AI is advancing faster than anyone expected — and the 2025 AI Index Report proves it. From AI models matching Nobel-level intellect to a 280x drop in computing costs, Stanford’s latest report maps the jaw-dropping acceleration of AI capabilities. The U.S. still leads in AI models and private investment, but China is closing the quality gap—and fast. Meanwhile, AI-driven labs are already making major scientific breakthroughs, like designing nanobodies to fight COVID-19, and outperforming doctors in diagnostic accuracy.
AI is transforming the workplace by enhancing collaboration, speeding up tasks, and expanding access to expertise. A Harvard-Wharton-P&G study found individuals using AI performed as well as human teams, and AI-assisted teams were nearly three times more effective. AI also helped less experienced employees contribute more and encouraged interdisciplinary thinking. Pennsylvania’s ChatGPT pilot showed similar benefits, with employees saving 95 minutes daily and improving workflows. A national survey by JFF found that 57% of workers already see AI reshaping their jobs, though few receive formal training. These findings suggest AI isn’t just a tool for efficiency—it’s a partner reshaping how teams work, learn, and innovate.
In 2025, your next coworker might not be human, but an autonomous AI agent capable of performing specialized, real-world tasks collaboratively and independently. Groundbreaking experiments from Google, Stanford, and Chan Zuckerberg BioHub reveal that teams of AI agents—ranging from computational biologists to critical reviewers—can rapidly innovate, discover new medical treatments, and respond dynamically to emerging. As AI becomes embedded into workplace dynamics, businesses face an exciting yet challenging future, where managing AI agents as digital employees might soon become as common as managing human teams.
DeepSeek's R1 model from China has sent shockwaves through the AI industry, matching OpenAI's top models while claiming development costs of just $5 million. Though experts dispute this figure, R1's emergence has triggered market value losses and security concerns. US companies quickly responded, with Google updating Gemini to outperform R1. The situation highlights tensions around export controls, security vulnerabilities, and the strategic importance of open-source AI development that aligns with democratic values. Security risks have led several US entities to ban DeepSeek. America must accelerate innovation and education to maintain AI leadership.
AI has become an invaluable partner for me, giving me instant access to a wide array of expert “assistants.” I now have a data analyst, driver with Waymo, brainstorming partner, legislative analyst, medical assistant, start-up advisor, graphics designer, and researcher at my fingertips, ready to help whenever I need specialized skills and knowledge.
Pictures from a recent trip to South Africa visiting andBeyond’s Phinda Lodge, Londolozi, and Jabulani. Incredible experience learning about important conservation efforts to protect species, including elephants and rhinos. And a very powerful experience visiting the Apartheid Museum and several places that played important roles in Nelson Mandela’s journey.
Department of Education grants could boost these community projects that are tailored to local needs. Schools and universities are anchor institutions for many communities and can play a critical role in helping children climb out of poverty. The Department deserves credit for prioritizing Opportunity Zones as a way of ensuring that grant dollars reach the communities that need them most, and where they will have the biggest impact on children’s lives.
"We in education have just so siloed ourselves from these broader economic and development conversations, we're potentially missing our generation's largest economic development program," Bailey said in an interview. "Even if a school never takes in one cent of Opportunity Fund investments, there's all sorts of ways [for communities] to leverage Opportunity Funds to build out grocery stores, food options, stable housing. ... There's a lot of those types of investments that have direct education benefits."
The Opportunity Zones program is the largest community-development initiative in a generation, but its success isn’t guaranteed. Policymakers, mayors, community leaders, investors, developers, and philanthropic organizations will have to work together to get the best results for Opportunity Zone residents. If education leaders pursue these investment opportunities, they, too, can benefit from the program—and ensure better outcomes for those in distressed communities for generations to come.
The Opportunity Zone program received a considerable boost last week with several announcements during a White House convening of mayors, state policymakers, investors, and community organizations. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin announced a second tranche of proposed regulations for the Opportunity Zone program, this time clarifying how Qualified Opportunity Funds can be used for business investment in struggling communities. He also announced a new process to explore reporting requirements. Additionally, HUD Secretary Ben Carson released the implementation plan for the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council.
Workers who participate in the “gig economy” do not neatly fit into traditional categories of full-time or part-time workers. Some workers use side gigs to supplement their income and enjoy the flexibility of working when it is most convenient for them. Others are using this type of work as their primary source of income, but lack the employer-provided benefits many full-time employees enjoy.
