Another Crazy Day in AI 8/101

Another Crazy Day in AI: Can Technology Fix Higher Ed Credit Transfer Issues?

Oct 2
4 min read

Hello, AI Enthusiasts.

The weekend’s creeping closer, but today we’re looking at a long-standing headache in higher ed: credit transfers.

From Inside Higher Ed’s podcast Voices of Student Success: UC Berkeley’s Zachary Pardos shared how a new tool is helping students see where their credits will (and won’t) count.

Meanwhile, Chrome for Android is giving text a voice, turning long articles into conversational audio summaries.

And OpenAI just dropped Sora 2, making AI-generated video more realistic than ever, and giving users new tools to step inside their own stories.

Here's another crazy day in AI:

New tool tackles transfer credit problems
Chrome for Android adds AI narration for webpages
Sora 2 launches with enhanced realism and control
Some AI tools to try out

TODAY'S FEATURED ITEM: Examining New Approaches to Credit Transfer

A robotic scientist in a classic white coat with 'AI Scientist' on its back stands beside a human scientist with 'Human Scientist' on their coat, looking towards the AI Scientist.

Image Credit: Wowza (created with Ideogram)

What if the credits you earned at one college could seamlessly transfer to another without the usual headaches?

In a recent episode of Voices of Student Success from Inside Higher Ed, host Ashley Mowreader speaks with Zachary Pardos, associate professor at UC Berkeley and co-creator of CourseWise. Their conversation explores the difficulties students face with credit transfer, the role of faculty oversight, and how CourseWise is being used by institutions to improve the process. The discussion also touches on the broader implications for higher education—how technology can help streamline administrative work, give students clearer pathways, and highlight the continuing importance of human decision-making in academic credit evaluation.

What's covered in the discussion:

Transfer students frequently lose credits when moving between colleges, forcing them to retake courses they've already completed and extending their time to graduation—some stop pursuing degrees altogether because the complications become overwhelming
CourseWise analyzes existing articulation agreements between institutions to suggest course matches, though faculty and administrative staff maintain authority over final credit decisions
The platform creates a centralized record of transfer decisions and their justifications, replacing scattered email threads and informal documentation
Over 120 colleges and universities have adopted the system, though initial implementation requires institutions to upload their course catalogs and transfer policies
A student-facing tool is being developed that would show community college students how their credits align with different programs and schools, potentially revealing transfer options they hadn't considered
Plans include expanding recognition beyond traditional coursework to cover AP exams, professional certifications, and workforce training credentials

The problem Neon addresses shows up regularly for people who work online. Information gets scattered across dozens of tabs. Similar tasks need to be repeated on different sites. Context gets lost when switching between projects. Opera's approach is to give the browser enough awareness to understand what you're working on and handle some of the mechanical parts. Tasks create boundaries so the browser knows what information belongs to which project. Cards let you save instructions for processes you do repeatedly. How much this actually helps depends on whether the features map to real work patterns. Someone researching a topic across multiple sources or comparing options on different sites might benefit from keeping that work contained in a Task. Cards could be useful if there are enough templates that match what you need, though building a custom library takes time.

Running everything locally changes how the automation works. Neon Do operates inside your browser where you're already logged into sites, so there's no need to share credentials with a third-party service or deal with extra authentication steps. The technical challenge is that the browser needs to successfully interact with an enormous variety of websites, each built differently. Opera has been building browsers since the mid-1990s and introduced features like tabs and Speed Dial, but autonomous web interaction requires handling situations the software hasn't necessarily seen before. Opera is releasing Neon through a waitlist as a subscription service, asking people to change how they browse and pay for the privilege.

Read the article and transcript here.

Watch it on YouTube here.

Listen on Spotify here.

Listen on Apple Podcast here.

OTHER INTERESTING AI HIGHLIGHTS:

Chrome for Android Adds AI Narration for Webpages

/Storyboard18

Google Chrome for Android is rolling out an AI feature that turns webpages into podcast-style audio, making long and text-heavy articles easier to consume on the go. Unlike standard Read Aloud, the new Audio Overviews use AI to summarize content in a conversational style between two AI hosts. This transforms browsing into a more dynamic, accessible, and personalized listening experience.

Read more here.

Sora 2 Launches With Enhanced Realism and Control

/The Sora Team, on OpenAI

OpenAI has released Sora 2, a major update to its video and audio generation model. Capable of handling complex physical dynamics and synchronized dialogue, Sora 2 pushes AI video closer to realistic world simulation. Alongside the model, OpenAI launched a new Sora app, where users can create, remix, and even insert themselves into AI-generated content, signaling the start of a new era in social and creative experiences.

Read more here.

SOME AI TOOLS TO TRY OUT:

AnswerThis – Searches 250M+ papers, finds gaps, drafts reviews with citations.
Sembly – Records, transcribes, and summarizes meetings in 48 languages.
Mosaic – Edits raw footage into reels and cuts in seconds.

