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PlayStation sees AI as a ‘powerful tool’ to help make games
However, AI is meant to “augment” its teams’ capabilities, not replace them.
Google Fitbit Air preorders come with a second band for free
An easy way to save on an accessory you might otherwise buy.
Boox’s new page-turning e-reader remote is a tiny two-button keyboard
The Tappy can be used to flip pages, skip tracks, or doomscroll without having to touch your device.
What’s the role of a simple fitness band in the AI health era?
AI health coaches complicate everything.
Sony’s PS5 sales plummet amid price rises and a memory crisis
PS5 sales dropped by 46 percent year-over-year.
Apple’s AirPods with cameras for AI are apparently close to production
The new headphones might help you decide what to make for dinner.
Valve is fighting Steam Controller scalpers with a new reservations system
You’ll have another chance to buy one of Valve’s new controllers.
Did Microsoft just tease a new Xbox UI?
Microsoft is working on a more consistent Xbox UI across consoles, PC, and cloud gaming.
Apple’s $599 MacBook Neo could be at risk from rising RAM prices
Is RAMaggedon coming for the MacBook Neo?
OpenClaw and Claude can put your AI-generated podcasts in Spotify
Your own personal AI podcast feed.
Google’s taking a big swing at AI health with the Fitbit Air
RIP Fitbit, long live Google Health?
Nintendo announces a new Star Fox for the Switch 2
The company revealed the game during a surprise Direct presentation.
5 ways the Iran standoff could end
Is the US on the verge of a deal with Iran or a return to war?
Xbox changes continue with new console boot animation
Microsoft’s new Xbox CEO continues to make changes that are designed to please fans.
Google’s AI search summaries will now quote Reddit
You know, that thing many of us were already looking for manually.
Remarkable’s next E Ink digital notepad skips the color screen
Remarkable’s latest attempt to make paper notebooks extinct.
Energizer’s new coin batteries won’t cause ingestion burns if swallowed
Energizer’s new coin batteries are safer to swallow, but please avoid that.
Chrome’s AI features may be hogging 4GB of your computer storage
You can take steps to delete it though.
Google Home’s Gemini AI can handle more complicated requests
Give Gemini multiple smart home requests at once.
Microsoft’s new Xbox shake-up is all about platform changes
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma is bringing more technical expertise into the Xbox platform team.
Bose takes a swing at Sonos with its new home speakers
The small Ultra speaker in particular is impressive.
Microsoft is finally ditching the junk MSN feed in Windows widgets
It’s part of an effort to fix Windows 11
LG Display has a 27-inch 5K OLED screen.
If you thought 4K at 166ppi was endgame, I have news: 27-inch OLED screens are going 5K, too. LG Display’s new panel at SID 2026 only does 120Hz right now, with full-screen brightness of 250 nits, but way more pixels and “a newly designed RGB stripe structure that enhances the aperture ratio.” No photos yet. Samsung Display has a 27-inch 5K OLED, too.
Valve just imported 50 tons of game consoles in two days
We dug into import records for extra hints.
The Pixel 11 could be the next victim of the RAM shortage
The Pixel 11 could get a RAMaggedon downgrade.
Hisense aggressively cuts the price of its RGB LED TV on release day
The TV just came out and is already over 40 percent off.
Reggie Fils-Aimé says Amazon once asked Nintendo to break the law
Amazon wanted ‘obscene’ financial support to undercut Walmart.
How the internet’s favorite squirrel dad made the hottest camera app of 2026
It’s a nutty story.
