College Degrees to Beat the Bot | Ep. 67

In this episode of ChatEDU (College Degrees to Beat the Bot), Matt and Liz kick things off with a voice AI agent for small businesses (including Liz’s very own Studio 217) and trippy new uses for chatbots. From there, they dig into the fast-moving world of robotics, sharing stories of clumsy soccer-playing humanoids, robot warehouse takeovers, and AI-assisted classroom companions. Then, they go Beneath the Surface with a deep dive on seven college majors that may just “beat the bot” — plus an acronym from MIT you’ll actually want to remember. Finally, this week’s Bright Byte delivers a surprising (and heartwarming) AI breakthrough in infertility treatment.Story #1 — Tsunami of Early-Summer AI StoriesMatt and Liz cover a load of stories in the AI news including prompt injection in academic papers, reports from ISTE, and reported big K-12 AI investments.Story #2 — Robots on the RampageHumanoid robots fall down (a lot) in 3-on-3 soccer matches. Amazon’s warehouse bots are on the rise, and on track to outnumber human workers. Misty II charms students in special education, and Hugging Face releases a DIY robot you can program yourself. It’s fun, freaky… and definitely closer than you think.Story #3 (Beneath the Surface) — College Majors that Beat the BotCognitive science, bioinformatics, creative tech, and more. Forbes calls these “AI-durable” degrees that blend human creativity, ethics, and empathy with AI savvy. Matt and Liz also explore MIT’s EPOCH framework for future-proof skills: Empathy, Presence, Opinion, Creativity, Hope. Whether you’re advising students or thinking about your own next move, this one’s worth the listen.Bright ByteAfter 18 years of infertility, AI called STAR (Sperm Tracking and Recovery) helped a couple conceive by finding viable sperm human eyes missed, no invasive surgery required. Sometimes AI really is a miracle worker.Links and References11 Labs AI Voice Agent Toolhttps://elevenlabs.io/app/talk-to?agent_id=agent_01jzxnd7e5fsv9cvve4g6np8v7Hugging Face Reachy Mini Robot https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/09/hugging-face-opens-up-orders-for-its-reachy-mini-desktop-robots/ISTE AI in Education Highlightshttps://www.edweek.org/technology/can-ai-make-history-class-more-fun-for-students/2025/07OpenAI, Anthropic and Microsoft Invest in AI/K-12https://www.forbes.com/sites/danfitzpatrick/2025/07/08/microsoft-openai--anthropic-fund-a-national-ai-academy-for-teachers/Japan Times on AI Peer Review Hackshttps://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/07/04/japan/ai-research-prompt-injection/3 v 3 Robot Soccerhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPL7sK0pJOEAmazon Scales Robotshttps://unionrayo.com/en/amazon-new-autonomous-robots/Misty IIhttps://www.forbes.com/sites/danfitzpatrick/2025/07/07/how-an-ai-robot-helped-silent-kids-speak/Forbes: College Majors to Beat the Bot https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahhernholm/2025/06/30/7-college-majors-that-prepare-you-to-lead-in-an-ai-driven-economy/MIT EPOCH Framework on Human Capabilitieshttps://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/these-human-capabilities-complement-ais-shortcomingsCNN on STAR AI and Infertility Breakthroughhttps://www.cnn.com/2025/07/03/health/ai-male-infertility-sperm-wellnessSponsorThis episode is supported in part by the National Center for Next Generation Manufacturing — nextgenmfg.org