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• Brown University professor Roberto Serrano saw scores drop between a take-home midterm and an in-person final.
• He suspects the students cheated with AI. “It’s certainly a wake-up call to the professors,” he told Business Insider.
• Serrano shared the exam scores. Some dropped from perfect scores on the midterm to below 20% on the final.

Roberto Serrano’s class scored curiously well on the take-home midterm exam. When he suspected widespread AI cheating and made their final exam in-person, their grades tanked.

The Brown University professor teaches welfare economics and social choice theory. The midterm was administered from home after a shooter killed two students in December.

“The problem with this technology is that the cost of cheating has basically gone down to zero,” he told Business Insider. “It’s very easy for students to succumb to the temptation.”

When he told students that the final exam would be in person, many previously high-scoring students dropped out. Others who scored in the high 90s on the midterm scored in the 50s on the final.

A chart of the data, which was first publicized by Inside Higher Ed, shows each student’s grades:

Brian E. Clark, Brown’s VP for news and strategic campus communications, wrote to Business Insider that Serrano shared details with the university’s standing committee on the academic code on July 8. The committee “move forward according to its procedures.”

“Brown treats every allegation of academic integrity with the utmost seriousness,” Clark wrote.

The scandal has drawn interest across the internet, and particularly among those who work in tech. Y Combinator cofounder Paul Graham posted on X about it; two Google DeepMind staffers also shared their thoughts.

Serrano wasn’t shocked that the score changes drew interest — but he was surprised by the scale. “I’m a little overwhelmed,” he said.

He said he’s received “hundreds of emails,” many from Brown alums. His colleagues, who are off campus for summer break, have also been texting him about it.

Some of those commenting online applauded the student who was consistently high-scoring: first a 95.5, then a 95. Serrano said this was an “excellent student” that he knew “very well.”

Others shouted out the consistently low-performing student: first a 55, then a 59. “I admire that person,” Serrano said.

More debated the merits of this generation coming into the workforce. Can students who cheat on exams with AI be trusted to do hard work? Some argued that the consistent scorers are the ones who’d make the best workers.

Serrano agreed. “Since I’m a big defender of integrity, yes, I would hire that person,” he said.

University professors continue to debate how to rebuff AI-driven cheating. Last year, teachers told Business Insider that they were crafting assignments that were more difficult to complete with a chatbot.

Serrano’s grade distribution isn’t a perfect study, of course. There are other reasons there could be variance in test scores, like the final being harder than the midterm, and it hasn’t been definitively proven that there was mass cheating with AI, though the university is investigating.

But the incident does demonstrate just how much of a headache concerns of AI cheating have become for instructors. Serrano himself said he plans never to administer a take-home exam again and will also eliminate the homework portion of his students’ grades.

He advised other educators to think critically about their own AI policies, too.

“It’s certainly a wake-up call to the professors,” he said. “We need to pay attention to this.”

• Summer break created childcare and scheduling challenges as a single parent.
• I relied on community programs, friends, siblings, and extended support networks.
• Looking back, I believe those summers helped surround my children with people who cared for them.

More than New Year’s celebrations and their birthdays, the first and last days of school each year were the greatest markers of time’s passage in my five children’s lives.

I can still recall their nervous excitement as they anticipated the start of school each fall and their relief as it ended nine months later. I loved their enthusiasm for learning, especially during their earliest years in a classroom. They took their jobs as students seriously but were always eager to celebrate that final assignment and 10 weeks off before starting the cycle over again.

I had a different response.

For me, watching the months tick by brought on waves of melancholy. It made me sad to realize how quickly the years were passing. On top of that, as a single mother, it was up to me to find ways to keep them safe and occupied during the weeks the school doors were locked.

My flexible work schedule allowed me to be with my kids in the summer

I was fortunate to have a flexible work-from-home schedule that could accommodate all their activities. It worked well during the three seasons they were at school. It was more challenging during the summer.

It’s not that I didn’t welcome the slower pace of the warmer months when we swapped the frenzy of early-morning wake-ups for a calmer, more relaxed entry into a less structured day. It was the tension I felt while sequestered in my home office, wondering what they might be doing and feeling guilty for not offering them an enhanced experience while they were home.