‘The reality, for better or worse’: Columbia comp sci students and faculty grapple with AI’s disruption of the field
‘The reality, for better or worse’: Columbia comp sci students and faculty grapple with AI’s disruption of the field ‘The reality, for better or worse’: Columbia comp sci students and faculty grapple with AI’s disruption of the field A field that once seemed like a direct path to stable, lucrative work is becoming less certain under AI, students and faculty told Spectator. By Ria Vasishtha and Arjun Menon May 3, 2026 Shanying Liu / Deputy Illustrations Editor Asia Genawi, SEAS ’29, first encountered artificial intelligence during her sophomore year at her high school in Indiana. Back in 2023, policies on AI varied widely—even within the same district—and some schools had no guidance at all. As Genawi began to see the effects of AI trickle into her classroom, she turned to guidance from her home state’s Department of Education, which she said she found “outdated and inaccessible.” Genawi spent the rest of her high school career dedicated to the issue, including writing a 15-page memo exploring varying AI policies across Indiana schools, which she sent to every Indiana state senator and representative whose contact information she was able to find. She later helped draft a bill that would have required public high schools to establish and share their own AI policies with students in an accessible format. But with so many other bills already awaiting referral, hers never made it to committee. When Genawi arrived at Columbia to study computer science, she found that the gaps she had spent years trying to address in Indiana had followed her there. Many students and professors were also grappling with what AI meant for the field. Across Columbia’s undergraduate schools, computer science has become the most popular major—accounting for around 11 percent of degrees awarded in Columbia College, 32 percent in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and 12 percent in the School of General Studies in 2024. While the number of computer science majors in SEAS grew from 166 to 173 during the 2024-25 academic year, the total number across the three schools fell around 4.5 percent from 393 to 375, driven by declines at Columbia College and General Studies. At Barnard, it has grown to become the second most popular major as of 2025, up from third the year prior. The number of degrees awarded have grown fivefold since 2016. Faculty members and students in the department told Spectator that the surge in the major’s popularity has been driven in large part by its apparent promise of a secure, well-paid career path. However, they noted that the recent rise of generative AI has compromised the sense of stability that once defined the field, even as interest in technical skills among students persists. According to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in 2024, out of 74 majors tracked, computer science had the fifth highest unemployment rate among majors at 7 percent, while computer engineering had the second highest at 7.8 percent. “Anecdotally, people are moving away from CS as a major,” Daniel Bauer, a senior lecturer in the computer science department, said. “They’re still taking some of our classes, right, because they think they need that, but they’re instead majoring in other things.” Bauer described a field that had shifted from what he called a “nerdy outlier discipline” to one that “everyone needs,” a sign that technical skills have become a baseline expectation across industries with the emergence of AI. “A lot of people thought, ‘Oh, it’s a guaranteed path to a stable income. You get a six-figure job right out of your undergrad,’” Bauer said. Now, companies may see AI as a way to reduce demand for entry-level programmers, especially in what he calls “code monkey jobs,” roles where a large number of employees are “just writing out code nine-to-five.” Chris Murphy, a senior lecturer in the computer science department, described the current moment as the convergence of two forces: the downturn of the job market and generative AI coming onto the scene. “Things kind of started to really pick up in 2014, 16,” he said, recalling the years after the weaker 2010 market. Murphy added that this was also a period where “students were getting more experience outside of class than they were inside of class” through internships, jobs, and side projects. Murphy suggested that the earlier momentum helped make computer science feel like both an academic program and a reliable pathway into work. That feeling is harder to sustain now as the industry reconfigures, which is a shift that students are seeing firsthand. Rebecca Yu, SEAS ’27, said that during a recent internship in Big Tech, she saw that “every single tech company was racing to integrate” large language models. She added that her manager said her intern class was the first to complete their assigned projects, which she attributed to the increased efficiency that comes with AI. Frank Liu, SEAS ’29, said that with AI lowering the barrier to coding, companies now expect everyone to write code. “A lot of companies outright say if you’re not using coding in your job, you might get fired for not being productive enough,” Liu said. Yu similarly expressed that students increasingly have to accept AI being a part of industry workflow, adding that many also “make use of it to maximize their productivity.” Richard Li, CC ’28, described a “franticness” among his peers as the pace of change accelerates. He explained how “some new tool” is released regularly, noting that tools rise and fall in prominence within weeks. He has come to believe that he doesn’t need to “match that speed all the time” and keep up with every development. Li has learned that AI tools allow him to “take a breath” and “get back into the loop much easier than before” when he needs to. While some companies specifically target Columbia when hiring, sending representatives to campus career fairs and recruiting large numbers from Columbia, a computer science degree cannot be treated as a static credential, Yu