That is what makes last week’s announcement by Uber and Arizona State University so significant. The new partnership gives their drivers flexible education options with 100 percent tuition coverage.
The evolving nature of work requires that we also evolve our system of training individuals for the jobs of today and tomorrow, and rethink the way we provide financial support. Income Share Agreements are a compelling financial innovation offering a solution for the students these new models serve.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress is education’s version of Gross Domestic Product: a national indicator of the overall education health of the country. By that line of thinking, it’s difficult to see anything but stagnation in the numbers. We’re in an educational recession.
The outlier was Florida, whose NAEP gains were so significant that it prompted Peggy Carr, the usually reserved associate commissioner of assessment at the National Center for Education Statistics, to say, “Something very good is happening in Florida, obviously.” She went on to say that no matter how researchers broke out the data — by race, family income, gender, disabilities — they found that Florida showed growth on the 2017 NAEP, whereas most other states remained flat or saw declines.
Tucked away in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is a little-noticed program called the Investing in Opportunity Act, which could bring much-needed financial investments to some of the nation’s most distressed communities. While most attention has focused on the benefits for housing development and new businesses, the program could also spur needed investments in education, particularly charter school facilities and skills training programs.
By now, it is almost routine to see columns sounding the alarm about millions of existing jobs at risk of being automated. However, the real risk is that we do not have a system ready to equip people with the skills needed to fill millions of new and modified jobs that will result from the rise of AI.
John Bailey (EOP, DoC, DoEd) is a busy guy. As a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute he works on finding new ways to help “re-skill” individuals who have lost their jobs during times of economic disruption, whether because of normal business cycles, automation, or artificial intelligence. He is also a fellow at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative working on economic mobility and education issues. He also serves on a number of boards, including the Education Reform Advisory Council of the George W. Bush Institute. He also serves as a moderator for the Aspen Institute’s Global Leaders Network.
In late 2015, upon the birth of their first child, Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and his spouse, pediatrician Priscilla Chan, announced that they would dedicate 99 percent of their Facebook holdings — at the time, an estimated $45 billion — to “improving this world.” Who are the key staff members working alongside Mr. Zuckerberg and Dr. Chan to spend tens of billions of dollars?
John Bailey: The CZI education fellow’s former gigs include director of educational technology at the Department of Education, special adviser to President George W. Bush, and start-up consultant. He also spent a year at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, managing $20 million in advocacy grants.
I had the opportunity to participate in several gorilla treks in Uganda and Rwanda. There are only two populations of mountain gorillas left in the world. The first lives in the Virunga volcanic mountains, with groups scattered in Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The second lives in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. We had the chance to visit the Nkuringo, Bwenge, and Agashya families.
It's the way Trump has discussed various groups of people, along with his non-existent education platform, that leads John Bailey, the vice president for policy at the Foundation for Excellence in Education (founded by former Gov. Jeb Bush), to swear off working for or providing counsel to Trump.
"I just don't believe he has an agenda," Bailey said. "It troubles me greatly how dismissive he is of many key groups, whether it's women, immigrants, or minorities."
This emerging generation of entrepreneurs is blurring the lines between purely social or business interests as demonstrated by the rise of Silicon Valley companies tackling societal challenges ranging from greentech to healthcare to education. These social entrepreneurs are often driven by a double bottom line of measuring success not just based on traditional business metrics but also social outcomes. Within this wave of social entrepreneurs are individuals launching ventures aimed at solving difficult challenges within our education system. They strive to address pain points and frustrations for teachers, improve the learning experience for students, offer parents new ways to help their child, or reimagine the way instruction can be delivered using games.
There are thousands of entrepreneurs just waiting to bring innovations to education. The question before us is if our nation will give them the opportunity to do so.
The Aspen Task Force on Learning and the Internet, with support and guidance from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, is a group of 20 innovative and respected minds in technology, public policy, education, business, privacy and safety. The Task Force’s goal was to understand the ways in which young people learn today and to optimize learning and innovation within a trusted environment.
The 20-member task force, which includes three former Federal Communications Commission leaders, made six recommendations comprising 26 action steps for policymakers, education leaders and others in a report released on Tuesday, June 17. But the central idea of this report is that learning should revolve around the student, not the institution of school.
