It happened to me: I opened a Google Doc to write an article, and I was immediately confronted with a text box inviting me to “write with Gemini.” I looked for some button to swipe away the garish AI display, but I could not find it. It made me mad.

Now, instead of writing the article I’m supposed to be working on, I am writing about how to get the AI pop-ups off of your Google Docs screen, since it took me some time to figure out. You’re welcome.

The first fix is pretty straightforward:

• Click “Gemini” on the top menu bar above your document.
• On the drop-down menu, select “bottom bar preferences.”
• You can choose to turn off that bottom bar, which will get rid of that AI box at the bottom of your screen.

Full disclosure: I was so enraged when I set out to find “bottom bar preferences” that I initially missed it entirely. Instead, I clicked “Ask something else” and asked Gemini to help me remove itself from my life. AI may not be human, but Gemini seemed to have some sort of survival instinct, because it told me to click the “X” icon. That does not remove Gemini. It simply closed the conversation, the one in which I was asking it how to turn itself off. Suspicious!

Other aggrieved Google Docs users have reported features that I have yet to encounter, like a “help me write” feature that hovers over your cursor while you work. This seems like something that would upset me, so it’s probably worth nipping that in the bud before it’s too late. Benjamin Franklin once said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” (He was talking about fire safety. I am talking about product design.)

Instead of turning off each individual AI feature like a game of whac-o-mole, we can disable “smart features” across our Google workspace via Gmail.

• First, navigate to your Gmail inbox.
• From there, find the gear icon for Settings and click it.
• Then, at the top of the menu, click “See all settings.” (But while you’re here, you should pick out a fun theme for your inbox. Would a little bit of whimsy kill you?)

• After clicking “See all settings,” scroll about half way down the page to find “Google Workspace smart features,” then click “Manage Workspace smart feature settings.”

• Here, you’re presented with two options: one that lets you toggle off smart features in Google Workspace (like those annoying Gemini pop-ups in Google Docs), and one that applies to other smart features (which I personally find less annoying). I only toggled off the first option, but if for some reason you hate when Gmail automatically makes calendar events for your flights, this is where you can fix that.

You should now be safe from annoying Gemini pop-ups that disrupt your writing process in Google Docs. You can rest easy.

RAMaggedon claims another one.

The rapid evolution of the global engineering landscape requires continuous education. For one week in April, the IEEE community focuses on its educational frameworks. IEEE Education Week, which just concluded its fifth year, provided a comprehensive overview of the resources available to professionals and students.

From 11 to 19 April, the organization supplied a variety of live and virtual events, online resources, and promotions that champion the cycle of lifelong learning.

IEEE President Mary Ellen Randall kicked off the week with the keynote: “Inspiring Tomorrow’s Innovators: How IEEE Educational Resources Can Open Pathways Into STEM.” The event served as a central point for programs that run throughout the year.

“Education Week allows different units to share resources with members and the public, covering everything from preuniversity programs to advanced professional training,” says Jamie Moesch, managing director of IEEE Educational Activities.

Coordination across the organization

The event relied on the cooperation of 120 IEEE partners. Involved organizational units included the IEEE Communications Society, the IEEE Education Society, and chapters and sections from around the world, including in Brazil, Colombia, and India. They produced 114 events, 23 resources, and 11 special offers.

“These collaborations help members remain current in a changing technological environment,” says Timothy Kurzweg, vice president of IEEE Educational Activities. “The goal is to provide accessible tools that assist members in both their own professional development and their efforts to mentor new engineers.”

“The week allows different units to share resources with members and the public, covering everything from preuniversity programs to advanced professional training.” —Jamie Moesch, managing director of IEEE Educational Activities

The participation metrics reflect a broad geographic interest. The IEEE Education Week website recorded more than 4,770 visitors, with primary engagement coming from India, Nigeria, and the United States. Nearly 240 digital badges were issued to people who completed educational quizzes.

To encourage participation, organizers enlisted 72 volunteer ambassadors to promote the week’s activities across their local networks and share key resources on social media.

Available educational tools

Here are a few of the virtual events held during Education Week—most of which are available on demand:

The Education Week website highlights resources and offers shared by IEEE organizational units, including:

• A half-off discount for members on IEEE e-learning courses. The catalog covers such topics as computing, power and energy, and telecommunications.
• IEEE Communications Society on-demand webinars. Learn the latest trends and innovations.
• IEEE Women in Engineering career-focused, upskill, and reskill webinars. The presentations cover a variety of topics including agentic AI, leadership, and robots.
• IEEE Innovation at Work. The e-newsletter covers emerging technologies, education, and training for technical professionals.
• IEEE Learning Network. Hundreds of continuing education courses, all in one place.
• IEEE TryEngineering lesson plans. The easy-to-use, engaging activities and plans help teach engineering concepts to preuniversity students.
• IEEE TryEngineering collections. The lesson plans and multimedia resources, developed with partners and IEEE technical societies, are designed to introduce technical topics and deepen student understanding.

Individuals who were unable to attend the live sessions can find the archived content on the IEEE Education Week website.

The website also accepts donations for education-related funds managed by the IEEE Foundation.

Updates and technical resources continue to be shared through the #EducationAtIEEE hashtag on social media channels.

Planning for IEEE Education Week 2027, scheduled for 3 to 11 April, is underway.

Camara Education Ethiopia will support the roll-out of 115 AI-powered digital learning hubs across Ethiopia.