With the promise of afternoons at the community pool if they allowed me to work uninterrupted in the mornings, we created a system that served us all well until I transitioned to a full-time, office-based job.

I did not want my kids to be home alone while I was at work

My two oldest sons had summer jobs when I started a new job, but the three younger kids didn’t. Our very small town, only 3 square miles in size, offered daily activities in the park for school-aged children up to age 12.

Believing in safety in numbers, I allowed my younger children to walk to the park together to participate. That worked for a few years, but given the spread in ages — my oldest and my youngest share the same birthday, 16 years apart — they quickly aged out of the program, and I had to find alternatives.

When my daughter entered her teens, she decided to adopt a family with an actively involved father. She missed having a dad in her life, so she latched onto a classmate and was welcomed as a part-time member of their household. She frequently slept at their home, attended events with their extended family, and even went camping with them. Occasionally, my youngest son would join them, but he did not feel as attached as she did.

I let my youngest son travel out-of-state during the summer

By the time my youngest was a preteen, his older siblings had moved from our home. They were forging lives as young adults, making him an only child in a large family. That’s when I started sending him on vacation with others.

For two consecutive summers, I sent him to Michigan with his best friend’s family. I felt relieved that he wasn’t sitting home alone while I was at work. He enjoyed these trips to a lakefront house where he could fish, pick berries, and just hang out.

When he turned 12, I started sending him to San Francisco each summer to celebrate the July birthday he shared with his oldest brother. He would fly across the country on his own to spend a month in the Bay Area. He turned 16 in a college dorm there while attending a summer semester at the university where he eventually enrolled after high school. After class, he’d walk to his brother’s apartment, where they’d share dinner before returning to his room on campus.

I was lonely during the summer, but I think it was a good decision to let them go. Even though I missed them, I knew they were having fun with people who cared about them. It was the solution that resolved our problem, but also enveloped them in the love of more people who cared about their well-being.

• Walmart recently dropped prices on over 250 items, so I took a closer look at nine of them.
• I compared their prices to what I found at competitors Kroger and Amazon. Amazon didn’t impress me.
• Walmart had the lowest prices, and Kroger was close behind — but I may have gotten lucky.

When Walmart announced rollbacks on more than 250 items, my ears naturally perked up.

The chain shared the featured price drops in a press release on Monday, highlighting a few of the specific products that will have lower prices for summer.

On Truth Social, President Donald Trump credited the price reductions to his administration’s “request to celebrate our great Country’s 250th birthday”. Walmart didn’t mention the White House or the celebration as motives in its press release and has declined to comment on whether the sales resulted from a meeting with the administration.

No matter how these savings came about, I was just happy to see them. Walmart’s known for having low prices, and I was curious how its newly reduced ones would compare with other major grocers’.

So, I wrote down the specific items mentioned in the price-drop announcement and headed to Walmart and two of its biggest competitors: Kroger and Amazon.

Here’s how the prices measured up as I shopped the same list at each retailer.

Ground beef prices were basically the same across the board.

Walmart’s press release specifically mentions a rollback on the 1-pound roll of 73% ground beef, so that’s what I selected.

As promised, Walmart’s beef, originally $6.94, came to $5.94 for a 1-pound roll. Kroger’s was very close behind at $5.99.

I couldn’t find any 1-pound packages of 73% lean ground beef on Amazon, only a bulky 3-pound roll. It worked out to $6.15 per pound.

Walmart’s price was the lowest, but I wasn’t particularly impressed by any of them.

Walmart had the sweetest corn prices.

I can’t comment on the actual sweetness in terms of taste, but Walmart’s sweet corn was a bargain. It cost just $0.25 per ear, compared to $0.40 per ear at Kroger and a whopping $1.25 per ear on Amazon.

I added four ears to my cart at each retailer.

Neither Amazon nor Kroger could compete with Walmart on cherries.

The Walmart press release specifically mentioned 2.2-pound bags of fresh red cherries would be reduced from $11.18 to $5.63. My local store only carried 1-pound bags, but they also came to $2.50 per pound like the ones mentioned.

Kroger’s red cherries were on sale, discounted from $4.49 to $2.99 per pound. Amazon tied with Kroger at $2.99 per pound.

