Coon Rapids police are reminding residents what happens when they call 911, when they should instead use Anoka County’s non-emergency line, and how a newer artificial intelligence-assisted system now fits into the county’s emergency communications operation.
They do it all in a clean graphic.
Community members at the Hallie Q. Brown Community Center attended DIGIDAZE on Saturday, a free community technology fair designed to boost digital confidence across St. Paul.
The event, presented by the Community Technology Empowerment Project (STEP), St. Paul Neighborhood Network (SPNN) and AmeriCorps, offered hands‑on activities, refurbished devices, raffles and one‑on‑one help with computers, smartphones and online tools.
“Our goal is to bridge the digital gap,” said Dasiyah Franklin‑Carter, event co-organizer. She said digital literacy is becoming essential for families navigating schoolwork, job applications and everyday communication.
“I want people to leave with more confidence with using technology,” she said.
Something fun for a Sunday, KARE 11 cover the AI-generated butter busts at the Minnesota State Fair…
For generations, Minnesota State Fair visitors have watched Princess Kay of the Milky Way and her court have their likenesses carved into butter. On Saturday, some fairgoers got the chance to see what they might look like in butter, too, with a little help from artificial intelligence.
The University of Minnesota’s Data Science and AI Hub offered visitors the chance to create 3D-printed plastic “butter busts” of themselves as part of an effort to get people talking about AI.
Unfortunately, it was a one-day only event, but what a great way to get people to talking to about AI with experts and experts-in-the-making.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis reports…
The number of businesses currently using AI shows there’s potentially many workers to be trained. But much of the training needed is likely to be basic because most businesses that use AI don’t appear to be doing very much with it.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 22 percent of U.S. businesses used AI as of the end of July 2026. That’s a 4 percentage point increase since the beginning of the year.
Around the Ninth District, the share of businesses currently using AI ranges from 14 percent in North Dakota to 22 percent in Montana (see figure).
It seems like there’s interest…
Business demand for AI training appears strong, though much of it appears to be from businesses that aren’t sure about how to use the technology.
“What we’ve seen so far is the [client] organization wants to equip their people to use AI, but they don’t necessarily have an enterprise-wide strategy yet,” said the University of Minnesota’s Jahnke. “So they’re wanting to equip their employees with the basic knowledge with particular emphasis on how to use it ethically and a basic understanding of how AI works.”
And it’s growing…
Demand for training in AI skills is likely to grow with businesses’ growing use of the technology.
Over the next six months, the share of U.S. businesses using AI is expected to increase by 3 percentage points compared with July, based on Census Bureau surveys.
Among most Ninth District states, the expected increase is about 2 percentage points. Montana and North Dakota expected a decrease due to a growing number who expressed doubt that they would still be using AI.
Despite the technology’s limited impact on employment so far, there is a simmering fear in the public that massive job losses are not far off. Experts disagree on whether this is realistic, and where they land depends on how much artificial intelligence they think can replace human intelligence, and how soon.
Ayush Chopra, who developed a simulation of AI impact on the labor market while a grad student at MIT, said he doesn’t expect a “job catastrophe.” The simulation found that, among states, South Dakota had the highest concentration of jobs exposed to AI disruption, such as those in finance. By “exposure” he means that those jobs contain more tasks where AI can enhance human labor, not replace it.
If AI can improve productivity, that’s not a bad thing for South Dakota given the labor shortage, according to Hultman. The state’s unemployment rate in June was 2 percent, the lowest in the nation.
KSTP 9 looks into the question: Do workers actually use Artificial Intelligence on the job? (Apparently only a third of workers have used it.)…
Last week, I wrote about one Minnesota student’s role in helping to craft a national artificial intelligence policy for schools. This week, I see that a few schools have been busy, as KSTP reports on a few. In Royalton (Morrison County)…
On Monday, the Royalton school board approved a new AI policy for its students and staff.
“There’s probably three themes,” LePard said. “One is safety for staff and students, and how they use things with AI, student academics and staff instruction.”
He said teachers will be posting the guidelines in middle and high school classrooms.
He said they primarily fall into four quadrants.
“Anywhere from the continuum of no AI use to full AI use,” he explained. “And then somewhere in between there, whether it might be just brainstorming or it might be using it as a resource or a source in their schoolwork.”
Next week, he said, the district’s teachers and staff will begin reviewing the new policy.
Designed for students in middle and high school, Royalton’s new policy puts an emphasis on responsibility and transparency.
In St Cloud (Stearns County)…
“Our amazing superintendent was actually one of the first in Minnesota to … bring up an AI policy and to implement one in our school. So we kind of were the leaders of the line,” said Acho.
