🌎 Speeding Up

AI is going to rule the new school year

Goodbye textbooks, hello GPT-5. Once met with hesitation, AI is now becoming a staple in K–12 classrooms, with teachers integrating it into lesson planning, grading, and student use in the upcoming school year.

Embracing AI

Remember when people thought AI in schools would be banned? Turns out, teachers are not only letting students use it, they’re using it themselves to make the school year smoother:

• Educators across the US are preparing for the fall by using large language models to generate lesson plans, quizzes, and personalized materials.

• According to a new Gallup study, 60% of teachers have already used generative AI in the past year to help with labor-intensive tasks like grading.

With newfound waves of educators using the tech, AI companies are looking to seize the opportunity and make AI as essential as a sharp number two pencil on test day:

• Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic pledged $23 million to train 400,000 K–12 teachers, while Google launched a $1 billion initiative to give college students free access to Gemini and AI training.

However, standard chatbots can only do so much in class, so OpenAI and Google recently launched AI tools designed to teach students concepts, not just hand over answers.

Looking ahead: As its use expands throughout education, experts warn that AI should be used to support and simplify teaching, not replace the job itself (like this school has).

Say hello to the fastest train in America

They’re just a bit behind Japan’s bullet trains. After years of production setbacks and regulatory holdups, Amtrak’s new version of its high-speed Acela trains was officially introduced on the busy Northeast Corridor, connecting Washington, New York, and Boston.

How fast are they?

Amtrak’s newest (and very coolly named) NextGen Acela trains are designed to run at 160 mph, making them the fastest passenger rail option in the country, though actual speeds remain capped by track conditions.

For comparison, the current Acelas top out at 150 mph, which until now had been the US high-speed record. The $2 billion project is a milestone for US passenger rail, which has lagged far behind Europe and Asia in high-speed service.

Along with being a bit quicker, the NextGen trains also have some upgraded features:

• The new fleet offers roomier cabins, upgraded Wi-Fi, modern lighting, and 27% more seating.

For now, just five NextGen Acelas are pulling out of the station, but another 23 will be in service by 2027. The release comes after years of delays, as the NextGen trains were initially supposed to debut in 2021.

Even Amtrak’s books are off track: Last fiscal year, Amtrak spent $4.3 billion on operations while generating $3.6 billion in revenue. Earlier this year, the company cut 10% of its staff and said it’s set to be profitable by 2028.

Taco Bell ditches AI ordering after customers troll the system

Unlike the AI, a human won’t take your order of 2,000 chalupas seriously. The Mexican-American fast food chain is rethinking its rapid expansion of AI-powered drive-thrus after customers repeatedly make the system look, well, pretty stupid.

Pressing pause

Since 2023, Taco Bell has introduced AI-powered ordering at over 500 of its locations and even announced a partnership with Nvidia to further embed AI into its ordering and food-prep systems in March.

While the system has taken over two million orders without a hitch, some customers began to report widespread glitches, awkward order errors, and long delays. Several viral videos showed the AI isn’t quite up to par:

• One video shows the system crashing after a customer ordered 18,000 cups of water (watch here).

• In another clip, the drive-thru bot gets caught in a loop, repeatedly asking the customer what they’d like to drink even after being told “Mountain Dew” several times.

Taco Bell’s Chief Digital and Technology Officer, Dane Mathews, says the chain is taking a more measured approach and reverting to human order-takers at high-traffic locations where speed and clarity matter most.

AI ordering is unique to Taco Bell: Other fast-food chains like McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and White Castle have dabbled in AI ordering, but none have really praised the system for being flawless.

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College-educated men are struggling to get hired

We literally got dire wolves before Winds of Winter. New data shows that Gen Z graduates, particularly men, are facing significant hurdles in the job market, leading to a spike in unemployment rates.

It’s not a pretty picture

For the first time in decades, young men with college degrees are slightly more likely to be out of work than their peers without degrees. According to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis:

• In the second quarter of 2025, the unemployment rate for men aged 20 to 24 was 9.1%, compared to 7.2% for women of the same age.

• That’s well above the 4.2% unemployment rate for the entire US (both men and women) in August.

The trend marks a sharp reversal from pre-pandemic patterns when young men typically had lower unemployment rates than women.

So, why the flip? The fight to find a job comes as AI and automation cut entry-level roles, economic uncertainty tightens the market, and many graduates end up in jobs that don’t match their degrees.

Women are leading the charge: The overall job market for fresh graduates isn’t great, but some industries, like those in healthcare, hospitality, and education (which are mostly dominated by women), are some of the few that have shown growth in the past few months.

Historic painting stolen by Nazis disappears again

I guess the next Van Gogh might be hiding behind a sale listing. Argentine police raided a home last week in search of an Italian Baroque painting looted by Nazis in World War II. The artwork, recently spotted in a real estate listing, has since vanished.

A timeline of events

The historic artwork was once owned by Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, whose vast collection was stolen by the Nazis after they invaded the Netherlands in 1940.

• Hundreds of his works were sold illegally to Hitler’s deputy, Hermann Göring.

• This painting was later believed to have passed to Göring’s aide, Friedrich Kadgien, who fled to Argentina after the war.

After more than 80 years, the 17th-century painting, named "Portrait of a Lady" by Giuseppe Ghislandi (see here), reappeared hanging above a sofa in a property listing from Mar del Plata, Argentina.

Interestingly enough, one of Kadgien’s daughters owns the seaside property where the famous portrait was found.

Missing masterpiece

The rediscovery stems from an investigation by a Dutch journalist, who tracked the painting to the house through real estate ads. Dutch experts, including the Cultural Heritage Agency, confirmed the portrait is a nearly identical match to the long-missing artwork.

• This prompted the police to execute a search of the property, but it was removed and replaced by a tapestry.

• However, investigators were able to seize historical documents and prints that may help the investigation move forward.

Looking ahead: Goudstikker’s heirs, led by his daughter-in-law Marei von Saher, are taking legal action to get the piece back, along with other family artworks. This possibly includes another artwork linked to Kadgien.

Catch up on this week’s weird news

 > A Florida man dressed in a Batman onesie caught and restrained a burglar in his neighbor’s garage until police arrived. Maybe he’s the hero we needed after all.

 > The Enhanced Games, a new Olympic-style with no drug testing, filed an $800 million lawsuit against WADA, USA Swimming, and World Aquatics, for allegedly creating a campaign to stop athletes from attending.

 > More than 40,000 pounds of ribeye steaks went up in flames on a highway in Missouri. Ironically, the meat was extinguished by a rookie firefighter who just happened to be vegan.

 > A Maryland man’s accidental purchase of two identical Powerball tickets led to a $1 million prize, doubling his luck.

 > On Sunday, thousands of natural redheads traveled to Tilburg, Netherlands, to attend the annual Redhead Days festival, featuring music, workshops, and a signature group photo (see here).