It’s worth noting that Kroger deals like these are only valid with a Kroger Plus Card — which I have, since it’s a free loyalty card. Without it, they’d have cost me the full $4.49.

I was also surprised to find such a great sale in the store since I hadn’t seen it mentioned in Kroger’s weekly flyer. I wondered if it may have been a more last-minute discount to compete with Walmart after the Monday announcement. Kroger did not respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.

To my delight, all three retailers had generic 48-ounce tubs of ice cream for under $3.

Walmart highlighted 48-ounce tubs of its store-brand Great Value ice cream being reduced from $2.97 to $2.50. That’s exactly what I found in the store.

Amazon had the same-sized tubs of Amazon Grocery ice cream available for $2.97, the price Walmart’s was before the cut.

Kroger had the cheapest 48-ounce tubs on sale for $1.99 — marked down from $2.99. With prices this good, I would have happily bought ice cream from all three retailers.

An 8-ounce bag of Lay’s classic potato chips felt like a steal at Kroger, but the deal’s already gone.

An 8-ounce bag of Lay’s classic potato chips cost $2.50 at Walmart, marked down from $2.97. The same bag of chips was also $2.50 on Amazon.

At Kroger, these chips had several prices in front of it. The 8-ounce bag was originally priced at $3.99, listed at $3.29 with card, and then labeled $1.99 with card and a clipped digital coupon as part of a weekly deal.

Kroger’s price was the best, but I only just caught this deal, which expired July 7. (Kroger’s digital deals refresh every Wednesday, and I visited Kroger on a Tuesday.)

At the time of writing, the deal is already gone.

Frito-Lay Family Fun boxes were comparable at Kroger and Walmart, but I didn’t find the same deal on Amazon.

Walmart reduced the price of the Frito-Lay Family Fun 18-bag variety pack including a mix of Cheetos, Fritos, Funyuns, Lay’s, and Ruffles from $9.97 to $8.97.

Kroger originally listed the variety packs at $10.99, but price-drop stickers now had them marked $9.99.

On Amazon, this pack was available for $9.99 through Amazon Fresh, which I didn’t use because I’m already a Prime member and wasn’t ordering enough to hit the minimum spend and avoid a delivery fee.

My other option was to order this pack through a low-rated third-party seller for a whopping $21.

Walmart and Amazon had great prices on disposable plates.

Walmart’s release highlighted a 200-pack of Great Value disposable plates being marked down from $9.97 to $8.97, or $0.04 per plate.

On Amazon, the same quantity of Amazon Basics plates was $10.60, or $0.05 per plate.

My local Kroger didn’t have any 200-packs, and the closest I found was 150 plates for $9.99. They worked out to $0.07 per plate.

If I ever need such a large quantity of disposable plates, I’m totally turning to Walmart or Amazon.

I got lucky with Coca-Cola and Pepsi deals at Kroger.

Walmart marked down select 24-packs of sodas, including Coca-Cola and Diet Pepsi. With the rollback prices, they worked out to $0.42 per can.

My local Kroger didn’t have any 24-packs of these drinks, so 12-packs were the next best option.

Kroger’s a 12-pack of Coca-Cola or Pepsi cans typically costs $11.99, or $1 per can. However, when I visited, the store was running a “buy two, get three free” deal, which meant I could get 60 cans for the price of 24. It brought the price per can down to $0.40.

Amazon didn’t have any 24-packs readily available to me, either. I could buy 12-packs, though, so I grabbed two of each. On Amazon, my Coca-Cola came to $0.70 per can, whereas Diet Pepsi was $0.66 per can.

Shopping at Kroger felt like a gamble — and Amazon’s prices seemed to be all over the place.

Unlike Walmart, where rollbacks tend to last several weeks and are available to any shopper, many of Kroger’s sale prices only last for seven days and require a (free) rewards membership to claim them.

If I hadn’t gotten lucky with the deals running that week, or if I didn’t have a Kroger card, I could have easily shelled out about $30 or more for the same cart.

Like Kroger, Amazon’s prices change often, for better or for worse. I could see exactly how much by using the “price history” feature. For example, the 12-pack of Coca-Cola alone ranged in price from $6.29 to $8.89 over the past 30 days.

