Welcome to the March 3, 2025 edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for computer professionals three times a week.

HEADLINES AT A GLANCE

• U.S. Workers Skeptical AI Will Help Them
• CASC Condemns Mass Firing of Science Agency Employees
• Humanoid Robots Finally Get Real Jobs
• Military to Test Smart Fiber Computer Clothing for Arctic Operations
• Estonia Launches AI in High Schools with U.S. Tech Groups
• These Computer Majors Earn Students $100K
• Amazon Joins Quantum Race with 'Cat Qubit' Powered Chip
• Microsoft Shutting Down Skype
• States Consider App-Store Age-Verification Laws
• Google’s Brin Urges Workers to the Office ‘at Least’ Every Weekday
• ACM Distinguished Member Orso Named Dean of UGA's College of Engineering

U.S. Workers Skeptical AI Will Help Them

Less than a third of respondents to a Pew Research Center survey of around 5,300 Americans said they were "excited" about the use of AI in future workplaces. Around 80% of Americans do not use AI at work, and most of those who do are not impressed by the results, according to the survey. Among other findings, 52% of workers said they were "worried" about how AI could be used in future workplaces.
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CASC Condemns Mass Firing of Science Agency Employees

The Coalition for Academic Scientific Computation (CASC), a nonprofit representing over 105 member institutions, issued a statement condemning the termination of thousands of employees at federal science agencies. "CASC believes these drastic changes will limit our ability to support innovation and discovery, with far-reaching consequences," read the statement in part. The organization called on policymakers to recognize the indispensable role of federal scientists and to ensure that research agencies remain fully staffed and adequately supported.
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Humanoid Robots Finally Get Real Jobs

Humanoid robots, with the help of AI, are being used to perform tasks typically done by human workers, or to serve as a bridge between other less-versatile automated machines common in warehouses and factories. Mass manufacturing and falling costs for the components of robots are making them cheaper to produce, and the latest AI technologies are animating robot bodies in ways not possible even a few years ago. More than a dozen startups worldwide now offer such humanoid robots.
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Military to Test Smart Fiber Computer Clothing for Arctic Operations

An advanced fiber-based computer designed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology can be embedded into textile fabrics, enabling it to track health and give alerts on potential health risks in real time. U.S. Army and Navy service members will use the technology to track physiological responses during an upcoming Arctic expedition in its first real-world test.
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Estonia Launches AI in High Schools with U.S. Tech Groups

The Estonian government is launching the AI Leap initiative in partnership with OpenAI and Anthropic, providing free access to AI-learning tools to 20,000 high school students beginning in September. Next year, the program will be expanded to vocational schools, and possibly younger students as well. Estonian President Alar Karis said the goal of AI Leap is to foster an awareness of and critical thinking about AI among students, not to replace educators.
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These Computer Majors Earn Students $100K

An analysis by digital news/research publication EdSurge of data from the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard shows that college graduates with the highest median salaries one year after graduation are those who studied computer science at the University of California-Berkeley, earning a median annual salary of nearly $150,000 and carrying just $13,750 in student loan debt. In computer engineering, graduates from the University of Washington-Seattle Campus topped the list, earning $141,588 a year, with debt of $15,422.
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Amazon Joins Quantum Race with 'Cat Qubit' Powered Chip

Amazon said it has made a quantum computing breakthrough with a prototype chip built on "cat qubit" technology, which engineers error resistance into qubit design. The Ocelot chip has 14 key components, including five cat qubits. Compared to existing approaches, Amazon said Ocelot could reduce the costs of quantum error correction by up to 90%.
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Microsoft Shutting Down Skype

Microsoft plans to shutter Skype in May, shifting some of its services to Microsoft Teams. Founded in 2003 by engineers in Estonia, Skype was a pioneer in making telephone calls through the Internet rather than landlines. It added video calls after eBay bought the service in 2005.
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States Consider App-Store Age-Verification Laws

Lawmakers in nine states have introduced legislation that would require app-store operators to verify users' ages and obtain parental consent before allowing minors to download apps. Meta, Snap, and X contend app stores should be in charge of age verification, given that they collect user information already. Apple disagrees, arguing that handling age verification through app stores could result in user ages being shared with nearly every app. Google plans tests later this year of a machine learning age estimation model.
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Google’s Brin Urges Workers to the Office ‘at Least’ Every Weekday

Google co-founder Sergey Brin last week said his company could lead the industry in AI when machines match or become smarter than humans, but only if employees worked harder. “I recommend being in the office at least every weekday,” he wrote in a memo posted internally. He added that “60 hours a week is the sweet spot of productivity” in the message to employees who work on Gemini, Google’s lineup of AI models and apps.
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ACM Distinguished Member Orso Named Dean of UGA's College of Engineering

Georgia Institute of Technology's Alessandro "Alex" Orso will assume the role of dean of the University of Georgia's (UGA) College of Engineering on July 1. A Distinguished Member of ACM and a fellow of IEEE, Orso’s research focuses on software testing, program analysis, and debugging. He has developed and validated methods to improve software reliability, security, and trustworthiness.
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