That’s a wrap on today’s Almost Daily craziness.

Catch us almost every day—almost! 😉

EXCITING NEWS:

The Another Crazy Day in AI newsletter is on LinkedIn!!!

Leveraging AI for Enhanced Content: As part of our commitment to exploring new technologies, we used AI to help curate and refine our newsletters. This enriches our content and keeps us at the forefront of digital innovation, ensuring you stay informed with the latest trends and developments.

Another Crazy Day in AI: Opera Neon Aims Beyond Traditional Browsing

Oct 1
4 min read

Hello, AI Enthusiasts.

Halfway through the week—feeling productive, or just surviving?

Opera thinks the browser is overdue for a reinvention. Neon is built to organize online chaos and automate the small steps of digital work.

Meta, on the other hand, wants to fold AI prompts into how it curates feeds and ads.

And to cap it off, Google is upping the ante for creators, offering $1M to whoever delivers the best AI-powered short film. Creators across the globe can now enter.

Here's another crazy day in AI:

Opera rolls out Neon browser with automated features
Meta is enhancing user feeds with AI
Google launches AI film challenge
Some AI tools to try out

TODAY'S FEATURED ITEM: Opera Neon Ships with Built-In Agent Capabilities

Image Credit: Wowza (created with Ideogram)

After decades of experimenting with browsing, what new direction is Opera taking with Neon?

Opera has announced Opera Neon, a browser it describes as designed for people who manage complex work online. The release positions Neon not just as a tool for browsing but as a platform that can carry out tasks, organize information, and interact with the web on behalf of its users. For a company that has a long history of experimenting with new ideas in browsing, Neon represents another attempt to push beyond the familiar tab-and-search experience.

At its core, Opera Neon builds on features meant to structure and automate how people use the internet daily. Instead of relying solely on users to manage every step, the browser introduces ways to keep context, reuse instructions, and delegate actions directly within a session.

Some of the key functions being introduced include:

Tasks create isolated workspaces for different projects, keeping the browser focused on one context without pulling information from unrelated tabs or activities
Cards work as reusable prompt templates that can be combined and customized, with options to build your own or browse what others have created
Neon Do handles the actual browsing—opening and closing tabs, navigating sites, filling forms, and collecting information across multiple pages
Local execution means operations happen within your current browser session using existing logins, without sending data through external servers
Direct oversight lets you watch what's happening and intervene at any point to pause or redirect the process
Familiar Opera tools like tabs, Speed Dial, and ad blocking are built into the foundation

Read the full article here.

OTHER INTERESTING AI HIGHLIGHTS:

Meta Is Enhancing User Feeds With AI

/Meta, on Meta Newsroom

Meta announced that it will soon begin using people’s interactions with its AI tools to personalize both content and ad recommendations across Facebook and Instagram. Starting December 16, 2025, chats and prompts with Meta AI will become signals for tailoring feeds—similar to how likes, follows, and posts already shape what users see. For example, asking Meta AI about hiking may result in more hiking-related posts, groups, and ads. Users remain in control through Ads Preferences and feed settings, with Meta emphasizing that sensitive topics like religion or health will not be used for advertising.

Read more here.

Google Launches AI Film Challenge

/Anthony Nakache (Managing Director, Google MENA), on Google Blogs – The Keyword

Google and the 1 Billion Followers Summit have launched the Global AI Film Award, offering a $1 million prize for the best AI-generated short film. Open to creators worldwide until November 20, 2025, submissions must be 7–10 minutes long, with at least 70% created using Google AI tools like Gemini, Flow, Veo, and Nano Banana. Films should align with one of two themes: Rewrite Tomorrow or The Secret Life of. The winning entry will be announced at the 1 Billion Followers Summit in Dubai in January 2026.

Read more here.

SOME AI TOOLS TO TRY OUT:

Alex – AI recruiter that automates interviews, cutting screening time by 80%.
Tab – Automated blog builder that ranks on Google and AI search.
Floutwork – AI browser that unifies apps, tasks, and calendar.

That’s a wrap on today’s Almost Daily craziness.

Catch us almost every day—almost! 😉

EXCITING NEWS:

The Another Crazy Day in AI newsletter is on LinkedIn!!!

Another Crazy Day in AI: What Vibe Working Means for Office Users

Sep 30
4 min read

Hello, AI Enthusiasts.

Tuesday’s wrapping up, but the AI drops aren’t done.

Microsoft is shaking up Copilot in 365 with something it calls Agent Mode. Instead of just spitting out drafts, it can now help plan, review, and refine projects—turning your usual office apps into something closer to a thought partner.

On the flip side, one tech thinker warns that surveillance-heavy responses to AI “workslop” are draining productivity. His take: Work cultures that make authenticity the path of least resistance.

Meanwhile, ServiceNow’s new AI Experience is pitching itself as the single front door for workflows, data, and automation.