Price-wise, Amazon was out of the running for me early on as my cart passed $70.

On the bright side, the higher price came with the most convenience: I wouldn’t have to drive anywhere or pay for delivery, given that I’m already a Prime member. (The membership costs about $139 a year and comes with other perks.)

My Walmart haul came out the least expensive overall, but Kroger was very close behind.

My Walmart cart, complete with all nine categories of items, came to $52.32.

In an attempt to match the Walmart quantities as closely as possible, my Kroger cart — using my card and the deals available at the time —came to $58.52. I had 150 plates instead of 200, though, and an extra dozen cans of soda (given I wanted 48 cans but got three 12-packs free with my purchase of two).

Sure, this isn’t a perfect science, but the closeness of the totals made Walmart’s price reductions feel a little less impressive — especially since Walmart had a slight advantage in dictating which items I compared.

For reliably low prices, I’d go back to Walmart — but I’m keeping a close eye on Kroger’s rotating deals.

None of the retailers had the cheapest item in every category, but if it weren’t for my seemingly lucky week and Kroger card, Walmart would have.

Walmart got me the lowest-priced basket this time — though the savings weren’t as big as I’d expected, given that I specifically shopped the chain’s price-dropped items. Kroger really held its own in this battle.

Even so, I’d definitely keep an eye out for Walmart’s future rollbacks and Kroger’s weekly coupons and deals.

This particular price drop aside, I’ve often found competitive grocery prices at Walmart, and I appreciate how the chain’s rollbacks typically last at least a few weeks.

Since most of Kroger’s deals change weekly, I sometimes miss discounted prices before I even realize they’re available. Amazon’s prices seem to fluctuate fairly often.

In the end, the best value comes down to what groceries you need and the current deals available at each place when you buy them.

And, hey, I certainly wouldn’t complain if other retailers want to follow Walmart’s lead and drop more prices this summer.

• OpenAI’s new GPT-Live model promises more natural human-to-AI conversations.
• It will add “mmhm” or “sure” while the user talks — and nixes its signature pregnant pauses.
• The update is part of a trend. AI labs are trying to make conversations feel less like passing batons.

OpenAI wants ChatGPT to stop waiting for its turn.

During a Wednesday livestream, the company unveiled GPT-Live, a new voice model powering ChatGPT Voice. OpenAI says the update is built to make talking with AI feel more like talking to a human.

Instead of waiting for a clean pause at the end of every sentence before responding, for example, the assistant can listen and speak simultaneously, OpenAI says. It will also acknowledge the user with an intermittent “mmhm,” “yeah,” and “got it” while the human is still talking.

In one demo, a user asked ChatGPT to fact-check the date of a coming meeting while also checking the weather and traffic along their route. ChatGPT responded with short acknowledgments like “hmm” and “sure,” then continued working through the request without losing the thread as the user added more information requests.

OpenAI also showed off ChatGPT’s ability to translate language in real time. Previous turn-based assistants had to wait for the speaker to finish before translating. Now, a full-duplex assistant — one that can listen and talk at the same time — can keep pace more naturally as a conversation unfolds, the company said.

Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s president, described the update during the livestream as a “much more natural way of interacting with your computer.”

OpenAI is not the only company trying to make AI voice assistants feel less like a baton-passing chatbot and more like an active listener. In May, Thinking Machines, the AI lab led by former OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati, teased similar technology. The company said its interaction models are designed to handle input and output continuously across audio, video, and text, instead of relying on the stop-and-start rhythm of traditional chatbots.

Thinking Machines said the updated models can “handle interaction natively” and smooth out human-to-AI interactions “rather than forcing humans to contort themselves to AI interfaces.”

The update also arrives as AI language models have become an internet punchline. Creators regularly mock their oddly chipper tone, their overuse of phrases like “awesome,” and the awkward little pause before an answer arrives.

• New documents reveal NATO is building a vast AI network to deter Russian aggression.
• It is part of a larger shift that foresees uncrewed systems as the first response to an attack.
• The strategy “does not replace tanks, artillery, fighter aircraft, or soldiers,” an official said.

