Artificial Intelligence

The Hill - A recent poll shows AI’s increasing role in how students decide on college majors, creating a rapidly developing situation for universities that are still struggling to determine how the technology will shape higher education. The Lumina Foundation-Gallup 2026 State of Higher Education survey found 47 percent of currently enrolled college students have thought about switching majors “a great deal” or a “fair amount” over AI concerns.  

Around 16 percent pointed to AI as the reason they changed their field of study. “We’re getting to a point where it’s almost unacceptable, right, that we’re having all of these conferences and all of these roundtable discussions, and we are failing to provide students with some just meaningful advice and helping them to feel like they’re prepared,” said Alex Kotran, CEO of the AI Education Project.  

“If students were adequately prepared, you wouldn’t see as many of them change their major, or you would see that happening in a way that schools are driving, but they’re not doing that,” he added. 

The survey found men and those going for associate degrees were more likely to consider a field change due to AI, along with those in technology, vocational and humanities majors. Those least likely to have considered switching majors include students in fields such as health care and natural sciences.  

The fright of how AI will impact jobs students are looking for is not unfounded as messages of job declines due to the technology have only ramped up since its increased use in the past few years. In February, the AI chief for Microsoft told the Financial Times he believes AI will take over all white-collar work in the next 18 months.  

The Guardian -  When blue-collar Trump voters and Maga-friendly midwest states join the same cause as Bernie Sanders and liberal California teachers, something novel is afoot. Last month it was the turn of the Republican party in Texas to express forthright opposition to the construction of datacentres for artificial intelligence, pending adequate environmental safeguards for local communities. Across the United States, similar campaigns are being waged, as voters from across the political spectrum rail against the outsize influence and power of big tech.

For the White House, which has made the rapid rollout of datacentres a priority in its AI action plan, the scale of the protests is an unwelcome surprise. One of Donald Trump’s first acts on returning to office was to authorise the deregulated “build, baby, build” approach demanded by the Silicon Valley backers who helped to fund his campaign. Industry giants such Amazon and Microsoft are driving an estimated $710bn worth of investment in datacentres this year, as they stake their future on staying ahead in the AI race.

The boom is also coming at a political price for states which have courted that capital through tax breaks and other subsidies. Local downsides come in the form of higher electricity bills for consumers and intense pressure on local water systems and grids, as a result of the centres’ voracious energy requirements. Alarmingly for Mr Trump, a sense that big tech’s needs are being prioritised over those of hard-pressed voters appears to be cutting through among the Maga rank and file ahead of midterm elections in November.