described. “You can’t just get your degree and stop learning after that. You have to always be learning,” Yu said. “That is something you basically have to expect for your job.” AI has not only affected students’ decisions to major in computer science, but also reshaped how the subject is taught. Across departments, faculty members no longer treat work done outside the classroom as a reliable measure of understanding, shifting instead toward in-person exams, quizzes, and attendance checks. While homework once made up as much as 60 to 70 percent of a student’s grade in computer science classes, Murphy said that breakdown has since flipped, with exams and quizzes now accounting for the majority. “The assumption—especially among pessimists—is that they’re using it to do their homework,” Murphy said. “They take the homework assignment. They put it into generative AI. Out comes the solution. Submit solution. The end.” Murphy said that faculty members ranged in their responses from fully prohibiting AI use to actively teaching students how to effectively work with AI. He said he shifted his approach this year after his teaching assistants called his belief that students weren’t using the technology “naïve,” and now permits students to use AI on assignments. His surveys of students in his introductory classes have told a more complicated story than the one so-called pessimists offer: Around 60 to 70 percent of students who reported using AI said they used it to have concepts explained to them, to clarify assignment instructions, to generate test cases, or to create practice questions. “Those are all ways that you might have had a tutor in the past to do that, and now you have this AI essentially as your tutor,” he said. Bauer has taken a different approach, teaching students how to use AI productively without sacrificing the core principles of the discipline. “People who are trained to actually use AI tools productively, while being in charge of designing the overall project, will be very much in demand in the next couple of years,” he said. Over the past year, a working group of computer science faculty has been redesigning the introductory and intermediate programming sequence to integrate generative AI as both a subject and a tool, representatives from SEAS wrote in a statement to Spectator. The effort is “coordinated” across the department, “not course-by-course,” with a systematic assessment of how AI integration is affecting student outcomes underway to shape the next round of changes. The goal, the department explained, is for students to be able to “read, verify, and reason about code, whether they or a model wrote it.” Tony Dear, senior lecturer in the computer science department, is piloting individualized AI feedback in a discrete mathematics course, while a machine learning course is also testing a Socratic AI dialogue system designed to “guide inquiry rather than supply answers,” the statement reads. Beyond individual courses, SEAS funded seven cross-departmental faculty projects in generative AI this past academic year, spanning biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, industrial engineering, and computer science, according to the statement. This phenomenon extends beyond the computer science department. SEAS’ new AI minor, which it announced in November 2025, reflects the University’s attempt to adapt. The minor is specifically designed for noncomputer science majors and aims to provide “essential AI knowledge” while emphasizing practical and responsible use across disciplines, according to the SEAS website. At the center of the minor is AI in Context, a course taught by a team of faculty from the departments of computer science, applied mathematics, philosophy, music, literature, and the Writing Center, the representatives told Spectator. Bauer described it as targeted at students who want to bring AI into fields like economics or biology, rather than as a path into software engineering itself. At the graduate level, SEAS announced a new Master of Science in artificial intelligence in February, with the inaugural cohort starting in the fall. While recognizing how AI has helped them navigate coursework, students also described its rise as isolating, even among members of the Application Development Initiative, one of Columbia’s largest computer science clubs. “As people start to ask AI for questions that they would normally ask students and members, it starts to isolate people” Li said. Alexa Kafka, BC ’27, echoed Li’s sentiment, pointing out that computer science has always been a collaborative discipline with code reviews and pull requests, even as AI makes independent work easier. Despite this, Kafka noted that she hasn’t been to office hours “in at least a year.” Bauer added that faculty are exploring long-term solutions to the assessment problem. “One of the things that we’re trying to do at the department or school level is to maybe move towards computerized testing facilities,” Bauer said, referring to ideas in the department to revitalize computer labs as an alternative to pen-and-paper exams. “We have to accept that this is the reality, for better or worse.” But more exams, students say, does not mean better learning, nor does it reflect how computer science is actually done. “Code is so variable and can be approached in so many directions, there’s never just going to be one correct answer. There can be multiple optimal solutions,” Kafka said. Students also expressed concern that the shift toward exam-heavy grading pulls focus away from the applied, project-based work that better reflects both discipline and industry expectations. ADI has tried to respond more quickly than the curriculum can. Through a vibe coding workshop this past semester, club members said they wanted to help students understand not just that AI exists, but how to use it deliberately. “Vibe coding” refers to the practice of prompting AI to write code for a task or project, and has become widespread enough that ADI felt the gap in formal instruction was worth addressing, according to Sophia Huang, BC ’29. The workshop introduced students to