Here's another crazy day in AI:

Conversational features come to MS Office Apps
Workslop vs. real work
ServiceNow launches AI Experience
Some AI tools to try out

TODAY'S FEATURED ITEM: Microsoft Introduces Vibe Working to Office

Image Credit: Wowza (created with Ideogram)

Have you ever wished you could just tell your spreadsheet what you need and have it figure out the rest?

Microsoft’s latest announcement introduces Agent Mode in Excel and Word, along with a new Office Agent in Copilot chat. The update, detailed by Sumit Chauhan, Corporate Vice President of the Office Product Group at Microsoft, builds on the idea of “vibe working.” The concept draws from recent advances in reasoning models, designed to make productivity tools feel more interactive and iterative. Now, that same approach is coming to everyday productivity tasks. Instead of manually constructing every formula or formatting every paragraph, you describe what you want, and Copilot handles the technical execution while you guide the direction.

Here's what these updates actually do:

Agent Mode in Excel leverages OpenAI's reasoning models to handle spreadsheet work that typically needs advanced skills—it picks appropriate formulas, creates new sheets, builds data visualizations, and checks its own work, achieving 57.2% accuracy on SpreadsheetBench evaluation tasks
Agent Mode in Word turns writing into a collaborative process where you explain what you need and Copilot drafts content, applies formatting, and asks questions when it needs more information about your intentions
Office Agent in Copilot chat creates PowerPoint decks and Word documents directly from conversational prompts by asking clarifying questions, researching information online, showing its reasoning process, and generating finished files
Available through the Frontier program for Microsoft 365 Copilot customers and Personal/Family subscribers, with Agent Mode working in web versions of Excel and Word first (desktop coming later) and Office Agent currently limited to users in the United States
Designed for back-and-forth interaction so you can continuously refine what gets produced rather than accepting whatever comes out the first time

Excel has always occupied an interesting position in workplace software. It's powerful enough to run financial operations for major corporations, but it's also approachable enough that people use it for grocery lists and fantasy football leagues. The challenge has always been the gap between those two extremes—accessing the sophisticated features requires knowledge that most people don't have time to develop. Agent Mode tries to narrow that gap by letting users describe outcomes instead of memorizing functions. Need a budget tracker with conditional formatting? A loan amortization schedule? An analysis of sales trends? The idea is to explain what you're after and let the software figure out how to build it.

Whether this works well in practice depends on several factors that are hard to predict from an announcement. The 57.2% benchmark accuracy suggests the technology handles many common tasks but still has limitations. More importantly, benchmarks don't always reflect the messy reality of actual work—ambiguous requirements, incomplete data, company-specific conventions, or situations where you're not entirely sure what you need until you see a first attempt. The iterative design might help with some of these challenges, though it also means users need to be comfortable with a process that involves more conversation and refinement than traditional software use.

There's also a practical question about what happens to the learning curve. If you can get results without understanding the underlying mechanics, that's convenient for immediate needs but potentially limiting for developing deeper capabilities. On the other hand, if these tools work as intended, they might actually serve as informal teaching aids—showing you what formulas or structures accomplish specific goals, which could help build understanding over time. How this plays out will probably vary by person and situation. The features are rolling out now, so we'll likely start seeing real-world feedback about what works, what doesn't, and which types of tasks benefit most from this approach to productivity software.

Read the full article here.

OTHER INTERESTING AI HIGHLIGHTS:

Workslop vs. Real Work

/Carlos E. Perez, Editor of Intuition Machine, on Medium

Carlos E. Perez argues that companies often fight “workslop”—AI-generated but useless work—with surveillance and compliance, but this creates an arms race that drains productivity. Instead, he suggests designing workplaces where genuine contributions naturally outperform fake ones. By valuing context, encouraging open thinking, and making the cost of low-quality work visible to its creator, organizations can shift toward a reputation economy of authentic contribution. In this ecology, AI becomes a tool to enhance real thinking rather than a shortcut for empty productivity.

Read more here.

ServiceNow Launches AI Experience

/ServiceNow

ServiceNow has introduced AI Experience, a new multimodal interface that serves as the unified entry point for enterprise AI. The platform brings together people, data, and workflows with built-in governance, security, and transparency. By extending across ServiceNow CRM and other workflows, AI Experience transforms how employees interact with AI, enabling voice and web agents, data exploration, and automation to drive revenue and customer loyalty. Positioned as the new UI for enterprise, it puts AI directly in the flow of work.

Read more here.

SOME AI TOOLS TO TRY OUT:

Integrity – Workspace that unifies notes, canvases, and AI chats for seamless organization.
Incogni – Erase personal data from the web to block scams and identity theft.
n8n – Open-source Zapier alternative for flexible AI workflow automation.

That’s a wrap on today’s Almost Daily craziness.

Catch us almost every day—almost! 😉

EXCITING NEWS:

The Another Crazy Day in AI newsletter is on LinkedIn!!!