Along NATO’s eastern flank, the military alliance is no longer relying solely on tanks, fighter jets, and troops. Instead, it is building a vast digital battlespace network made up of thousands of sensors, drones, satellites, and artificial intelligence. The goal: to detect an attack on allied nations as early as possible and block the attacker before they can penetrate deeper into Alliance territory.

The concept is called the Eastern Flank Deterrence Initiative (EFDI). In documents obtained by BILD — which, like Business Insider, is part of the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network — one potential adversary is explicitly identified: Russia. It is intended not only to offset Russia’s advantage in mass and momentum — large troop numbers and rapid advances — but also to discourage Moscow from launching an attack in the first place. NATO refers to this principle as “deterrence by denial.” It is expected to rely on systems from Palantir and other leading Western defense contractors.

The new strategy creates a vast AI-guided network to detect and strike targets — not unlike the powerful web Russia has built fighting Ukraine. But it is just the beginning of a much larger shift, where uncrewed systems like attack drones and remote-controlled machine gun turrets will be NATO’s first line of defense.

The New Iron Curtain

Following Finland’s accession to NATO in 2023, the Alliance’s shared border with Russia expanded significantly. Today, NATO’s eastern border stretches from Finland through Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland to Romania on the Black Sea. It also includes the border with Belarus, Russia’s close ally. Along this entire line, EFDI is intended to strengthen the Alliance’s defense through a system of sensors, drones, command networks, and conventional military forces.

For decades, NATO relied on the principle of “deterrence by punishment.” The idea was that if Russia attacked NATO territory, tanks, artillery, fighter aircraft, and ground troops would repel the assault and later recapture lost territory. These conventional capabilities will remain the backbone of NATO’s defense. Leopard 2 tanks, M1 Abrams tanks, HIMARS rocket launchers, artillery, and F-35 fighter jets will continue to play an essential role.

What is new, however, is an additional layer of defense. Its purpose is to detect, delay, and engage an adversary before NATO’s conventional ground forces come into contact with it, allowing those forces to preserve their combat power and be committed only at the decisive moment.

“EFDI does not replace tanks, artillery, fighter aircraft, or soldiers,” said Maj. Matt Blubaugh, a spokesman for US Army Europe and Africa. “It is designed to help preserve their combat power and give commanders more time and decision advantage.”

The New Strategy

When people think of border defense, they often imagine walls, anti-tank trenches, or soldiers guarding fences. EFDI is neither a wall nor a new front line. Instead, it is a distributed defense architecture supporting NATO’s entire eastern flank from Finland to Romania. The NATO documents frequently refer to a “Kill Web.” The term describes a tightly connected digital network. If one node fails, others immediately take over its functions.

These nodes include satellites in orbit, reconnaissance drones, radar systems, ground sensors, cameras, and electronic surveillance assets. Together, they continuously collect information about activity along NATO’s eastern flank.

In the recent past, engaging a newly detected target often took considerable time. A drone, for example, would first report the target to headquarters, where the information was analyzed before a firing order was passed through tactical commanders on to a military unit like a squadron. This process consumed valuable time.

In the near future, information collected by all NATO members is intended to flow into a shared digital network and be distributed immediately. Artificial intelligence will analyze the data in real time, helping commanders build a common operational picture as quickly as possible.

The new strategy is expected to incorporate technologies from a wide range of defense contractors through NATO’s open-architecture approach. At the core is Palantir’s Maven Smart System (MSS), which serves as the AI “brain” of the EFDI by processing data from all-domain sensors and enabling faster decision-making. The initiative also integrates systems such as Perennial Autonomy’s Merops AI drone interceptor, alongside capabilities from companies including RTX, Rheinmetall, Saab, Lockheed Martin and Boeing, all connected through the EFDI Data Backbone into a unified sensor-to-shooter network.

In practical terms, if a drone detects a Russian armored formation, the information will immediately be cross-checked with satellite imagery, radar data, and information from ground sensors. Commanders can then select which weapons — such as drones, artillery, rocket launchers, or other weapons — should engage the target. Weapons can be chosen by their range, their likelihood of hitting moving or static targets and also the importance of the targets.

NATO summarizes the principle in three simple steps: “See first. Decide first. Strike first.”