the concept of context engineering, which Shaina Sahu, SEAS ’27, described as not just writing a prompt, but optimizing “the rest of the relevant information that you would feed into the model.” Without that, students said that AI-generated code can fail at scale or introduce difficult-to-detect bugs. Genawi said the shift toward AI has changed what it means to be good at computer science. “I think the shift has kind of gone towards what can you create and what can you do, instead of, what do you know,” she said. Indeed, during ADI DevFest, its annual hackathon, Li said more teams are trying to complete their projects than in years past. While sign-ups have historically outpaced submissions, Li said this is beginning to change because teams “have a tool that completes the vision for them.” While many students see AI as an equalizer that lowers the barrier to entry for coding and technical work, Murphy said it also creates new equity concerns inside the classroom around who can afford stronger tools and who already knows how to use them. “The equity issues I worry about are students who have access to paid versions of things versus free versions of things,” he said. Although popular AI models like ChatGPT and Claude have free versions available, both have paid models that can reach over $100 per month, which output different qualities of code. Murphy also pointed to differences in prior exposure to AI literacy itself. “Students who go to high schools or K-12 education, where they’re taught AI literacy, prompt engineering, context engineering, they understand how to do this, as opposed to students who go to schools who don’t teach that,” he said. “Then they come in, and then they’re somehow expected to know how to use these tools.” For Genawi, those disparities begin long before students arrive on campus. “It’s very interesting to consider how lucky you were geographically,” she said. “To be born where you were is influencing your ability to get access to these spaces.” Students like Yu, though broadly apprehensive about the future of computer science, are not without hope. “I’m optimistic, because I think if you’re truly passionate about CS, there will definitely be a place in the field to do something you want to do,” she said. Senior Staff Writer Ria Vasishtha can be contacted at ria.vasishtha@columbiaspectator.com. Follow Spectator on X @ColumbiaSpec. Staff Writer Arjun Menon can be contacted at arjun.menon@columbiaspectator.com. Follow Spectator on X @ColumbiaSpec. Want to keep up with breaking news? Subscribe to our email newsletter and like Spectator on Facebook. Produced with Spectate by Emily Ta
Hannibal told not to 'antagonise' crowd at Elland Road
For a few weeks now, Burnley had made it clear Hannibal Mejbri was on the verge of his return from a hamstring injury. This season the midfielder received a four-match ban and was given a £15,000 fine after admitting to spitting at Leeds supporters during Burnley's 2-0 victory at Turf Moor back in October. Being the last name on the teamsheet, it was a long build-up to the inevitable boos which followed "Hannibal" being read out by the stadium announcer.
Anker’s discounted 2-in-1 USB-C cable is a great way to spend $15
Native Union’s isn’t half bad, either.
The things we’re building
This week’s Installer has The Steam Controller, and The Devil Wears Prada 2.
Severe Linux Copy Fail security flaw uncovered using AI scanning help
The bug works on nearly all distros since 2017.
Oh, hey, it’s Bandcamp Friday again.
You know the deal: Every dollar goes to the artist, and it’s a great excuse to overindulge in some new music. I’m picking up the new Lip Critic record. 2024’s Hex Dealer was great, and they absolutely tore shit up at the Maker Park Radio anniversary party that summer. What are you snagging? [Media: https://lipcritic.bandcamp.com/album/theft-world]
With Saros, Housemarque makes a case for doing next-gen games differently
The Finnish studio diverges from its peers.
FISA: What to know about the government’s key spy powers on the verge of expiration
The deadline to renew a powerful surveillance law has exposed deep divisions in the Republican Party and left US national security officials scrambling as the potential for blind spots in intelligence collection becomes an ever increasing possibility.
Microsoft’s DLSS competitor is now available on the Xbox Ally X handheld
Xbox Insiders get early access today
Black Female Driver Dystany Spurlock Set To Make NASCAR History
History is on the verge of being made by female driver Dystany Spurlock. Spurlock, who is Black, is set to make her NASCAR Truck Series debut next week. The Black female driver is set to drive the No. 69 truck for MBM Motorsports/Garage 66. She'll be competing at Watkins Glen. The female driver ...
OpenAI talks about not talking about goblins
References to goblins and gremlins spiked with the release of GPT-5.1’s ‘Nerdy’ personality, and then spread to other models.
PlayStation now requires a ‘one-time online check’ to confirm you own a game
Welcome back, DRM discord.
Microsoft reports sinking Xbox revenue as its cloud business climbs
The cloud is driving Microsoft’s revenue.
Microsoft reports sinking Xbox revenue as its cloud business climbs
The cloud is driving Microsoft’s revenue.
Motorola just revealed the Razr Fold’s price and hoo boy
A more affordable foldable this is not.
Google Photos launches an AI try-on feature for clothes you already have
Save a trip to your closet.
The best deals we found during Amazon’s Gaming Week
You can score some solid deals starting at $16.
GitHub rushed to fix a critical vulnerability in less than six hours
A critical remote code execution vulnerability was discovered using an AI model and patched within hours.
Logitech made a analog and mechanical keyboard in one
Launching May 2nd starting at $179.99.
Claude can now plug directly into Photoshop, Blender, and Ableton
Anthropic is really leaning into creative AI services.
Google Translate can now help you with pronunciation
The AI-powered pronunciation practice feature analyzes and corrects your speech to help you learn new languages.
