AI Week in Review - 4/12/25

Good morning! This week in public sector AI, global momentum continued moving forward - from Stanford’s 2025 AI Index spotlighting rapid adoption and societal impact to HBR’s Top 100 GenAI Use Cases redefining how we live and work. In the U.S., lawmakers and agencies advanced AI in fraud detection, climate resilience, military intelligence, and healthcare innovation. States continued looking at AI implications, from budget fixes and workforce upgrades to power-hungry data centers and deepfake crackdowns. Internationally, the EU and UK ramped up AI ambitions with multibillion-euro plans, new councils, and ethics disputes, while new frameworks emerged to govern autonomous agents and energy use.

In this week’s edition:

• Stanford 2025 AI Index Report

• Harvard Business School Top GenAI Use Cases

• Latest public (and private) sector news

The Highlights

Stanford Releases 2025 AI Index Report

The Story
The Stanford AI Index Report is a comprehensive, data-driven assessment of AI’s progress and influence across sectors, geographies, and global institutions.

More Details
Here are the top takeaways from this year’s report.

• AI performance on demanding benchmarks continues to improve

• AI is increasingly embedded in everyday life.

• Business is all in on AI, fueling record investment.

• The U.S. still leads in producing top AI models—but China is closing in.

• The responsible AI ecosystem evolves—unevenly.

• Global AI optimism is rising—but deep regional divides remain.

• AI becomes more efficient, affordable and accessible.

• Governments are stepping up on AI—with regulation and investment.

• AI and computer science education is expanding—but gaps in access and readiness persist.

• Industry is racing ahead in AI—but the frontier is tightening.
  

How Are People Really Using GenAI?

The Story
Harvard Business School refreshed their 2024 study on how people are using GenAI. This paper looks at the top 100 use cases.

More Details
Here are the top 5 GenAI use cases:

• Therapy / Companionship - emotional support and guidance

• Organizing Life - structuring tasks, priorities, and goals

• Finding Purpose - identifying meaningful goals and direction in life

• Enhance Learning - methods and techniques to improve the acquisition and retention of knowledge and skills

• Writing Code - generating code to create software applications

Federal

Fighting fraud with AI: Data integrity and talent
GAO highlights how AI can aid in detecting federal fraud but stresses the need for high-quality data and a skilled workforce to realize its full potential.

Lawmakers push AI-powered upgrades for NOAA’s climate response
A bipartisan bill reintroduced in Congress would boost NOAA’s use of AI for weather and wildfire forecasting by developing U.S.-based datasets, enhancing model deployment, and fostering public-private partnerships.

GenAI is learning to spy for the military
The U.S. military is testing GenAI tools for intelligence gathering and analysis, aiming to boost efficiency in threat detection—while raising concerns about accuracy, bias, and decision-making risks.

AI helps scientists design future-proof COVID antibody
Using an AI-powered platform, LLNL researchers engineered a next-gen antibody that preemptively neutralizes future SARS-CoV-2 variants, marking a major breakthrough in pandemic preparedness.

Dr Oz tells federal health workers AI could replace frontline doctors
New CMS head Dr. Mehmet Oz told staff AI may outperform doctors in diagnostics, sparking debate over tech use in healthcare.

Trump signs executive order to boost U.S. coal industry, in part to fuel AI
President Trump signed executive orders to revive the coal industry, citing AI's rising energy demands, a move drawing criticism for undermining climate goals and clean energy progress.

State / Local

Can AI solve Milwaukee's budget crisis?
An experiment using AI to address Milwaukee County’s budget deficit yielded creative ideas and valuable insights, underscoring the technology’s potential and limitations in tackling complex civic issues.

Michigan turns to AI to spruce up workforce development
Michigan's AI-enhanced career portal uses semantic resume matching and real-time job data to streamline hiring, attract talent, and support targeted economic development statewide.

San Diego County to examine policy changes needed around AI
San Diego County supervisors have launched an initiative to create a comprehensive AI policy framework focused on responsible use, data privacy, and workforce protections ahead of a major IT contract renewal.

States push back on AI data centers over rising utility costs
Lawmakers in Georgia and across the U.S. are pushing back on AI-driven data center expansion over fears that surging power demands will hike electricity rates and jeopardize climate goals.

