Is the world any closer to seeing a deal struck to end the war in Ukraine after the frenetic diplomacy of the last five days? First, the spectacle in Alaska of U.S. President Donald Trump rolling out the red carpet for Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Then, on Monday, a hastily arranged follow-up meeting between Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy – and assorted European Union allies – and Trump in the White House.

The answer, writes historian Ronald Suny, is that the diplomatic whirl has revealed glimpses of what a future peace deal may look like. Or, more precisely, what it looks like for Putin and Trump. It may be a bitter pill for Ukraine to swallow, but what it all suggests is a meeting of minds between the leaders of the two great powers involved.

AI is coming for our jobs, we’re continually told. So do you bury your head in the sand and hope for the best, or dive deep and see what the competition looks like? In an idle moment over the summer, AI/media specialist Alex Connock chose the latter option. He prompted an AI agent running on ChatGPT to pretend to be him, including by absorbing everything he’s ever said or written about his subject. Then he got it to devise and teach exactly the kind of term-long master’s course he would teach his students at the University of Oxford.

Anyone wondering where AI is heading needs to read his fascinating piece about the results. Spoiler alert: the AI prof’s course was cracking. Unexpected twist: Connock thinks human teaching will be enhanced not extinguished as a result.