AI-for-education.org released the next benchmarks for AI and education. This time focused on visual reasoning, the newest benchmark is already running tests on over 35 LLMs. Utilizing multiple-choice items from end-of-primary non-verbal aptitude assessments that have been used in Zambia and India, the goal of the Visual Reasoning Benchmark is to observe how effectively models engage with non-verbal visual problems. You can see the full AI benchmarks for education curated by their team at https://benchmarks.ai-for-education.org.
Right before Digital Learning Week, Amazon’s Future Engineer Program and Playlab.ai announced their support to public schools and districts in specific U.S. geographies (DC, Atlanta, Maryland, Virginia, Seattle, Chicago, Nashville). The partnership provides schools and districts with a package of support that includes professional development and workshops to build educator and leadership capacity in AI, alongside opportunities to design and deploy custom AI tools that enhance instruction, coaching, and administrative operations. Districts can also receive tailored coaching and implementation support to build long-term internal capacity, positioning them to sustain and expand their efforts independently. You can learn more at https://www.playlab.ai/blog/announcing-a-special-partnership-for-supporting-educators-districts/
This week SETDA released the State EdTech Trends. “For the first time, AI tops the list of state priorities, surpassing cybersecurity, as leaders grapple with both the promise and pressure. From statewide guidance to professional learning, the report highlights how states like NC, WY, MA, UT, WA, OH, and VA are navigating the AI moment.” Read more at https://www.setda.org/priorities/state-trends/
On the higher education front, OpenAI updated their ChatGPT for University Educators resources to help universities adopt ChatGPT Edu responsibly and effectively. Providing guidance on technical setup, governance, communication, and training, along with new features like Study Mode that support tutoring and step-by-step learning. The goal is to give educators, students, and administrators clear pathways to integrate AI in ways that enhance teaching, protect privacy, and build long-term institutional capacity. Read more at https://chatgpt.com/use-cases/university-educators
The International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 has released a new position paper on Promoting and Protecting Teacher Agency in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. Emphasizing that while AI can support teaching and learning, the paper articulates strong support for teachers. Arguing that teachers remain irreplaceable and their professional judgment, creativity, and empathy must remain central to education systems. The authors call for stronger teacher AI competencies, ethical safeguards, and policies that ensure AI complements rather than diminishes teacher agency and equity in education. This is one of the first papers I have seen ties together the use of AI and teacher agency — others talk about it but don’t use those words (words that I love by the way!). You can download the full paper online at https://teachertaskforce.org/sites/default/files/2025-09/1149_25_Promoting%20and%20Protecting%20Teacher%20Agency_FINAL_3Sep.pdf
In other news, this week Google Cloud released their new ROI of AI 2025 report highlights the rapid rise of “agentic AI,” where AI agents independently execute tasks under human oversight. Based on a survey of 3,466 senior leaders, the report finds that 88% of early adopters are already seeing ROI from generative AI use cases, particularly in productivity, customer experience, marketing, and security. Unlike MIT’s recent report that measured ROI from generative AI broadly, Google’s new study shows that organizations deploying AI agents are seeing faster, more tangible returns across multiple business functions. You can access the full report at https://cloud.google.com/resources/content/roi-of-ai-2025
What is AI ROI? It’s important to note while there are a lot of people and organizations writing about AI ROI, few are actually defining what Return on Investment (ROI) looks like for organizations when it comes to AI. A few places to go to learn more about defining and understanding ROI and AI include: IBM’s work here or SmartDev’s work here.
And last but not least, OpenAI released their Leadership Guide for staying ahead in the age of AI. They highlight five themes that are important to organizations as they adopt AI effectively and responsibly, including: Align, Activate, Amplify, Accelerate, and Govern. Similar to what others have suggested, this guide also points to the need for alignment across leadership, hands-on training, knowledge sharing, and governance. This document offers a bit of a roadmap not just to experiment with AI, but to embed it as a strategic advantage for organizations.
New in the AI and Education Studio
- We relaunched conversation guides for parents talking to their kids about AI – you can find that online here.
- We also launch conversation guides for school leaders and parents to talk to their kids about AI – you can find that online here.
Remember that the future of education is being shaped now and we need more voices that are informed, thoughtful, and equity-driven. Subscribe to Jody’s newsletter to get weekly updates delivered right to your in-box at https://jodybritten.medium.com/subscribe.
