By Conor Grant
This is an edition of The Future of Everything newsletter, a look at how innovation and technology are transforming the way we live, work and play. If you're not subscribed, sign up here .
This Baltic nation of 1.3 million people just gave all of its 10th and 11th graders their own ChatGPT accounts to use for school. No one knows how the experiment will turn out.
This week, Sam Schechner reports on Estonia's high-stakes and seemingly paradoxical decision to distribute free chatbots to nearly 20,000 students earlier this year, which came after educators noticed most high-school students were offloading schoolwork to chatbots.
At the core of Estonia's initiative is a custom "Socratic" version of OpenAI's chatbot that refuses to complete students' work for them.
Researchers in Estonia, working with Stanford University and OpenAI, have been measuring students' cognitive skills and attitudes toward learning, both before the rollout and after. They hope to announce early results later this year.
The project is one of the most high-profile showcases in a new race for the educational AI market that some analysts predict will total tens of billions of dollars annually by 2030.
The number of high-school students and teachers in Florida's Miami-Dade County who are getting Gemini for Education, as school districts across the U.S. put AI in classrooms
Reception from Estonian students has been mixed. Some say they use it to explore a topic or to help drill for exams, while others want the unfiltered ChatGPT to do their homework for them. Another contingent hates AI altogether and wants nothing to do with it.
-- "A" grades are suddenly everywhere since the arrival of ChatGPT. (Read)
-- 🎥 New graduates shared how they used AI in their job searches.
(Watch)
-- There's a good chance your kid uses AI to cheat. (Read)
🤔 What do you think about efforts to incorporate AI into education? Send me your thoughts, questions and predictions at future@wsj.com (if you're reading this in your inbox, you can just hit reply).
More of What's Next: Alternatives to Chinese Rare Earths; Personalized Pricing
These companies say the world doesn't need Chinese rare earths. Beijing's move to choke off the supply has spurred efforts to develop new products -- these businesses are exploring alternatives ranging from iron-nitride magnets to magnet-free EV motors.
Mark Zuckerberg wants Meta's AI agents to run your whole business. The company launched an AI tool for businesses on its WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger services, part of a push to broaden beyond its consumer business as it spends aggressively on AI.
Lawmakers are scrambling to ban personalized pricing. Some researchers are concerned retailers could use personal data to set higher base prices for individuals, without their knowledge, when algorithms detect things like urgent need or high disposable income.
🎥 Video: Bayer is making an agriculture technology push in the face of uncertainty. CEO Bill Anderson spoke to WSJ about new technologies from gene editing to herbicide-resistant plants -- and what they mean for Bayer and the broader agriculture industry.
Future Feedback
Last week, we reported on Russian President Vladimir Putin's $26 billion longevity push. Readers shared their thoughts:
-- "It's 'kill in the war fields' and 'bring to life in the labs.' Left to
warmongering leaders like Putin, longevity science will also become a
tool for regenerating soldiers in order to send them again to the field.
Strange is the world we live in, and it gets stranger by the day." --
Sachin Shridhar, India
-- "I think Putin's longevity push is a ruse to counter growing pessimism
concerning the Ukraine war, death toll and mismanagement." -- Mike
DeLaurentis, Tennessee
(Responses have been condensed and edited.)
Elsewhere in the Future
-- Virtual power plants could provide energy for data centers. (MIT Technology Review) -- Jeff Bezos is funding a wild hunt for the brain's "core algorithm." (Wired) -- Can autonomous AI-powered killer drones take morality onboard? (The Guardian)
About Us
Thanks for reading The Future of Everything. We cover the innovation and tech transforming the way we live, work and play. This newsletter was written by Conor Grant. Get in touch with us at future@wsj.com. Got a tip for us? Here's how to submit.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 05, 2026 11:55 ET (15:55 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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