From Hiring Freezes to AI Crackdowns
Turmoil in Higher Education
NATO's Article 5 is, “an attack on one is an attack on all” — meaning that if any member nation is attacked, the others will respond. This article has been invoked only once in the 70-year history of the Alliance: in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the United States. Nature, one of the world's most prestigious scientific journals, recently came out with an opinion piece that echoes article 5.
Trump 2.0: an assault on science anywhere is an assault on science everywhere
In response to potential federal funding cuts under the current administration, numerous universities have implemented hiring freezes and layoffs. Institutions such as Columbia University's medical school, the University of Notre Dame, Emory University, the University of Vermont, and the University of Washington have paused new hiring to mitigate financial uncertainties. Harvard University has also enacted a hiring freeze, reflecting a broader trend among elite institutions to safeguard their financial stability amid anticipated federal budget reductions. Johns Hopkins University is set to eliminate over 2,000 jobs following the Trump administration's termination of $800 million in grants from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Read more here and here.
There is some pushback by the stakeholders as seen in the tweet below. But most of the people I respect in academia are silent.
World of AI
Policymakers are relying on ChatGPT as well: New Scientist obtained information about the private use of ChatGPT by a UK technology secretary. Their report indicates that the secretary sought advice from ChatGPT on why the adoption of artificial intelligence is progressing slowly in the UK business community and which podcasts he should appear on. This appears to be the first revelation of a policymaker using the technology in this manner.
AI to cancel student visas: Secretary of State Marco Rubio is initiating an AI-driven "Catch and Revoke" initiative to cancel the visas of foreign nationals who are found to support Hamas or other designated terrorist organizations.
Book review by NYT: A new book on Facebook's top leaders, Careless People, written by a former Facebook executive, depicts ineffectual company leadership aligning with authoritarian regimes. Read the NYT review for free. A snippet from the book review
Zuckerberg eventually appears before a Senate committee in 2018, a senator asks him how Facebook is handling the Chinese government’s unwillingness “to allow a social media platform — foreign or domestic — to operate in China unless it agrees to abide by Chinese law.” In his reply, Zuckerberg states, “No decisions have been made around the conditions under which any possible future service might be offered in China,” to which Wynn-Williams comments: “He lies.”
