stealth piano school startup Payam Music, which he plans to expand nationally "leveraging my experience scaling CodeAI to 100 million students" — explained the rebranding in a LinkedIn post:

"Code.org is changing its name. 13 years ago, Code.org launched with a simple idea: every student should learn computer science — to learn how technology works and how to create it — not just how to use it. After more than 2 billion hours of learning and 190 countries later, the focus of computer science has moved from coding to AI. The technology has changed and so has students needs. AI is reshaping every sector and every part of daily life. The question isn't whether students will live in an AI world — they already do. It's whether they can understand it well enough to navigate it."

"Today, Code.org enters its next chapter as CodeAI [TM]. The mission — every student, every classroom, regardless of zip code — needs a broader vision. They need digital fluency: the ability to understand AI, direct it, question it, and create with it — built on the foundations of computer science, AI science, and data science. We have the curriculum, the teacher training, the frameworks, and the research to do this at scale. AI Discoveries and AI Foundations are free and in classrooms now. The K-12 digital sciences pathway is expanding. The goal is a generation with agency over the systems shaping their lives — prepared to shape the work, civic life, relationships, and meaning that come after. Welcome to CodeAI."

Submission + - Maryland Governor Signs K-12 AI Bill Under Microsoft's Watchful Eye

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: "Thank you, Gov. Wes Moore, for signing SB 720 into law yesterday!" exclaimed Microsoft Sr. Director of Education and Workforce Policy Allyson Knox in a LinkedIn post celebrating the passage of the Artificial Intelligence Ready Schools Act. "Microsoft was proud to support this legislation, and I was honored to represent the company at yesterday’s bill signing at the Maryland State House. This law accomplishes the following: 1) Establishes statewide AI guidance for schools ... 2) Requires every district to have an AI plan ... 3) Builds teacher capacity and professional learning ... 4) Promotes AI literacy for students ... 5) Creates tools to evaluate AI technologies ... 6) Establishes a statewide AI Education Collaborative." At the same bill-signing ceremony, Gov. Moore paradoxically also signed into law the Phone-Free Schools Act, "prohibiting the use of certain electronic communication devices by a student during the academic school day."

Knox reports up to Microsoft President Brad Smith, who last July told Code.org CEO Hadi Partovi it was time for the tech-backed K-12 CS education nonprofit to "switch hats" from coding to AI as Microsoft announced its new $4 billion Microsoft Elevate initiative to advance AI education. The Maryland State Department of Education is one of many government agencies that are participating in Code.org's Microsoft-advised TeachAI initiative. Code.org also took to social media to celebrate the Maryland win, proclaiming that "Maryland just made AI and CS Education the law."

Interestingly, Maryland's commitment to K-12 AI comes in the same week as the NY Times reports a $22.5 million AI partnership to 'bring AI into the classroom' struck last July between the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) union, Microsoft, and OpenAI has hit a bump in the road as the AFT urges schools to curb AI chatbots and screen time, recommending 'no screens' at all for those in second grade or younger, and no AI chatbots for students in elementary school. AFT president Randi Weingarten said that the union was negotiating safety and privacy standards for AI use in schools with 'our partners in the AI academy,' and that Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic had agreed in principle to those standards. "We’re willing to walk away from the funding that we receive here if we don’t get the safety and privacy," Weingarten said.

Submission + - Teachers' Union Urges Schools to Curb AI Chatbots and Screen Time

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: The New York Times reports the $22.5 million AI partnership to 'bring AI into the classroom' struck last July between the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) union, Microsoft, and OpenAI has hit a bump in the road as the AFT urges schools to curb AI chatbots and screen time, recommending 'no screens' at all for those in second grade or younger, and no AI chatbots for students in elementary school.

The union’s effort reflects a backlash among parents and educators against heavy use of school-issued laptops and apps. Some parents and nonprofit children’s groups are also pushing back against campaigns by tech giants like Google and OpenAI to spread their AI products in schools.

This week, AFT president Randi Weingarten said that the union was negotiating safety and privacy standards for AI use in schools with 'our partners in the AI academy,' and that Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic had agreed in principle to those standards. “We’re being transparent,” Weingarten said, adding that "We’re willing to walk away from the funding that we receive here if we don’t get the safety and privacy."

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