2025 has been a defining year for L&D. AI is no longer a future trend-it's the backbone of how we design courses, deliver content, accelerate rapid eLearning, and support learners across geographies. But with every new AI-powered capability comes a fresh challenge, a new decision point, and a need for clarity. Here is a curated read that will help you navigate it all.
The advertisement spoof began innocuously, introducing the 2025 edition of Spotify "Wrapped"-the streaming service's popular year-in-review feature that repackages data gathered from individual listeners into brightly hued, shareable statistics-which the show also tackled last year. When Spotify revealed to Andrew Dismukes's character that he'd jammed to 2,705 minutes of Steely Dan since January, his character smiled knowingly: "Yeah, that tracks."
You probably don't need to be told that grocery prices have skyrocketed since the pandemic - up 25% in five years. But the bad news only continues: Retailers are seeing how far they can push the envelope on dynamic pricing. Instacart has been experimenting with selling the same product from the same store at different prices, which a nonprofit determined by enlisting volunteers to add the same items to their cart. Eggs, for example, varied by 20%, from $3.99 to $4.79.
Cornell Tech faculty made a strong showing at the 2025 Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS), held Dec. 2-7 in San Diego, presenting 23 research papers at one of the world's premier gatherings for artificial intelligence and machine learning. NeurIPS draws thousands of scholars and industry leaders each year and is widely recognized as a leading forum for breakthroughs in AI, computational neuroscience, statistics, and large-scale modeling.
The Danish postal service will deliver its last letter at the end of this month to focus on packages, citing the increasing digitalisation of society. While the public will still be able to send letters through the distributor DAO, it made us think about how we would use that last chance to send a letter. We would like to hear from you on the last letter you would write, who you would send it to, and why.
Apple's latest lineup of Apple Watches drummed up quite the hype when it was announced during its annual iPhone event. Apple unveiled several new features, like emergency SOS communications via satellite connectivity and FDA-cleared hypertension detection. I was in attendance in the Steve Jobs Theater, and as I watched Apple unveil these features, I couldn't help but compare the new watch to Google's Pixel Watch 4. Apple's new satellite SOS feature bears some striking similarities to Google's standalone satellite connectivity, for example.
Recipes carry stories, and often when they have been passed down from generation to generation, these tales have a chapter added to them each time they are made. Family members concoct elaborate treats and seasoning mixes, which in some cases travel across oceans to end up on our dinner tables. We would like to hear about the recipes that have stood the test of time for you, and never fail to impress.
The scandal's statewide reach vastly expands the known number of Kaiser security personnel - which now includes a former Oakland Police Department assistant chief - whose employment ended after the allegations arose. Only a couple of them were directly accused of using data from the law enforcement-only tool, which contains residents' criminal history and driving records, and links to national law enforcement data systems.
In business, this becomes an on-premises AI that can be accessed remotely by authorized endpoints (you, your iPhone, your employees' devices). The beauty of this arrangement is that whatever data you share or requests you might make are handled only by the devices and software you control. How it might work You might be running an open-source Llama large language model (LLM) to analyze your business documents and databases - combined with data (privately) found on the web - to give your field operatives access to up-to-the minute analysis relevant to them.
What's in a name? As people such as Peach, Riot and Aquaman have found, it can change your life for the better, or worse. With this in mind, we would like to hear from people with unusual names about how it affects others' perceptions of you. How has your name shaped your life? Share your experience You can tell us about how your name has shaped your life using this form.
"It's all about the privacy of the data. And it's a very common practice that the businesses use your personal data. In many cases, without your knowledge, to be able to set prices or target you for advertising material," Ersin Uzun, executive director of Rochester Institute of Technology's Global Cybersecurity Institute, said.
We presented several privacy-preserving options to The Times, including targeted searches over the sample ( e.g., to search for chats that might include text from a New York Times article so they only receive the conversations relevant to their claims), as well as high-level data classifying how ChatGPT was used in the sample. These were rejected by The Times,
The letter, which was first reported by Reuters, told governors that their states are providing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agencies "with frictionless, self-service access to the personal data of all of your residents," through a non-profit managed by state police agencies called the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System, or Nlets. Nlets facilitates the sharing of state residents' personal data, in this case drivers' license data, between state, local, and federal police agencies.
In January, Borges started a new job as the Social Security Administration's chief data officer, overseeing some of the most sensitive data systems in the federal government-including databases containing Social Security numbers, addresses, citizenship status, and benefits records of nearly every American. Or at least that was the job description. Instead, he spent seven months struggling to get basic visibility into the systems he was statutorily responsible for,
Atlas comes with ChatGPT baked in, and while it can navigate the web like traditional browsers, the company says it can do much more. A feature that OpenAI calls "agentic mode" can take action, like an agent who can shop for you, make reservations, or buy plane tickets. On that livestream, Altman's colleague demonstrated how it can read an online recipe, figure out how many ingredients are needed for a set of diners, then buy the ingredients online.
There's hardly ever such a thing as truly free money. We pay for everything, in some way: with labor, with time, with suffering. So getting a payment from a tech or social media settlement isn't exactly free - it's likely the company messed up in some way and it legitimately owes you that cash - but it certainly can feel like getting free money. And if you're already using the tech or platform, then you might as well get paid for the issue.
According to PwC's 2025 Global Compliance Survey, [1] more than 40% of global companies reported at least one compliance failure that led to fines, penalties, or back pay. Staying on top of regulatory compliance requirements has only gotten more complex, and the stakes have never been higher. TD Bank's USD 3.1 billion penalty for "pervasive and systemic failure to maintain an adequate" anti-money laundering (AML) compliance program [2] demonstrates this and has incentivized companies of all sizes to invest in compliance training platforms that can be used to demonstrate compliance in audits and regulatory defense scenarios.
The number of individual US states with local data privacy legislation on their statute books has expanded rapidly in 2025, with nine more state laws coming into effect this year and three more states - Indiana, Kentucky and Rhode Island - slated to start enforcing their own rules on 1 January 2026, according to a report compiled by the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP).
What is the most intense episode of a TV show you have ever seen? The Guardian's Television team has selected theirs now we would like to hear yours. Tell us about the episode that you found the most stress-inducing, and why. Share your experience You can tell us about your most intense TV episode ever using this form.
