eSchool News reported on September 18, 2026 that Catherine Hartmann, a professor at the University of Wyoming, redesigned her upper-level humanities course around oral assessment after a 2023 assignment in a history of meditation course came back with a copy-pasted AI prompt left at the top. Students practiced discussion and oral explanation throughout the semester, and the final oral exam became the culmination of that work. At the University of Pennsylvania, mathematics professor Robin Pemantle has students work calculus problems at the board while explaining their reasoning aloud.
Egypt's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) and Intel signed a memorandum of understanding for a national AI skills initiative that aims to train one million citizens annually over the next three years. The programme covers foundational AI and creative-thinking training for young people, labour-market readiness training for technical and university students, reskilling and upskilling for employees and job-seekers, and technology-enabled decision-making training for government leaders. It also includes a Training of Trainers component to train 1,500 trainers over three years, delivered through Intel's "AI for Citizens" programme.
The Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (ADEK) is continuing its AI Education Initiative, covering more than 170 private schools in the emirate with a progressive AI learning framework for students from kindergarten through Grade 12. The framework defines learning outcomes across four areas: understanding AI concepts, critically evaluating AI technologies, designing and developing AI-based solutions, and responsible use. ADEK has also launched the AI Skills Growth Assessment, administered twice a year to students in Grades 4 to 12, and plans to train and upskill 19,000 teachers and educators by the end of the programme.
On the afternoon of September 15, 2026, the Cyberspace Administration and the Data Bureau of Xinghua jointly held the 2026 Xinghua Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence Training Program, attended by heads of cybersecurity responsibility offices from municipal departments and directly affiliated units. The training, themed "Cybersecurity for the People, Cybersecurity by the People — Intelligent Era, Cybersecurity Escort," covered government cybersecurity and AI applications, including legal interpretation, cybersecurity responsibility systems, incident response procedures, and hands-on instruction on AI tool use and government office optimization.
US voice-first AI tutoring platform Aristotle announced a $5 million seed round led by True Ventures, with participation from Wicklow Capital and angel investors from Anthropic, OpenAI, Sierra, Ramp, and Cognition. After a closed beta, the product launched nationally, during which more than 1,000 students completed over 1,500 hours of one-on-one tutoring. The funding will be used to expand the product, grow the team, and bring its voice-first AI tutor nationwide.
Adobe announced it is expanding its AI and digital skills programs across India, reaching 7.8 million students and teachers in 2026. The program works with seven state governments—Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Assam, Bihar and Tamil Nadu—along with UNICEF and learning platforms, providing Adobe Express for Education and Digital Academy resources and supporting teacher training. Adobe said the initiative aligns with India's National Education Policy and expects to reach three million learners globally in 2026 and 30 million by 2030.
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The University of Dayton in Ohio received a $1.4 million grant from the Gates Foundation to build AI tools that streamline the review process for public school improvement plans. The system will automatically generate feedback on improvement plans for state officials, redirecting time toward coaching district and school leaders. The team also received seed funding to build a concept for another AI tool that serves as a digital memory for schools.
Atlanta Public Schools is drafting a new artificial intelligence policy that would bar students from using chatbots like ChatGPT to complete assignments or generate their work, while allowing AI use tied to a clearly identified instructional objective and permitting teachers to use the tools for lesson planning without entering sensitive information. The proposal was previewed during an August board policy update and will be decided by administrators in a November vote. Separately, all high school seniors are automatically enrolled for the 2026-2027 school year in a 5-to-10-hour Google AI Essentials course on Coursera, with an opt-out window through January 8, 2027, and formal recognition at graduation for those who finish by April 2027.
The Gates Foundation this week announced a $1 billion push to expand artificial intelligence, with about $400 million over two years aimed at ensuring AI narrows rather than widens educational disparities, including funding AI tutoring for students in the United States and abroad. Another $100 million will fund building blocks for equitable AI, such as creating datasets in languages AI tools do not yet understand. The pledge was announced alongside the foundation's ninth annual Goalkeepers report and is part of its broader plan, announced last year, to spend $200 billion by 2045.
UCL and the University of Mauritius have agreed a new partnership to support AI education and practical skills development in Mauritius. Following approval from the Mauritian Cabinet, the MoU establishes a three-year framework for the universities to coordinate student projects, develop teaching pathways and share outcomes. Mauritius becomes the first country in UCL's IXN Global South-South Programme, with plans for an AI Engineering Lab at the University of Mauritius and a local UoM-IXN network. The inaugural meeting took place on 4 August 2026 in Mauritius, where nine UCL students presented offline prototypes.
Cornell's AI Initiative announced on September 17, 2026 that it is launching AI Integration Pilots, letting colleges experiment with AI adoption and avoidance around core teaching elements in their disciplines. It is also expanding the AI Undergraduate Fellows program, in which students serve as embedded researchers working with faculty to evaluate AI in classrooms. The two initiatives are supported by a $2 million gift from the Dake family and additional support from the Office of the Provost, with pilots running in spring 2027, fall 2027 and spring 2028.
The Asean Foundation said AI Ready Asean is entering its second phase, which will provide applied AI training to more than 1.7 million K-12 teachers, university students and faculty members across Southeast Asia through 2028. The phase shifts from basic AI awareness to applied learning in teaching, learning, research and workforce preparation, and has been endorsed by the Asean Senior Officials Meeting on Education. The program is implemented by the Asean Foundation with AVPN, supported by Google.org and the Asian Development Bank, and will develop locally adapted curricula with local partners.
The Yancheng Finance Bureau issued a correction notice on September 17, 2026, revising the procurement document for the digital media and AI industry academy project at Jiangsu Yancheng Technician College. The revision changes the integration target of the course resource systems from the "Shenzhou Wenke AI Teaching Platform" to an "AI hardware training platform," and renames the "Ascend AI smart car practical course resource system" to a "domestic chip-based smart car practical course resource system." The original announcement was dated September 3, 2026, under procurement number JSZC-320900-ZBZA-G2026-0003.
On September 12, 2026, at the Zil Money Campus in Manjeri, Zil Money introduced AI Future 100 during the event “Kerala AI: From Human Development to Intelligent Governance.” The initiative is intended to support 100 students across Kerala with computers and AI learning opportunities, focusing on access and learning. The article also argues that AI education should include a lesson from the beginning: do not automatically trust the machine, while eligibility, devices, and training details remain to be announced.
On September 16, NetEase Youdao showcased its AI Agent product matrix covering office, learning, and marketing scenarios at the “NEXT, AGENT” AI Open Day. The company released Lobster AI 2.0, compatible with the OpenClaw 2.0 ecosystem, adding Sites and Teams features and adopting usage-based pricing. It also launched OpenPods AI earphones with real-time translation in over 20 languages and meeting-note-to-task conversion. Youdao announced the Ziyue Live interpretation model and open-sourced a streaming ASR model, and introduced the human-AI collaboration agent “Youdao Youju.”
Boston University's English department faculty voted to approve updated learning outcomes, including a provision requiring English majors to demonstrate sustained, original writing generated without AI assistance. Associate Professor of English Joseph Rezek confirmed the vote on Wednesday. The outcome applies at the program level, while instructors continue to set AI rules for individual courses and assignments. The university's revised Academic Conduct Code, effective July 1, states that unauthorized AI use can constitute academic misconduct.
