- Climate and DEI Deleted From Government Websites, Federal Workers Fired, Colleges Erase Programs and Research – “Colleges have been a conservative target for years. Under President Trump, it’s total warfare on all aspects of higher education — from student life to hiring to athletics.” This March 2, 2025 update by Sabrina I. Pacifici chronicles Trump’s escalating actions to eliminate diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility throughout institutions of higher learning. The article also highlights a DEI Legislation Tracker, which is following 49 bills in 23 states to restrict efforts to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion and prohibiting colleges from a range of DEI initiatives.
- AI in Finance and Banking, February 28, 2025 – Sabrina I. Pacifici – Five highlights from this post: Jobs Being Cut in Banking Industry – Bankers take note: AI could be your next coworker; Intelligent Banking: A blueprint for creating value through AI-driven transformation; AI in financial services must be prioritised; 4 ways that AI and tech are reshaping finance. Why It Matters; and Artificial intelligence and relationship lending.
- What Is OpenAI’s Powerful New Deep Research Tool Capable Of? I Use It to Analyze the Legality of President Trump’s Pause of Federal Grants – On February 2, 2025 OpenAI released Deep Research, an AI agent capable of completing multi-step research tasks and synthesizing large amounts of online information. OpenAI’s chief product officer Kevin Weil said it can complete complex research tasks in minutes that might take a person many hours or days, according to The New York Times, adding that it should be particularly useful for people in fields such as finance, science and law. Robert Ambrogi created a comprehensive and expertly crafted series of prompts to evaluate Deep Search’s ability to research and analyze the legality of the Trump administration’s temporary pause of federal grant and financial assistance programs, and then to outline the potential legal remedies available to recipients of those grants and financial assistance.
- A Digital Extension of Historical Bias: Arab Americans and the New Frontier of Algorithmic Discrimination – This paper by Natalie Abdou examines how AI systems deploy overlapping forms of bias through facial recognition technology, language processing, and automated screening, producing a uniquely destructive form of compound discrimination that is more pervasive and harder to challenge than traditional bias.
- How to find climate data and science the Trump administration doesn’t want you to see – Research librarian Alejandro Paz and policy scholar Eric Nost, who belong to a network called the Public Environmental Data Partners, a coalition of nonprofits, archivists and researchers who rely on federal data in our analysis, advocacy and litigation, are working to ensure that data remains available to the public.
- Book Review: Generative AI For Dummies – Jerry Lawson’s opinion of the new book, Generative AI for Dummies, is that it demystifies the complex world of generative AI for audiences from all walks of life. If you’re after a fast, engaging, and practical introduction to AI—and maybe even a little chuckle or two along the way—this book delivers.
- NOAA’s vast public weather data powers the local forecasts on your phone and TV – a private company alone couldn’t match it – Atmospheric scientists Christine Wiedinmyer and Kari Bowen, who is a former National Weather Service forecaster, explain NOAA’s central role in most U.S. weather forecasts. They underscore why the Trump/DOGE plan to eliminate these two critical agencies and replace them with one private company to provide comprehensive weather data in a reliable way that is also accessible to the entire public, is not a reasonable plan.
- Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, 3 new columns – Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness.
- AI in Finance and Banking, February 17, 2025 – This semi-monthly column by Sabrina I. Pacifici. Four highlights from this post: AI and Women’s Employment in Europe; Digital Innovations for Increasing Financial Inclusion: CBDC, Cryptocurrency, Embedded finance, Artificial Intelligence, WaaS, Fintech, Bigtech, and DeFi; 2025 Global Outlook for Banking and Financial Markets; and AI in Finance Summit New York, April 15-16, 2025.
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