In St Paul (Ramsey County)…
Some schools, like the St. Paul district, are still working out their AI policy. St. Paul Public Schools told KSTP, “the Board of Education has created a goal for the district to adopt one by spring 2028. Here is the language of that goal:
“By the end of the 2027–2028 school year, the Board will adopt an Artificial Intelligence Governance Policy that addresses the safe, ethical, human-centered, equitable, environmentally responsible, and instructionally meaningful use of AI across teaching, learning, critical thinking, workforce readiness, accessibility, data privacy, academic integrity, staff support, and district operations. The policy will include expectations for public reporting on how SPPS is preparing students and staff to use, question, evaluate, and create with AI.”In the meantime, SPPS says it has robust resources around responsible staff and student use of AI, available on its website.
Help for other districts…
Click here for the Minnesota Department of Education’s guiding principles for AI in the classroom.
MPR News covers a story about art gallery patrons accusing art of being “AI slop” and The Walker figuring out what to do with that. It’s a teachable moment for everyone involved – with teachers and learners writing the curriculum in real time…
The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis is adding new explanatory language to an exhibition after visitors mistook an artist’s digitally rendered work for generative AI.
Joe Dobrow recently took his two children to the Walker. They wandered from exhibition to exhibition, eventually settling in front of a screen in a dark hallway.
The screen was looping the 2026 video “Field Recordings” by artist Olalekan Jeyifous. It is the first solo museum exhibition for the New York-based artist who is known for his immersive speculative world-building artworks. The video features realistically animated people in leafy riverine settings, sometimes in groups, sometimes with deer, sometimes tinkering with what seem like remnants of analog technology.
“My kids were fairly intrigued with it,” Dobrow said, but “it seemed to me to be almost entirely AI slop.”
Part of the solution…
The Walker, along with the rest of the museum world, is grappling with how to develop policy about the display and disclosure of AI-generated or AI-assisted art. “We are in the process of developing one,” she said.
Jasper and Huldisch said the new explanatory language for the exhibition will be installed this week.
“I recognize that AI usage raises very real ethical questions, and I understand why people want transparency around it,” Jeyifous said. “The difficulty right now is that we don’t have much nuance in the language to describe it. Saying that AI was utilized somewhere in a process can very quickly become perceived as ‘this artwork was entirely AI-generated,’ even when those are fundamentally different things. Disclosure can provide useful context, but it can also unintentionally become the lens through which the entire work is understood, regardless of how marginal that tool was to its production.”
Forbes posts a video clip of Rep Kelly Morrison asking questions about how AI companies can gain public trust…
In a House Small Business Committee Hearing before the Congressional recess, Rep. Kelly Morrison (D-MN) asked Chike Aguh, Head of Innovation & Strategy, Kapor Center, what steps small business owners should take to improve both their employees’ and the public’s trust in using AI.
Axios has a series that I think is helpful to share with folks around you to help them recognize and understand various features of AI. You can bring it up at your next family picnic or share with friends and family as a reminder about the importance of online privacy…
Imagine a chatbot built to keep you talking a little longer. To change your mind about something. Or persuade you to buy something.
- Now imagine it could draw on everything it knows about you — including the fears, insecurities and private details you shared in conversation — to do it.
Why it matters: Few rules directly govern that scenario today, making AI companies’ promises about how they use consumer data especially consequential.
The big picture: In the first installment of Axios’ “What they know about you” series, published in 2019, we examined the information major tech companies collected about their users. In 2024, we followed up with a look at what consumer data AI companies use to train their systems.
- This new series revisits those questions — and widens the lens. We’ll examine not only whether a company uses consumer data to train future AI models, but also how it can use that data now: to personalize responses, retain a memory, recommend content or target advertising.
From the NDIA listserv…
Join us for Bridging the Digital Divide Virtual Conference 2026 featuring Jeffrey Abramowitz, J.D. presenting:
Bridging the Digital Divide: AI Behind and Beyond the Walls of Our Prisons and Jails
📅 Monday, October 5, 2026
⏰ 8:00–9:00 a.m. MT
💻 Online
Explore how AI and digital literacy can expand opportunities for education, workforce readiness, and successful reentry.
Learn more & register: https://lnkd.in/g-dsWHwx
CleanCore Solutions Inc. (NYSE American:ZONE) announced Wednesday the closing of a $100 million public equity raise to fund its Minnesota AI data center campus.
The company stated it has approximately $140 million of project equity capital funded or committed for the Minnesota facility, including net proceeds from the equity raise and proceeds from sales of its Dogecoin holdings. CleanCore said it does not anticipate raising additional dilutive financing for the Minnesota project, expecting to fund remaining capitalization through project-level debt financing, cash flow from operations and other non-dilutive amounts.
The Minnesota campus operates under a definitive agreement with Cerebras Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CBRS) representing approximately $800 million of contracted value over an initial 10-year term, according to a press release statement. The company said aggregate contract value could exceed $3 billion if all available renewal terms are exercised.
