Editor's note

Nearly five years have passed since Boko Haram kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls from Chibok, Nigeria, prompting worldwide outrage and triggering the #BringBackOurGirls campaign. Today, four young women who escaped the infamous kidnapping are studying at a small private college in Pennsylvania. A visiting professor who is helping to prepare the young women for college describes their quest for higher education and their struggle to find new meaning in life.

The rapid advance of artificial intelligence has prompted alarmists to offer dire warnings about the coming “robot apocalypse.” Even if AI-powered machines don’t enslave us, they’re still expected to steal most of our jobs. Thomas Kochan and Elisabeth Reynolds, scholars on the future of work, explain how society can avoid this kind of apocalyptic outcome.

And inside a prison in Connecticut, older inmates who are serving life sentences are mentoring younger inmates in preparation for their release, writes law professor Miriam Gohara. This pilot program, based on a model used in Germany, offers a new way of thinking about people who commit crimes – as victims with unhealed trauma.

Jamaal Abdul-Alim

Education Editor

Top stories

Chibok schoolgirls freed from Boko Haram captivity shown in Abuja, Nigeria in 2017. Olamikan Gbemiga/AP

Once captives of Boko Haram, these students are finding new meaning in their lives in Pennsylvania

Jacob Udo-Udo Jacob, Dickinson College

Four young women who escaped Boko Haram during the 2014 Chibok schoolgirl kidnapping are now studying in the US. Their professor recounts a recent breakthrough in their quest to go to college.

Some soothsayers predict robots will take over half of today’s occupations. Mykola Holyutyak/Shutterstock.com

How to prevent the ‘robot apocalypse’ from ending labor as we know it

Thomas Kochan, MIT Sloan School of Management; Elisabeth Reynolds, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

While some alarmists predict AI will decimate the workforce, the truth is concerted action by leaders in labor, business, government and education can ensure workers aren't replaced by robots.

Former Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy speaks with inmates. AP Photo/Pat Eaton-Robb

A prison program in Connecticut seeks to find out what happens when prisoners are treated as victims

Miriam Gohara, Yale University

In a pilot program, older prisoners sentenced to life mentor younger prisoners who have a chance to lead productive, lawful lives when they get out. The focus is on healing trauma.

Arts + Culture

Health + Medicine

Politics + Society

  • Brazil and Venezuela clash over migrants, humanitarian aid and closed borders

    Robert Muggah, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio); Adriana Abdenur, Brazilian Naval War College

    Brazil's president has threatened military intervention in neighboring Venezuela, called its leader a 'dictator' and sent troops to the border. But Brazil's military is quietly working to avoid war.

Ethics + Religion

Science + Technology

  • Artificial intelligence must know when to ask for human help

    Sarah Scheffler, Boston University; Adam D. Smith, Boston University; Ran Canetti, Boston University

    When algorithms are at work, there should be a human safety net to prevent harming people. Artificial intelligence systems can be taught to ask for help.

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Today’s quote

Carelessness, or what increasingly looks like intentional abuse, of user data has made it difficult to trust [Facebook] with people’s most intimate relationships.

 

How Facebook went from friend to frenemy

 

Elizabeth Stoycheff

Wayne State University

Elizabeth Stoycheff