Less than half of students possess the expected digital skills upon completion of their bachelor’s degree, according to a study by the Pix Observatory , reported in late 2025 by various national media outlets . These findings highlight what can be called digital illiteracy among young people, a far cry from the “digital native” stereotype often associated with this generation born in […] … learn more→

Have you ever had the experience of rereading a sentence multiple times only to realize you still don’t understand it? As taught to scores of incoming college freshmen, when you realize you’re spinning your wheels, it’s time to change your approach. This process, becoming aware of something not working and then changing what you’re doing, […] … learn more→

Three years after their initial enrollment in a bachelor’s degree program in 2020-2021, only 55% of high school graduates are still enrolled. In other words, nearly one in two young people experiences, at some point in their studies, an interruption, a change of direction, or a setback. During this period, the feelings experienced and the solutions considered […] … learn more→

OpenAI has announced plans to introduce advertising in ChatGPT in the United States. Ads will appear on the free version and the low-cost Go tier, but not for Pro, Business, or Enterprise subscribers. The company says ads will be clearly separated from chatbot responses and will not influence outputs. It has also pledged not to sell […] … learn more→

Before I start this post – a quick announcement. My business partner and pod cohost, Dr Jason Downs, is visiting the UK in late April. If you’d like to meet and chat with him about the products we have planned for On The Reg Team in 2026, shoot us an email to [email protected] with the subject line […] … learn more→

A growing distrust of expertise is reshaping the terrain of science in the United States. Since the pandemic, the partisan divide over science has widened dramatically. While 77% of Americans have at least a fair amount of confidence that scientists act in the best interests of the public, that breaks down to 90% of Democrats and 65% of Republicans. […] … learn more→

Imagine an average university student: they open their laptop to check an assignment, but first they have to deal with messages from the class group, three emails from the university platform, and a notification about a change in the due date. None of this requires great digital skills, but it does require attention that is […] … learn more→

Imagine a student faced with this assignment: “Analyze Starbucks’ international expansion in emerging markets. Consider cultural, economic, and governance factors.” Instead of researching and reflecting, the student copies the entire instruction and pastes it into ChatGPT with a simple “develop this.” A few minutes later, he receives a perfectly structured document. Well-crafted paragraphs, academic vocabulary, […] … learn more→

There’s a particular kind of exhaustion that comes from staring at a word count that’s meant to reach 80,000 or 100,000, knowing you’re only at 12,000. Or from looking at a journal article deadline that’s three weeks away when you haven’t yet written a single word of the results. For doctoral and early career researchers, […] … learn more→

Consistent with the general trend of incorporating artificial intelligence into nearly every field, researchers and politicians are increasingly using AI models trained on scientific data to infer answers to scientific questions. But can AI ultimately replace scientists? The Trump administration signed an executive order on Nov. 24, 2025, that announced the Genesis Mission, an initiative to build […] … learn more→