Over this summer, I've noticed an even greater focus on the topic of artificial intelligence (AI) and how it might impact education and work in the future. After attending ISTE 2019 in Philadelphia, several edtech startups caught my attention because of the mention of AI. After doing some research, I came across a few other AI tools beginning to gain ground in classrooms. There is so much information out there that finding time to explore it all can be a challenge. To make it easier, I signed up to receive Google alerts about cutting edge and emerging trends with AI.

You've got a classroom filled with middle school students working out math problems on computers. Which students are knocking them out with ease? In a pilot test of math software at David E. Williams (DEW) Middle School in Coraopolis, Pa., emojis tell the smart-glasses-wearing teacher what she needs to know. A smiling emoji hovers over a student's head: That means the student is progressing nicely. A frown emoji indicates struggle.

Veronica is a senior editor for The Economist Intelligence Unit's thought leadership division in New York. She specialises in market environment topics and trends that cut across industries, including the future of work, technological disruption, and economic competitiveness. In addition to these areas, she has led projects on advancements in manufacturing, historic energy demand trends, and socioeconomic topics such as organised labour, post-war impact investing and growth of cities. Until July 2014 Veronica was the EIU's commerce and regulations analyst for 29 countries, mostly in the emerging markets. She has written for various EIU publications, on subjects such as financial inclusion, international trade, and policies aimed at attracting investment and promoting innovation. Veronica holds master's and bachelor's degrees in international relations from New York University and the University of Pennsylvania, respectively.

Recent research in natural language processing using the program word2vec gives manipulations of word representations that look a lot like semantics produced by vector math. For vector calculations to produce semantics would be remarkable, indeed. The word vectors are drawn from context, big, huge context. And, at least roughly, the meaning of a word is its use (in context). Is it possible some question is begged here?

This week at school we've been brainstorming and discussing qualities we want to see in our graduates as they leave our school and enter the wider world of college and work. Today among many other questions, I was thinking about automation and the ways we need students to develop computational thinking skills so they can effectively utilize mind-blowingly powerful AI's (artificial intelligence bots) to collaborate with others and solve problems. As I gaze into the palantir afforded me as a co-host of "The EdTech Situation Room" each week with Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach), this is part of the future I see for our students, our society, and ourselves in the coming decades. This 98 second video, which I titled "EdTech Situation Room Promo Trailer," is the result of my thinking about this question tonight. Spoiler: The video offers more questions than answers, and as an answer suggests you need to follow @edtechSR on Twitter and subscribe to our weekly webshow and podcast on YouTube and on edtechSR.com! This question of what an emerging "artificial intelligence first" rather than "mobile first" worldview (which Google announced at Google IO 2017) should mean for schools is something I discussed on The EdTech Situation Room back on May 17, 2017, with Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Ben Wilkoff (@bhwilkoff).