Once a semester, a Cornell University instructor requires her students to complete an in-class assignment using typewriters — an exercise to help them understand what writing, thinking and classrooms were like before everything turned digital. The exercise started in 2023, as Grit Mathias Phelps grew frustrated that her German language students were using generative AI and online translation platforms to churn out grammatically perfect assignments. The revival is part of a national trend toward old-school testing methods like in-class pen-and-paper exams and oral tests to prevent AI use for assignments on laptops.

Iran has turned to its cyber operations to make up for its military disadvantages in its conflict with Israel and the U.S. Since the war began last month, hackers supporting Iran have launched thousands of cyberattacks on companies and organizations in both the U.S. and Israel, seeking to undermine the war effort and critical supply chains. Hospitals and health care organizations have been targeted, as well as data centers. Iran is also using artificial intelligence to generate bogus images of the war. These operations haven't yet had a huge impact, but they demonstrate how disinformation, AI and hacking are now ingrained in modern warfare.

A federal judge has ruled in favor of artificial intelligence company Anthropic in temporarily blocking the Pentagon from labeling the company as a supply chain risk. U.S. District Judge Rita Lin on Thursday said she was also blocking enforcement of President Donald Trump’s social media directive ordering all federal agencies to stop using Anthropic and its chatbot Claude. Lin said the “broad punitive measures” taken against the AI company by the Trump administration and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared arbitrary, capricious and could “cripple Anthropic,” particularly Hegseth’s use of a rare military authority that’s previously been directed at foreign adversaries.

A growing number of U.S. college instructors are turning to oral exams to help combat an AI crisis in higher education. Some are replacing written assignments with oral exams. Others are pairing Socratic-style questioning with written assignments or requiring students to attend office hours. Instructors say they know student use of AI is ubiquitous but hard to police, and it's impacting student learning. Oral exams allow instructors to determine what students know and where they need help. Students say they don't always love the testing format, but many agree that it's effective. As one student says, knowing that you will be face-to-face with a professor “makes you realize, ‘I should study this.’”

Artificial intelligence company Anthropic is asking a federal judge on Tuesday to temporarily halt the Pentagon’s “unprecedented and stigmatizing” designation of the company as a supply chain risk. A hearing scheduled for Tuesday in a California federal court marks a critical step in the feud between Anthropic and the Trump administration over how the company’s AI technology could be used in war. Anthropic sued earlier this month to stop the Trump administration from enforcing what the company calls an “unlawful campaign of retaliation” over its refusal to allow unrestricted military use of its technology.

A company that evaluates news outlets and websites to see which produce reliable journalism says it's under attack by the Trump administration. NewsGuard has sued the Federal Trade Commission over an agency investigation that the company says is threatening its livelihood. NewsGuard's ratings system is used to help advertisers and artificial intelligence companies decide which news sites they can trust with their business. Conservative groups and the television network Newsmax says the ratings system is trying to censor conservative thought. The FTC says its investigation of NewsGuard is part of a broader effort to see whether advertiser boycotts violate antitrust laws.

The U.S. Department of Energy has announced a public-private partnership with SoftBank and AEP Ohio to develop a massive artificial intelligence data center and power complex at a former uranium enrichment site in southern Ohio. The project announced Friday includes a planned 10-gigawatt data center and up to 10 gigawatts of new power generation, most of it fueled by natural gas, along with billions in grid upgrades. Officials say the initiative will create thousands of jobs and support AI growth while keeping electricity costs down. The secretaries of energy, commerce and interior visited Piketon on Friday for the project announcement.

China is signaling it will stay focused on technology and economic growth, even as U.S. tensions with Iran rise. On Thursday, China’s parliament approved a new five-year plan that puts advances in technology at the center. The plan backs big spending on areas like artificial intelligence and robotics. It gives less emphasis to quick consumer stimulus, and economists expect any shift in that direction to happen slowly. The plan sets a cautious climate goal tied to the size of the economy, not total emissions. Lawmakers also passed an ethnic minorities law that critics say cement a push toward assimilation.

Two major economic plans unveiled at the annual meeting of China’s legislature outline top priorities. One is building a robust domestic market. The other is building China into a tech leader. Together they highlight the government’s balancing act between its efforts to transform the economy while managing a prolonged period of sluggishness. China is such a large exporter that the choices it makes affect countries and jobs around the world. The plans were presented at the opening of the National People’s Congress and are set to be endorsed by the rubber-stamp legislature on the final day of the eight-day session on Thursday.