DJI’s new Mic Mini 2 adds colorful covers to help them blend in
The company’s smallest wireless mic also adds voice presets so you can prioritize clarity or emphasize lower tones.
Behold the crown jewel of outrageous gaming laptops
It’s like r/battlestations in laptop form.
Radiation oncologists converge on Capitol Hill to push for payment reform
American Society for Radiation Oncology members from across the country took part in ASTRO’s annual advocacy day on April 27.
Microsoft Office can now be controlled with Logitech’s MX Creative Console
Take your spreadsheets and decks to the next level.
Canonical lays out a plan for AI in Ubuntu Linux
AI features are coming to the most popular Linux distro.
Valve launches the Steam Controller without the Steam Machine
The Steam Controller is officially coming next week.
Samsung’s first smart glasses have leaked
The Galaxy Glasses could launch later this year.
Canva apologizes after its AI tool replaces ‘Palestine’ in designs
How does this even happen?
This touchscreen mouse is my over-engineering nightmare
The Turtle Beach Command Series MC7 has a 2.25-inch display that’s begging to be accidentally brushed against.
The long rumored foldable iPad may never see the light of day.
Apple has supposedly been working on a folding tablet since at least 2023. The rumored release has slipped from 2024, to 2026, to 2028, to 2029, and now, according to Mark Gurman, it might not happen at all. While it was a priority for incoming CEO John Ternus, its future is now in doubt: > Foldable iPad: Apple has been working on a roughly 20-inch foldable iPad. This device has been a Ternus priority but may end up being a wacky experiment that doesn’t see the light of day, according to several people who have worked on it.
Google’s new gradient icon design is coming to more apps
So long to the boring “things in a circle” look.
DNA research just rewrote the origin of human species
Scientists have uncovered a surprising new picture of human origins that challenges the long-held idea of a single ancestral population in Africa. By analyzing genetic data from diverse modern African groups—especially the highly distinct Nama people—and comparing it with fossil evidence, researchers found that early humans likely evolved from multiple intermingling populations over hundreds of thousands of years. Rather than a clean split, these groups stayed connected, exchanging genes even after beginning to diverge around 120,000–135,000 years ago.
Trump fires the entire National Science Board
Federal funding for scientific research was already in turmoil.
Yankees news: Jazz Chisholm Jr. makes the adjustment
The Spencer Jones question; The divergent paths of the Yankees and Red Sox; Chisholm makes an adjustment; Cole takes another step.
Microsoft will let you pause Windows Updates indefinitely, 35 days at a time
No more Windows update ambushes.
Leak reveals new Xbox Game Pass ‘Starter Edition’ that’s part of Discord Nitro
Nitro subscribers will get a limited Xbox Game Pass subscription
Microsoft’s new Xbox chief is ‘reevaluating’ exclusive games
Asha Sharma has a new strategy for her return of Xbox.
Great news, the Moto G Stylus is no longer teeming with bloatware
Long live the headphone jack.
DJI’s new Lito Series beginner drones start at less than $400
The Lito X1 might be worth the upgrade for amateur pilots with its obstacle-avoiding LIDAR sensor.
Microsoft launches ‘vibe working’ in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
A new Copilot experience is rolling out
Youssef Zalal aims to end Aljamain Sterling's 'point-proving streak'
Just days ahead of his first UFC main event, Youssef Zalal can feel he's on the verge of big things in his career.
Maine’s transgender sports referendum is on the verge of dropping off the ballot
The referendum has enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot, but the margin is tight with more challenges pending.
Google Meet will take AI notes for in-person meetings too
AI summaries for meetings in-person or on Zoom and Teams.
Sony’s PlayStation 5 is $200 off for the first time since December
No need to spend $599.
The year’s weirdest game is hard to explain and even harder to put down
Welcome to Titanium Court.
Art and Science Converge as Senior Center’s Masters Series Sets Spring Theme
Daily Newsmagazine and City Guide to Pasadena, California featuring local news, breaking news, events, weather, sports news, schools news, shopping, restaurants and more from Pasadena Now
Anker made its own chip to bring AI to all its products
The Thus chip will first be in new earbuds.
ISS astronauts are in the middle of a tech overhaul
The astronauts will be using HP ZBook Fury G9 laptops.
OpenAI’s updated image generator can now pull information from the web
ChatGPT Images 2.0 can create more “sophisticated” images, according to OpenAI.
X makes it 1,900 percent more expensive to post links
For Techmeme, the price hike has forced a major change.
Framework announces Laptop 13 Pro, ‘the MacBook Pro for Linux users’
Battery, rigidity, CAMM memory, and so much more.