MPR interviewed a student who was part of a national group creating a national artificial intelligence policy. It is a great look at what’s happening with AI and the views of schools and youth on using AI. It’s a reminder of the importance of digital literacy. Here’s a description of the interview, you can listen to it online…
This upcoming school year, districts across the country have a new tool they can use: A national artificial intelligence policy. It was created in July by 98 teens, representing all 50 states.
They gathered in Boston for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Day of AI, created a mock senate and drafted and passed their own legislation that helps schools navigate artificial intelligence. Representing Minnesota were students and staff from St. Cloud.
St. Cloud Tech High School student Bihmanji Acho and Principal Molly Kensy joined Minnesota Now to share more about the experience.
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
Apparently, there’s a one-day event happening in 10 cities across the country on September 16. (Including the Twin Cies.) Senior Planet and OpenAI Academy are teaming up to put on an: AI Skills Jams for Older Adults, to offer hands-on events designed to help older adults learn how to use ChatGPT confidently, safely, and practically.
Here’s more info on the session in the Twin Cities…
Please join us on September 16th for a free, in-person learning experience designed to help older adults use ChatGPT confidently, safely, and practically. This workshop is hosted by OpenAI Academy in collaboration with Senior Planet from AARP and Senior Community Services.
- Date: September 16
- Time: 9:00am – 12:00pm CT (optional Q&A and practice time until 1:00pm)
- Location: The Heritage Center of Brooklyn Center
What is the AI Skills Jam for Older Adults?
The AI Skills Jam for Older Adults is a nationwide, hands-on workshop that helps older adults move from curiosity to practical use. Attendees will be guided through instructions, explore everyday use cases, build skills with support from mentors, and leave with resources for continued learning.
Why attend?
- Free stuff! Attendance to the Jam is free. We’ll provide breakfast, OpenAI swag, 12 months free of ChatGPT Plus, and we’ll send you home with a tasty sweet treat.
- Hands-on practice: Join us to learn how to use ChatGPT and get hands-on practice in a safe learning environment.
- Beginners welcome: No coding or technical background required. Participants will get a guided introduction to ChatGPT.
- Learn from mentors and peers: Get support from trained OpenAI facilitators and mentors, and learn alongside peers in your community.
How to Register:
Registration takes ~5 minutes: Please click the blue “Register” button on the right to complete the form. Need help? Call the Senior Planet from AARP hotline at 888-713-3495 (MON-FRI 9am-8pm / SAT 9am-2pm ET) to register by phone, or reach out to us via email at jam@openai.com.
We can’t wait to learn and jam with you!
The following video doesn’t come from Minnesota. It is from the Indigenous Artificial Intelligence Gathering at the Mila Institute in Montreal, and they are talking about broadband being the barrier to accessing AI in Nunavut and other remote areas. I thought it might speak to some readers, who are experiencing the lack of broadband.
The University of Minnesota announces...
Researchers at the University of Minnesota have had three projects selected for the U.S. Department of Energy’s inaugural Genesis Mission program, underscoring the University’s leadership in applying AI and advanced computing to address critical scientific and engineering challenges in energy, technology and national security.
“We believe the University of Minnesota has a real opportunity — and a responsibility — to help shape how AI advances discovery and benefits society,” said Executive Vice President and Provost Gretchen Ritter. “These Genesis Mission awards are a testament to the strength of our collaborative research community and the extraordinary work of our faculty. We’re not just driving new understanding in a rapidly changing world, we’re preparing our students and researchers to lead with integrity and positioning Minnesota for the future.”
The University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering secured the three Genesis Mission Phase I awards. A highly competitive initiative that drew the largest response to a funding opportunity in the Department of Energy’s history, the program awarded 278 grants to researchers at 168 universities, 87 national laboratories, 19 companies and four nonprofit organizations. Phase I funding supports researchers as they develop and test research workflows that integrate AI with scientific discovery.
More information on the specific projects…
Using AI to unlock next-generation semiconductor devices
Uwe Kortshagen, a Distinguished McKnight University Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, is leading a project aimed at transforming semiconductor manufacturing. Today’s chip fabrication processes require extreme precision but remain difficult to adapt to new materials. Kortshagen’s team will develop an AI-driven discovery engine to rapidly evaluate manufacturing approaches, identify sources of error and accelerate the development of next-generation semiconductor materials.A new frontier for “digital twins”
Qizhi He, assistant professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geo-Engineering, will lead a project aimed at transforming geothermal energy extraction. Using generative AI, the research team will develop a real-time “digital twin” of underground environments that can rapidly process sensor data and provide more accurate insights than current models. The technology will help energy operators make faster, better-informed decisions, improving efficiency while reducing costs.Optimizing critical mineral extraction
Peter Kang, associate professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, is developing new approaches to recover critical minerals more efficiently and sustainably. His research focuses on “in situ” recovery, a process that extracts minerals by circulating fluids underground rather than through traditional mining. By combining lab experiments with next-generation AI, Kang and his team will better predict how fluids move through fractured rock and dissolve minerals, helping optimize recovery and improve extraction efficiency.