A new report from the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA) and ThoughtExchange highlights the growing role of AI in K-12 communications, offering detailed guidance for ethical integration and effective school engagement.
Drawing on insights from 200 professionals across 37 states, the study reveals how AI tools boost efficiency while underscoring the need for stronger policies, transparency, and ongoing training.
Barbara M Hunter, APR, NSPRA executive director, explained that AI can enhance communication work but will never replace strategy, human judgement, relationships, and authentic school voices.
Key findings show that 91 percent of respondents already use AI, yet most districts still lack clear policies or disclosure practices for employee use.
The report recommends strengthening AI education, accelerating policy development, expanding the scope to cover staff, and building proactive strategies supported by human oversight and trust.
Would you like to learn more about AI, tech, and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!
The African Development Bank has strengthened Africa’s digital journey by backing a landmark AI training initiative linked to Agenda 2063. The effort aims to accelerate the continent’s long-term strategy, ‘The Africa We Want,’ by equipping states with practical expertise.
Through its Joint Secretariat Support Office, the Bank gave both technical and financial backing to the 5th Annual Training Workshop. The event focused on applying AI to monitoring, evaluation, and reporting under the Second Ten-Year Plan of Agenda 2063.
The Lusaka workshop, co-hosted by the African Union Commission and the African Capacity Building Foundation, featured sessions with Ailyse, ChatGPT, Google AI Studio, Google Gemini, and Perplexity. Delegates explored embedding AI insights into analytics for stronger policymaking and accountability.
By investing in institutional capacity, the AfDB and partners aim to advance AI-enabled solutions that improve policy interventions, resource allocation, and national priorities. The initiative reflects a broader effort to integrate digital tools into Africa’s governance structures.
The workshop also fostered peer learning, allowing delegates to share best practices in digital monitoring frameworks. By driving AI adoption in planning and results delivery, the AfDB underlines its role as a partner in Africa’s transformation.
Would you like to learn more about AI, tech, and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!
AI-powered stuffed animals are transforming children’s play by combining cuddly companionship with interactive learning.
Toys such as Curio’s Grem and Mattel’s AI collaborations offer screen-free experiences instead of tablets or smartphones, using chatbots and voice recognition to engage children in conversation and educational activities.
Products like CYJBE’s AI Smart Stuffed Animal integrate tools such as ChatGPT to answer questions, tell stories, and adapt to a child’s mood, all under parental controls for monitoring interactions.
Developers say these toys foster personalised learning and emotional bonds instead of replacing human engagement entirely.
The market has grown rapidly, driven by partnerships between tech and toy companies and early experiments like Grimes’ AI plush Grok.
Regulators are calling for safeguards, and parents are urged to weigh the benefits of interactive AI companions against possible social and ethical concerns.
The sector could reshape childhood play and learning, blending imaginative experiences with algorithmic support instead of solely relying on traditional toys.
Would you like to learn more aboutAI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!
Malaysia has intensified its push to build an AI-ready workforce, with Huawei pledging to train 30,000 local professionals under a new initiative. The plan aligns with Malaysia’s National Cloud Computing Policy, balancing sovereignty and digital economy competitiveness.
Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo stressed that AI adoption must benefit all Malaysians, highlighting applications from small business platforms to AI-assisted diagnostics in remote clinics. He urged collaboration across industries to ensure inclusivity as the country pursues its digital future.
Huawei’s Gartner recognition for container management highlights its cloud-native strength. Its Pangu models and container products will support Malaysia’s AI goals in manufacturing, healthcare, transport, and ASEAN industries.
The programme will target students, officials, industry leaders, and associations while supporting 200 local AI partners. Huawei’s network of availability zones in ASEAN provides low-latency infrastructure, with AI-native innovations designed to accelerate training, inference, and industrial upgrades.
The government of Malaysia views AI as crucial to achieving its 2030 goals, which aim to balance infrastructure, security, and governance. With Huawei’s backing and a new policy framework, the country seeks to establish itself as a regional hub for AI expertise.
Would you like to learn more about AI, tech, and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!
A new workplace trend known as ‘quiet cracking’ describes employees who stay in their roles while feeling increasingly disengaged and emotionally drained.
Unlike quitting, where workers reduce effort, quiet cracking refers to those who continue to meet expectations yet feel like they are breaking inside.
Experts say the phenomenon usually develops gradually, with workers reporting fatigue, stress and frustration instead of open dissatisfaction. Many feel unable to speak up for fear of losing their job or facing uncertainty in the broader labour market, leaving them silent.
