AI + Education Weekly Update
Week of October 6th, 2025
To catch up on another busy week in AI + Education news, check out our weekly updates for our review and analysis of some of the key highlights worth staying informed about.
Week of October 6th, 2025
Meta to Use Chatbot Data for Ad Targeting
Meta will begin using people's conversations with its AI chatbot to personalize ads and content starting December 16, 2025, with no opt-out option for users. This marks a significant shift in how personal AI interactions become monetization tools—meaning casual queries like asking for hiking recommendations could directly fuel targeted advertising for related products.
Key Details:
Users in the UK, EU, and South Korea are exempt.
Meta will automatically exclude conversations involving sensitive topics like religion, politics, sexual orientation, health, and race from ad personalization.
The policy applies only to conversations after December 16, with prior chat history excluded.
Sora 2 Launch Results in Copyright Backlash
OpenAI recently launched Sora 2, its new video and audio generation model, alongside a social iOS app with safety features, but users immediately generated copyrighted characters, exposing gaps in their responsible use framework and forcing OpenAI to implement a series of changes.
Sora 2 Updates:
Rightsholders get granular opt-in/opt-out controls over how their characters can be generated by users.
Video generation will be monetized, with revenue shared with rightsholders whose characters are used.
Frequent changes are to be expected as they test approaches in Sora before rolling out across products.
Teach for America Multiplies Impact Through AI
Teach For America's Reinvention Lab engaged educators through a three-tiered AI system (hackathons, prototype shops, and Arcade AI), demonstrating a practical pathway to “AI dexterity”—positioning teachers as creators who multiply impact by equipping students with AI skills essential for their economic mobility.
Key Highlights:
1200+ educators actively engaged in AI learning experiences
720+ classroom tools created
10,000+ students impacted by educator-built AI solutions
96% of participants reported gaining valuable AI skills they could immediately apply
Measuring AI’s Labor Market Impact
The Budget Lab analyzed AI's impact on the U.S. labor market since ChatGPT's launch and found no measurable disruption in employment or occupational patterns.
Key Details:
The occupational mix is shifting slightly faster than during previous technological transitions (about 1% higher than the internet era), but these trends predate the AI era.
Current metrics for AI "exposure" and "usage" show no correlation with changes in employment or unemployment levels.
The study acknowledges significant data constraints—including reliance on theoretical exposure metrics and usage data from only one AI model—highlighting the need for comprehensive, transparent data from all major AI developers.
New AI Infrastructure Startups Launch
Two AI infrastructure startups launched last week: Tinker provides a managed API for fine-tuning large language models while Periodic Labs is building AI scientists that learn from physical experiments rather than the internet. Both launches signal a broader trend of lowering barriers to frontier AI research.
Key Details:
Tinker provides managed infrastructure for fine-tuning large language models, enabling research teams at Princeton, Stanford, and Berkeley to customize cutting-edge models without massive resources.
Periodic Labs pairs AI scientists with autonomous laboratories to conduct physical experiments, generating vast amounts of unique experimental data—including valuable negative results—to tackle challenges like discovering better superconductors.
