Morning Briefing #36 — May 1, 2026
Your daily look at how world events shape technology and education.

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TODAY'S STORIES

🌍 WORLD
• US-Israel Iran War enters new phase as Pentagon reports $25B tab
• May Day 2026: 3,500+ events as Workers Over Billionaires walkout goes nationwide
• South Korea's Yoon Suk Yeol gets additional 7 years on top of life sentence

💻 TECH
• Microsoft offers voluntary retirement to 8,750 US employees citing AI shift
• Google launches Gemini 3.1 Ultra with 2-million-token context window
• OpenAI surpasses $25 billion ARR, eyes public listing by late 2026

🎓 EDUCATION
• Boston Public Schools to make AI literacy a graduation requirement
• Ohio mandates all public school districts adopt formal AI policy by July 1, 2026
• Students to lead national AI policy summit this summer with AASA and MIT

🤖 AI
• Google to invest up to $40 billion in Anthropic in landmark AI deal
• OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic join forces against Chinese model cloning
• Humanoid robot training farms now collecting millions of human movement videos

🔒 CYBERSECURITY
• CISA adds 8 exploited flaws to KEV Catalog — federal deadlines through May 8
• Critical cPanel authentication bypass carries CVSS 9.8
• Glassworm campaign plants 73 sleeper malicious extensions in OpenVSX

⭐ AND TO END ON A HIGH NOTE
• Renewable energy surpasses natural gas in US electricity generation for first time ever

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SOURCES

• US-Israel attacks on Iran: Death toll tracker — Al Jazeera
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/1/us-israel-attacks-on-iran-death-toll-and-injuries-live-tracker
• $25bn or $1 trillion: How much has Iran war really cost the US? — Al Jazeera
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/30/25bn-or-1-trillion-how-much-has-iran-war-really-cost-the-us
• May Day Protests: Workers, Students Urged to Walk Out — Newsweek
https://www.newsweek.com/may-day-protests-workers-students-urged-walk-out-across-united-states-11891739
• May Day Strong — Official Organizer Site
https://maydaystrong.org/
• South Korean court sentences ex-President Yoon to 7 years in prison — NPR
https://www.npr.org/2026/04/29/g-s1-119165/south-korean-court-sentences-ex-president-yoon
• Yoon Suk Yeol Sentenced to Additional 7 Years by Seoul High Court — Vision Times
https://www.visiontimes.com/2026/04/30/yoon-suk-yeol-sentenced-to-additional-7-years-in-prison-by-seoul-high-court.html
• Microsoft plans first-ever voluntary retirement program — CNBC
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/23/microsoft-plans-first-voluntary-retirement-program-for-us-employees.html
• Microsoft Reshapes Workforce as It Pours Billions Into AI — Inc.
https://www.inc.com/leila-sheridan/microsoft-ai-buyout-9000/91335472
• AI Updates Today — LLM Stats
https://llm-stats.com/llm-updates
• Latest AI News and Breakthroughs 2026 — Crescendo AI
https://www.crescendo.ai/news/latest-ai-news-and-updates
• LLM News Today — LLM Stats
https://llm-stats.com/ai-news
• Google to invest up to $40B in Anthropic — TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/24/google-to-invest-up-to-40b-in-anthropic-in-cash-and-compute/
• CoSN 2026: How K–12 Districts Are Tackling Responsible AI Adoption — EdTech M...
https://edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2026/04/cosn-2026-how-k-12-districts-are-tackling-responsible-ai-adoption
• Latest AI in Education News: Policies and Innovations 2026 — Pursuit
https://www.pursuit.us/news/ai-in-education-news-policies-innovations
• Ohio Model AI Policy for Districts and Schools — Ohio Department of Education
https://education.ohio.gov/Topics/AI-in-Ohio-s-Education/Model-Policy
• AI in Education Legislation: 2026 State Policy Trends — MultiState
(continued in YouTube show notes)