In October, a White House announcement described Mr. Trump’s commitment to initiating a "new golden age" of American science. But many scholars fear that the policy changes will ultimately shift students and resources away from centers of independent discovery, where science is pursued for public good. Professor Pierre Azoulay said that on more optimistic days, he believes the new policies deserve "a respectful airing." On other days, he wonders if "the vandalism is the point. I can't tell you which one is correct," he said. "I'm deeply uncertain and conflicted."

Professor of the practice Gary Gensler joined "Squawk Box" to discuss the probe into Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and the impacts on the company's shareholders.

A study by principal research scientist Neil Thompson and co-authors found that the proportion of advanced theoretical questions AI models answered successfully increased from 2.8 percent to 34.6 percent over 16 months. During the same period, the computing cost of producing an answer that received full marks fell from approximately $170 to $15.

Institute Professor Daron Acemoglu said: "We have to create an agenda of steering AI in a more pro-worker direction so that rather than automate work, we get AI to actually help employers to find ways of using workers more productively, and that will be a pathway for encouraging firms to create more jobs."

In a 2013 book, Richard M. Locke, John C Head III Dean of MIT Sloan, concluded that private regulation had some positive impact, but it had hit a plateau. "After more than a decade of concerted efforts" it had "yet to deliver on its promise of sustained improvements in labor rights and working conditions." Locke argued that a mix of private and public regulation could lead to more systemic and sustained improvements.

"The risk to global oil markets and the global economy is the potential for Iranian strikes against shipping in the Strait of Hormuz or against oil and gas infrastructure in the region," said visiting professor Gilbert E. Metcalf. "Continued strikes against Iran, albeit so-called 'defensive strikes,' only increase the likelihood of their undertaking those attacks."

"I would note that the list of explanations includes AI but, importantly, other much more standard pressures: increased competition and a slowdown in customer demand," said professor emeritus Paul Osterman. "While AI is on everyone's mind, it is not the only driver of job market outcomes, and longstanding explanations remain important."

Professor Catherine Wolfram said that launching the war was among the worst decisions Mr. Trump could have made if he was trying to bring down energy costs. "It's Econ 101 that invading Iran when they control the Strait of Hormuz is going to impact gas prices," she said.

Professor Catherine Tucker and Rozhina Ghanavi (PhD candidate) joined this video-cast to discuss their research on privacy in the GenAI era.

Senior lecturer Keri Pearlson and co-authors wrote: "Cybersecurity outcomes in our data look less like a function of rules and enforcement, and more like a function of an organization's social infrastructure. Compliance and governance remain necessary to set the baseline and guardrails. But the next significant reduction in incident rate is more likely to come from a relationship than from another control."

According to research by associate dean Christopher Knittel and co-author, there is no statistically significant relationship between the stringency of mandatory renewable energy quotas and the rise in electricity prices. On the contrary, large wind and solar power plants tend to be associated with lower retail prices.

Senior lecturer Otto Scharmer said: "The current situation we find ourselves in as a country and as a global community demands that we do more than learn by reflecting on the past; it is about learning and leading by anticipating emerging future possibilities and then making them a reality."

"For industrial purposes, current robots still don't offer a clear cost or quality advantage over human labor or what industrial machines can do," said principal lecturer Ben Armstrong. "When you try to think about the tasks a humanoid could perform, you realize that a simpler technology might be more suitable."