AI cameras crack down on distracted driving
Minnesota police using AI-powered infrared cameras caught 10,000 distracted drivers in one month, signaling a growing nationwide push to combat phone use and seatbelt violations behind the wheel.

NJ passes landmark law targeting deepfake abuse
New Jersey has criminalized malicious deepfakes, imposing up to five years in prison and $30,000 in fines for AI-generated harassment, following a student-led push for legal protections.

Judge berates AI entrepreneur for using a generated ‘lawyer’ in court
A New York judge scolded AI entrepreneur for misleading the court by using a generated avatar to argue his case, warning against turning the courtroom into a business showcase.

AI tool improves opioid care and cuts hospital readmissions
An AI screening tool developed by the University of Wisconsin reduced 30-day hospital readmissions for opioid use disorder patients by 47%, proving as effective as human-led referrals and saving over $100,000 in health care costs.

International

Basildon Council targets AI to deliver for residents
Basildon Council is pioneering a resident-focused AI program, balancing innovation, risk management, and transparency to deliver practical public service benefits.

EU releases AI Continent Action Plan
The EU's new AI Continent Action Plan aims to position Europe as a global AI leader by investing in infrastructure, data, talent, and innovation across strategic sectors.

AI and serious online crime
A new report urges the UK to establish an AI Crime Taskforce as AI-enabled criminal activity rapidly accelerates, outpacing current law enforcement capabilities and demanding a proactive, tech-driven response.

EU to build AI gigafactories in €20bn push to catch up with US and China
The EU has unveiled a €20bn plan to build AI gigafactories with supercomputing power to drive innovation and compete globally, while reconsidering regulatory burdens in its AI Act.

OpenAI releases EU Economic Blueprint
OpenAI released an EU Economic Blueprint proposing policy, infrastructure, and education reforms to help Europe lead in AI innovation while aligning with its values and social priorities.

UK launches AI energy council
The UK launched its AI Energy Council to align clean energy strategies with AI growth, uniting tech and energy leaders to ensure sustainable power for data centers and drive national economic ambitions.

Activists accuse UK govt of developing ‘Minority Report‘-style tool to predict likely murderers
Civil rights group accuses the UK government of secretly developing a predictive algorithm using sensitive personal data to assess individuals’ risk of committing murder, raising major ethical concerns.

Everything Else

What is an AI agent?
AI agents are evolving from simple task assistants to dynamic, multi-agent systems that can plan, act, and learn—reshaping enterprise workflows and unlocking trillions in economic value.

Stanford 2025 AI Index Report
The 2025 AI Index offers its most expansive analysis yet, spotlighting AI's rising societal impact, hardware advances, inference costs, and responsible adoption across sectors.

A legal blueprint for autonomous AI agents
A new autonomy-based framework proposes assigning liability for AI agent harms by adapting principles from UK self-driving car law, shifting responsibility based on agent control levels.

CEOs to employees: Embrace AI or become irrelevant
The CEOs of Shopify and Fiverr publicly urged employees to master AI tools or risk obsolescence, making AI proficiency a new baseline for career survival and performance expectations.

Amazon CEO says GenAI will reinvent every customer experience
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy emphasized in his shareholder letter that generative AI is central to Amazon's future, with over 1,000 AI projects reshaping customer experiences across every part of the business.

How people are really using Gen AI in 2025
A new HBR report ranks the top 100 GenAI use cases of 2025, revealing a shift from productivity to personal growth and emotional support as AI becomes deeply woven into daily life.

How AI is fundamentally changing the operational needs of startups
AI-native startups are reshaping entrepreneurship with smaller teams, faster scaling, and new funding dynamics—demanding that investors, policymakers, and corporations rapidly adapt to this emerging paradigm.

Shopify is saying the quiet part out loud: AI will replace new hiring
Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke has mandated teams justify new hires by first proving AI can't do the job, signaling a company-wide shift to deeply integrate AI into operations and performance reviews.

Claude introduces max plan @ $200/month!
Anthropic has launched the Claude Max plan, offering power users up to 20x more usage, priority access to new features, and flexible tiers to support intensive, collaborative AI work.

Energy and AI
A new IEA report explores how AI’s rapid growth will impact global electricity demand, energy security, and emissions, while also offering opportunities to optimize and innovate across the energy sector.