Machines Fight First

The front line itself is also expected to change significantly. Under NATO’s plans, uncrewed systems would be the first to confront an attacking force. A forward zone is envisioned where drones, ground robots, sensors, and other autonomous systems engage the enemy before conventional troops do.

The idea is straightforward: machines — not soldiers — should absorb the initial attack. This saves time and preserves NATO’s frontline combat formations.

“EFDI buys us time and clarity but at the end of the day, soldiers, tanks and aircraft are still needed to secure and hold ground,” Blubaugh said.

Lessons from Ukraine

The war in Ukraine has shaped the new concept. NATO is incorporating lessons learned by the Ukrainian military directly from the battlefield.

Specifically, thousands of low-cost drones, robotic systems, and sensors are intended to complement conventional weapons and offset Russia’s advantages in mass and momentum — its ability to field large numbers of troops and advance rapidly.

Luca-Marie Hoffmann is a BILD journalist based in Berlin, focusing on military affairs and crisis reporting.

The Axel Springer Global Reporters Network harnesses the resources of the company’s newsrooms to publish ambitious scoops, investigations, interviews, opinion pieces and analysis. It allows journalists — including those from POLITICO, Business Insider, WELT, BILD, Onet and Fakt — to collaborate on major stories for an international audience of hundreds of millions across platforms: online, print, TV and audio.

• Zillow identified the hottest rental markets going into the summer of 2026.
• Rental demand is higher in big cities where a lack of construction creates more competition.
• A small Northeastern city beat out the big cities for the title of hottest market in the country.

Buying a home doesn’t make sense for everyone, but in several highly sought-after markets, it might be harder to rent.

Regions like the Sun Belt have experienced a construction boom, and, in turn, a drop in prices due to more inventory — but for coastal cities, that hasn’t quite been the case.

“The US built more new units in 2024 than any year in the past half-century, but that boom largely bypassed the Northeast and coastal California, which is exactly why rental competition there is so intense,” Zillow senior economist Kara Ng said.

Zillow ranked the hottest rental markets heading into the summer by looking at metros where rents increased quickly, vacancies dropped, and rental concessions — like waived fees or a month free off the rent — were rarely offered.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that big cities like New York and San Francisco are regularly the busiest rental markets in the country; vacancies are low, and rents are climbing. However, Zillow found that one Northeastern city with a population that’s roughly 2% of New York City’s took the cake for hottest market: Providence, Rhode Island.

“In Zillow’s hottest rental markets, the math is simple: More people want to live there than there are homes to rent — whether for access to amenities, strong job markets or family ties, renters are competing over a limited supply,” Ng said.

Providence, Rhode Island, a city with a population of about 195,000, is small, and its size plays a factor in its ranking. It’s recently been labeled an unaffordable place to buy a home, mainly due to its lack of housing inventory, which, in turn, can drive up rental prices. Providence also has the lowest share of concessions in the top 10.

Read below to see the top 10 hottest markets for renters, according to Zillow.

10. San Jose, CA

Annual rent growth: 4.1%

Share of concessions: 40.3%

Vacancy rate forecast: 4.9%

9. Virginia Beach, VA

Annual rent growth: 4.8%

Share of concessions: 28.8%

Vacancy rate forecast: 4.1%

8. Milwaukee, WI

Annual rent growth: 4.1%

Share of concessions: 27.5%

Vacancy rate forecast: 3.8%

7. Boston, MA

Annual rent growth: 2.5%

Share of concessions: 29.7%

Vacancy rate forecast: 6.3%

6. Chicago, IL

Annual rent growth: 5.7%

Share of concessions: 22.4%

Vacancy rate forecast: 5.3%

5. Los Angeles, CA

Annual rent growth: 2.4%

Share of concessions: 29.4%

Vacancy rate forecast: 4.5%

4. Hartford, CT

Annual rent growth: 3.9%

Share of concessions: 22.3%

Vacancy rate forecast: 4.3%

3. San Francisco, CA

Annual rent growth: 5.4%

Share of concessions: 33.2%

Vacancy rate forecast: 4.3%

2. New York, NY

Annual rent growth: 4.5%

Share of concessions: 17.8%

Vacancy rate forecast: 4.3%

1. Providence, RI

Annual rent growth: 5%

Share of concessions: 12.9%

Vacancy rate forecast: 5.1%