Author: rpersing

NEWS, KYODO. “Over 70% of Japan Highschoolers Use AI, Mostly as Study Assistant: Survey.” Japan Wire by Kyodo News, 12 Apr. 2026, english.kyodonews.net/articles/-/74032. Accessed 11 Apr. 2026.

“According to the Gakken Research Institute for Learning and Education survey, 36.6 percent of elementary school students and 43.2 percent of junior high school students are also utilizing AI, for the same aims.”

The article goes into further detail about how the Gakken Research Institute performed their surveys, and the results of the surveys.

It was interesting to see information from another country about how their youth are interacting with AI, and that this is not just an issue in American schools.

Shea, Matt. “Iran War: We Spoke to the Man Making Lego-Style AI Videos That Experts Say Are Powerful Propaganda.” BBC, 11 Apr. 2026, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjd8jrd1vnyo. Accessed 11 Apr. 2026.

Shea’s article from the BBC takes a look at recent propaganda videos made by a creator referred to as “Mr. Explosive”. Mr. Explosive shares his thoughts about the topics and references featured in his videos.

The article also brings up the emerging term, “slopaganda”

“‘Slopaganda’ – coined in an academic paper last year as a play on ‘AI slop’ – is too weak a term to capture how powerful this “highly sophisticated” content is, says leading propaganda expert Dr Emma Briant.

AI-generated propaganda clips are estimated to have been viewed hundreds of millions of times over the course of the war.”

Chidi, George. “‘Creepy Surveillance’: Why Some Cities Are Shutting down Flock Cameras amid Privacy Concerns.” The Guardian, The Guardian, 6 Apr. 2026, www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/apr/06/flock-cameras-privacy-concerns. Accessed 11 Apr. 2026.

Chidi’s article from The Guardian discusses Flock Safety, concerns from citizens, and comments from a spokesman of the company. Despite what the spokesman claims about who has access and ownership of data that Flock Safety and its Flock Cameras collect. Flock Safety uses AI to analyze data gathered by their Flock Cameras.

“Skepticism of these statements abounds among Flock’s critics, who have made surveillance a political issue for municipalities. And within the bounds of the law, Flock’s clients can share or sell their data as they see fit.”

The article goes on to discuss more criticisms about Flock Cameras, as well as concerns over surveillance and public safety.

Yanit Asamnew. “Q&a with NAACP: Addressing the Growing Environmental Harms of AI Data Centers.” American Public Health Association, 13 Mar. 2026, www.apha.org/publications/public-health-newswire/public-health-newswire/articles/addressing-the-growing-environmental-harms-of-ai-data-centers. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.

Yanit Asamnew’s American Public Health Association article covers the conversation between NAACP’s Center for Environmental and Climate Justice director, Abre’ Conner, and The Nation’s Health, in a Q&A format.

This conversation answers several important questions: “What possible dangers do AI data centers pose for human health?”, “Do the supposed benefits of AI data centers, such as employment and better technology, outweigh the health risks?”, “What else should people working in public health know about AI data centers?”, and “What is the big picture when it comes to data centers?”

In terms of human health dangers that data centers may pose, The Nation’s Health says, “It raises concern about breathing problems, water contamination and infant mortality rate.”

Germain, Thomas. “Parents Think They Know How Kids Use AI. They Don’t.” Bbc.com, BBC, 18 Mar. 2026, www.bbc.com/future/article/20260317-how-kids-are-actually-using-ai. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.

“New surveys asked teens how they use AI. Parents have no idea what’s going on, from homework to emotional support.“

Thomas Germain’s BBC article continually references two studies done by the Pew Research Center and Common Sense Media. Both studies are on the topic of parents and families perceptions of how their children use AI. In some cases, what parents have assumed their children are using AI for, doesn’t match up with the reality.

The article provides a list of “Red Flags” of problematic AI use in teens, to warn parents and guardians on what to look out for. This list comes from the American Psychological Association.

The Pew Research Center’s study revealed that U.S. teenagers, ages 13 to 17, most often use chatbots to search for information. On the other end of the spectrum, only 12% of the teens from this study reported using chatbots to “get emotional support or advice”.

An expert referenced in Germain’s article, Rachel Barr, professor of early child development and chair of the department of psychology at Georgetown University in the US. said, “Families should be navigating AI together, rather than leaving teenagers to figure it alone.”

Collier, Kevin. “Senator Introduces Bill to Limit AI Use by Military.” NBC News, 17 Mar. 2026, www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/senator-introduces-bill-draw-red-lines-ai-use-military-rcna263905. Accessed 17 Mar. 2026.

This article from NBC summarizes key information from the bill introduced by Michigan senator, Elissa Slotkin.

“The bill seeks to codify two existing Defense Department guidelines into law: that AI cannot autonomously decide to kill a target and that the technology cannot be used to help the military conduct mass surveillance on Americans. It would also ban the use of the technology for launching or detonating a nuclear weapon.”

Senator Slotkin also commented on the recent government split from the AI company Anthropic, saying, “…her legislation could have headed off that split.”

While NBC’s article is rather brief in this report, we will have to stay tuned for more updates about this bill and other propositions for AI regulations.

Kravitz, Derek. “Instacart’s AI-Enabled Pricing Experiments May Be Inflating Your Grocery Bill, CR and Groundwork Collaborative Investigation Finds.” Consumer Reports, 9 Dec. 2025, www.consumerreports.org/money/questionable-business-practices/instacart-ai-pricing-experiment-inflating-grocery-bills-a1142182490/. Accessed Feb. 2026.

In this article from investigative reporter Derek Kravitz, Consumer Reports worked with Groundwork Collaborative and More Perfect Union to investigate variations in pricing from Instacart. This article was interesting to me because I had previously heard rumor of dynamic pricing systems coming into grocery stores like Kroger or Walmart and how that might impact shoppers.

During their investigation, the researchers had participants use Instacart and add the same specific items to their carts to see if there was any variation in the prices and total cost of groceries from one person to another. The researchers discovered that even with the same exact items, from the same retailers, in the same place and time frame, participants still yielded different totals and prices from Instacart.

The way this relates to AI, is that AI is being used in developing this dynamic pricing technology that determines how much customers will pay for certain items, based on a number of different details it gathers. “Retailers are now using AI and other technologies to create detailed profiles on their customers, with the potential to personalize prices and discounts down to the individual shopper.”

Halverson, Alex. “Microsoft CEO Nadella’s ‘Telltale Sign’ of AI Bubble.” The Seattle Times, 21 Jan. 2026, www.seattletimes.com/business/microsoft/microsoft-ceo-warns-ai-needs-to-spread-beyond-big-tech-to-avoid-bubble/. Accessed 18 Feb. 2026.

Halverson’s article highlights quotes from the CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, and Nadella’s thoughts on diffusing AI out of just the tech corporation space.

The part of Halverson’s article I found most interesting, was this section, where Nadella is addressing the fear workers are having that AI will not just help them, but replace them. “Nadella addressed those fears in a blog post at the end of 2025, in which he argued AI should be thought of as a ‘scaffolding for human potential’ rather than a substitute. He also sneaked into the post that he’d rather people stop arguing about the AI “slop” that’s invading much of the internet.”

Nadella’s claims in the face of the fears of workers comes off to me as him not really taking those fears seriously because he’s more worried about profits and expanding AI products. Even so, the idea that AI needs to continue to expand to sustain itself and its growth was interesting and something I hadn’t heard much about previously.