Critics argue that labelling such behaviour risks encouraging weakness instead of resilience, but supporters warn that ignoring the issue may worsen mental health challenges.
Some workers are turning to AI for support instead of seeking human assistance. Generative AI tools offer low-cost and constant access for advice and empathetic responses.
Advocates suggest AI could expand mental health support where professionals are scarce, while opponents caution that relying on AI instead of qualified therapists could carry significant risks.
Whether quiet cracking becomes a lasting workplace concern or fades as a passing trend remains uncertain, for now, it highlights the growing debate about how technology might play a role in addressing modern mental health struggles.
Would you like to learn more aboutAI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!
Parag Agrawal, the former Twitter chief executive removed after Elon Musk’s takeover in 2022, has re-entered the technology sector with a new venture.
His company, Parallel Web Systems, is developing AI tools designed to help AI agents gather and analyse information online without human input.
The company’s first product, Deep Research API, outperforms human researchers and advanced models such as OpenAI’s GPT-5 on specific benchmarks.
Agrawal revealed that the system already supports millions of tasks daily and is used by coding agents to locate documents and fix errors. Parallel has secured 30 million dollars in funding and employs around 25 staff.
Agrawal had been Twitter’s chief technology officer before succeeding Jack Dorsey as chief executive in late 2021. After leaving the company, he returned to academic research and coding instead of joining other struggling firms.
He has argued that the internet will eventually be dominated by AI agents rather than human users, predicting that individuals may soon rely on dozens of agents to act on their behalf.
His views echo predictions from Coinbase developers, who recently suggested that AI agents could become the most significant users of Ethereum.
They propose that autonomous systems can handle stablecoin transfers and e-commerce transactions, enabling services from self-driving taxis to AI-powered content platforms.
Would you like to learn more aboutAI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!
OpenAI recently unveiled GPT-5, a significant upgrade praised for its advances in accuracy, reasoning, writing, coding and multimodal capabilities. The model has also been designed to reduce hallucinations and excessive agreeableness.
Chief executive Sam Altman has admitted that OpenAI has even more powerful systems that cannot be released due to limited capacity.
Altman explained that the company must make difficult choices, as existing infrastructure cannot yet support the more advanced models. To address the issue, OpenAI plans to invest in new data centres, with spending potentially reaching trillions of dollars.
The shortage of computing power has already affected operations, including a cutback in image generation earlier in the year, following the viral Studio Ghibli-style trend.
Despite criticism of GPT-5 for offering shorter responses and lacking emotional depth, ChatGPT has grown significantly.
Altman said the platform is now the fifth most visited website worldwide and is on track to overtake Instagram and Facebook. However, he acknowledged that competing with Google will be far harder.
OpenAI intends to expand beyond ChatGPT with new standalone applications, potentially including an AI-driven social media service.
The company also backs Merge Labs, a brain-computer interface rival to Elon Musk’s Neuralink. It has partnered with former Apple designer Jony Ive to create a new AI device.
Would you like to learn more aboutAI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!
Zoom has patched a critical Windows vulnerability that could let attackers fully take control of devices without needing credentials. The flaw, CVE-2025-49457, stems from the app failing to use explicit paths when loading DLLs, allowing malicious files to be executed.
Attackers could exploit this to install malware or extract sensitive data such as recordings or user credentials, even pivoting deeper into networks. The issue affects several Zoom products, including Workplace, VDI, Rooms, and Meeting SDK, all before version 6.3.10.
Zoom urges users to update their app immediately, as the flaw requires no advanced skill and can be triggered with minimal access. However, this highlights the increasing cybersecurity concerns associated with the digital world.
Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!
Enterprise employees are increasingly building their own AI tools, sparking a surge in shadow AI that raises security concerns.
Netskope reports a 50% rise in generative AI platform use, with over half of current adoption estimated to be unsanctioned by IT.
Platforms like Azure OpenAI, Amazon Bedrock, and Vertex AI lead this trend, allowing users to connect enterprise data to custom AI agents.
The growth of shadow AI has prompted calls for better oversight, real-time user training, and updated data loss prevention strategies.
On-premises deployment is also increasing, with 34% of firms using local LLM interfaces like Ollama and LM Studio. Security risks grow as AI agents retrieve data using API calls beyond browsers, particularly from OpenAI and Anthropic endpoints.
Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!
