AI Educator News Update: It’s All Real. We’re Sorry.
10 wild AI headlines for teachers
Here are real artificial intelligence headlines with our usual mix of humor, disbelief and energy.
This month’s SNL Weekend Update-inspired AI news roundup covers the wildest corners of the AI universe—with our usual teacher-approved humor. Do you want to chat with your dead great-aunt, whisper to your smart ring in public, date an AI that will never talk back, or trust robots that learned navigation from ants? We’ll walk you through these very real headlines and more. Real news. Slightly exaggerated. Always AI Educator approved.
About This Segment
If you’ve ever tried to keep up with AI, you know it feels like scrolling through a mashup of science fiction, satire and a staff meeting gone wrong. That’s why we created the AI Educator News Update: a quick, SNL Weekend Update-style segment in our AI Educator Brain series. Each month, we spotlight the funniest, strangest and very real AI stories—plus a few jokes to keep everyone sane.
Watch the AI Educator News Segment
Live from Share My Lesson—it’s the AI Educator News Update with your hosts Kelly Booz and Sari Beth Rosenberg!
Hi everyone! Welcome back to another episode of the AI Educator Brain. We thought: Why just read AI news when we could dramatically overdo it? If the world insists on giving us wild AI headlines every week, we’re at least turning it into a good time.
So buckle up. We pulled together 10 absolutely real, totally verified stories, and because educators deserve joy, we’re sprinkling in jokes.
Think of this as Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update, but for people who grade papers at 10 p.m.
Alright, educators, public employees, humans and AI agents quietly lurking in the chat, welcome to the AI Educator News Update.
Let’s do this.
This Week’s AI Educator News Headlines
⭐ STORY 1: Iconic Voices for Sale
ElevenLabs released a marketplace where you can license AI-generated voices of Judy Garland, Maya Angelou, Mark Twain, and more.
Joke: “I’m thrilled about this. Honestly, when she says, ‘there’s no place like home,’ I feel that in my soul every time I leave a staff meeting.”
⭐ STORY 2: Smart Ring Lets You Whisper to AI
A new AI-powered smart ring lets you whisper ideas, reminders and messages into your hand.
Joke: “Great, now instead of talking to myself in public, I can secretly talk to myself in public.”
⭐ STORY 3: Dead Internet Theory Might Not Be a Theory
Bots now make up more than half of all online traffic, and some platforms have more AI posts than human ones.
Joke: “This explains Twitter. I’m not clapping back at strangers, I’m clapping back at an algorithm that needs a nap.”
⭐ STORY 4: AI Data Centers in Space
Google researchers want to build solar-powered AI data centers in orbit to train models above Earth.
Joke: “Which makes sense. AI has seen enough of humanity. It’s trying to get some distance.”
⭐ STORY 5: ChatGPT Gets Very Personal
OpenAI announced new “adult personalization” features that let verified grown-ups customize AI personalities, including flirty modes, romantic chat and “companion-style” conversations.
So, yes—AI can now flirt, banter, compliment you, and talk about your day like it’s a rom-com side character with perfect emotional availability.
Joke: “At least it won’t ghost you or start an awkward sentence with, ‘We’ve got to talk.’”
⭐ STORY 6: AI Model Pulled After Inventing a Crime
Google pulled its Gemma model after it fabricated a detailed, completely false assault allegation about a U.S. senator.
Joke: “AI making up crimes about politicians feels less like a bug or hallucination and more like READ THE ROOM.”
⭐ STORY 7: Disney Star Launches App to Chat with the Dead
Actor Calum Worthy released 2wai, an AI app that creates interactive avatars of deceased relatives.
Joke (your alternate pick): “Because nothing says ‘healthy grieving’ like getting life advice from a great-grandma who died in 1998 but now sounds suspiciously like Siri.”
Alternate punchline: “At this point, even ghosts are saying, ‘Please stop tagging me in updates. I’m trying to rest.’”
⭐ STORY 8: Robots Learn Navigation from Ants
Scientists taught robots to navigate by studying ants, birds and mice—no GPS required.
Joke (your final pick): “Robots learned navigation from ants. Thank goodness; if they’d studied squirrels, every robot would just stop mid-task like the dogs in Up: ‘SQUIRREL!’”
⭐ STORY 9: Researchers Push ‘Context Engineering 2.0’ for AI Memory
New research proposes giving AI models long-term memory through structured “context engineering,” so they recall details over time.
Joke: “AI getting long-term memory means one thing: Wives everywhere finally get proof when they say, ‘I TOLD you that last week.’”
⭐ STORY 10: Google Adds AI Makeup in Meet
Google Meet now lets you apply AI-generated makeup before a video call.
Joke (with your photos in mind):
“You know what? If AI can fix my face at 8 a.m. before I’ve had coffee, I’m in.
At this point, my ‘before’ photo looks like a mugshot and my ‘after’ photo looks like I finally have slept since 2019.”
Closing
And that’s your AI Educator News Update! Remember: Fact-check before you panic-check.
See you next time.
Join the AI and Education Community
Join the team from the AI Educator Brain, which includes AFT’s Share My Lesson director Kelly Booz; New York City Public Schools teacher Sari Beth Rosenberg and EdBrAIn, our AI teammate (yes, it named and designed itself!). In this community, we will dissect the pros and cons of AI tools in education. Our mission: to determine how AI can support teaching and learning, and when it might be best to stick with tried-and-true methods.
Kelly Carmichael Booz is the Director of Share My Lesson at the American Federation of Teachers, where she oversees the AFT’s PreK–12 resource platform serving nearly 2.3 million educators. She leads the organization’s digital professional development initiatives, including co-creating the... See More
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