An AI focus for the first three of today’s offerings, possibly a bit doomy and gloomy …
1. You can read or listen to this alarmist (realist?) piece for Fortune by Jake Angelo, Microsoft AI chief gives it 18 months for all white-collar work to be automated by AI
For the back half of the 20th century (what Fortune founder Henry Luce called “The American Century”), MBA and law degree programs were a ticket to a great office job and a path to the American Dream. The 21st century is asking the question: What happens when all those office jobs get automated?
2. Here’s the executive summary of a report from the UK Government’s AI Security Institute (AISI) on Frontier AI Trends (‘Frontier’ here has nothing to do with passports and immigration!) https://www.aisi.gov.uk/frontier-ai-trends-report PDF of full report below.
The UK Al Security Institute (AISI) has conducted evaluations of frontier Al systems since November 2023 across domains critical to national security and public safety. This report presents our first public analysis of the trends we’ve observed. It seeks to provide accessible, data-driven insights into the frontier of Al capabilities and promote a shared understanding among governments, industry, and the public. Al capabilities are improving rapidly across all tested domains. Performance in some areas is doubling every eight months, and expert baselines are being surpassed rapidly. In the cyber domain, Al models can now complete apprentice-level tasks 50% of the time on average, compared to just over 10% of the time in early 2024. In 2025, we tested the first model that could successfully complete expert-level tasks typically requiring over 10 years of experience for a human practitioner.
And here’s a post from the AISI blog on AI and the future of work: Measuring AI-driven productivity gains for workplace tasks https://www.aisi.gov.uk/blog/ai-and-the-future-of-work-measuring-ai-driven-productivity-gains-for-workplace-tasks
3. Courtesy of Rishi Sunak (who looks an ever better prime minister as time passes) on LinkedIn, The 2026 Stanford Emerging Technology Review from Stanford University, ‘reporting on key technology areas and their policy implications’ https://setr.stanford.edu/ PDFs of a) introduction and summary only; b) the whole (big) thing below; c) Claude’s review of what the report has to say about language learning & teaching and translation. I asked Claude because I couldn’t see very much from a quick skim myself and wanted to be fair.
The Stanford Emerging Technology Review helps America’s public and private sectors better understand transformational technologies so that the United States can seize opportunities, mitigate risks, and ensure its innovation ecosystem continues to thrive. The product of a major new Stanford education initiative, its clear explanation of pivotal tech domains, recent developments within them, and what to look out for in the future makes it an indispensable guide to tomorrow’s world. Indispensable for as long as tomorrow lasts, I guess!
4. Three webinars from TeachingEnglish starting at 12:00 UK time this Friday, 20th February, on Teaching for equality: more info and registration here https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/news-and-events/webinars/webinars-teachers/teaching-equality-webinars
Join us on 20 February for three interactive sessions designed to help you promote equality through your English language teaching. Explore practical strategies to bridge the divide in tech-challenged classrooms, overcome barriers in under-resourced settings and equip your learners to succeed, whatever their circumstances.
5. And, finally, some untranslatable Japanese https://www.word-connection.com/blogs/translating-the-untranslatable My favourite? Tsundoku!
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