Irish nonprofit Camara Education has secured more than $2.56m from Unicef to expand its AI-powered digital education across Ethiopia.

The funds will support the organisation through to December 2027 to provide children with its “large-scale” digital and transferable skills programme.

The initiative intends to expand access to digital education for “thousands” of students and teachers, particularly in refugee-hosting, displacement-affected and underserved communities, the nonprofit said. Focus will be provided for young girls and learners with disabilities, Camara Education said.

Many of the schools supported through Camara Education’s programme have limited or inconsistent internet access, making offline digital learning important for ensuring continuity of learning.

Partnering with Unicef will allow Camara Education Ethiopia to support the roll-out of 115 AI-powered digital learning hubs in schools and institutions, alongside managed internet connectivity and offline-first learning environments designed for low-resource settings.

The funds will enable the disbursement of 1,166 desktop computers, 826 tablets and 200 laptops, embedded with curriculum-aligned digital content and the Camara AI education assistant.

The programme intends to deliver digital skills, AI and technology training to more than 1,500 teachers and school leaders.

Around 7,000 students are also expected to be trained in essential digital and transferable skills. Learners will have access to structured progression pathways, including coding bootcamps, mentorship and job-readiness support, Camara Education said.

“This landmark partnership demonstrates the growing importance of digital skills, AI literacy and equitable access to technology in shaping the future of education,” said Ibolya Nemeth, the CEO of Camara Education.

“Together with Unicef and our partners, we are investing in practical, scalable solutions that empower young people and teachers with the tools, confidence and opportunities needed to thrive in a digital economy.

“We are proud that an Irish-founded organisation continues to play a meaningful role in advancing education and opportunity across Africa.”

The 2005-founded nonprofit works across Africa, including in Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia, providing learning solutions to underserved schools in the region.

Its initiative with Unicef, called ‘Digital and Transferable Skills Development: Transforming In-School Learning and Transition to Earning’, is delivered with support from the Netherlands, Mastercard Foundation and the Global Partnership for Education.

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A school student in Ethiopia. Image: Unicef Ethiopia via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Microsoft has revealed the next wave of Xbox Game Pass additions for late June. The lineup is headlined by EA Sports FC 26 and co-op adventure game RV There Yet?.

EA Sports FC 26 joins Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass on June 18 for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox Cloud Gaming and PC. The latest entry in EA’s football series arrives just days after it left Sony’s PlayStation Plus promotion. This gives Game Pass subscribers a chance to jump in without paying full price during the ongoing World Cup.

Before that, Call of Duty: Vanguard lands on June 17. The 2021 shooter joins Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass and Game Pass Premium. This continues Microsoft’s steady rollout of Activision titles following its acquisition of the publisher.

The rest of the month is focused on newer releases. Co-op roguelite shooter Abyssus arrives on June 25 for Xbox Series X/S, PC and Cloud Gaming. Meanwhile, RV There Yet? follows on June 30. The latter has proven particularly popular on PC, where it reportedly sold 4.5 million copies within its first few months on sale.

Brandon Lai wants to build a humanoid robot. He started with the upper body and quickly realized that off-the-shelf actuators would either cost too much or limit what the machine could do. So he set out to design and build his own. This latest version marks his second serious attempt, and it already produces usable torque in testing. He focused on a shoulder actuator sized for a roughly four-kilogram arm about half a meter long. The targets were straightforward. Peak torque needed to reach around 20 newton-meters. Output speed should fall between 40 and 60 revolutions per minute. The unit also had to run continuously for more than an hour. Keeping the cost near $150 per actuator would make it practical for other builders to copy or adapt.

The basic design is based on the MIT research into Direct-Drive Actuators, which use a powerful motor and very minimal gearing to maintain the joint feeling snappy while also allowing it to be back-driven by external forces. Brandon admired the spirit of that approach, but chose to make one significant adjustment. He removed the planetary gearbox and replaced it with a cycloidal arrangement. The cycloidal reducer promises more torque capacity in a small space and significantly reduced slop between the input and output.

The motor was built around a normal 110-size stator core from Eagle Power, which Brandon wound entirely by hand. He was able to get 254 twists of copper wire onto the core, divided into six different strands, each with six loops around the tooth. The parallel strands allow the motor to withstand much more current while maintaining a voltage that most controllers can handle. By winding it by hand, he had complete control over the electrical qualities, deciding what it would be like rather of having to go with what came pre-wound.

The spinning outer element of the motor, known as the bell, needs to be machined with very precise tolerances. Brandon forwarded the specifications to an online CNC service, and they returned with a smooth stainless steel cylinder ready to be fitted with a ring of powerful neodymium magnets. Brandon set the magnets in an alternating north-south arrangement and sealed them with epoxy after using a simple alignment device. The finished bell is a combination magnetic rotor and primary structural shaft that transmits torque to the output.

What we’re talking about here is the reduction and torque multiplication that occurs inside the cycloidal gearbox. We get a 10:1 ratio from having an eccentric input turn a lobed disc past eleven fixed pins. The output links directly to the robot arm. Brandon designed and printed the gearbox components for this prototype. This allowed him to make adjustments on the fly throughout development, but it eventually revealed its limitations in terms of precision. Once he acquired all of the elements, such as the motor, bell, and gearbox, he bolted them together around a brushless controller. Initially, he tested a custom printed circuit board that he had designed. Unfortunately, one integrated circuit immediately shorted out and began to smoke. So he swapped in a ready-made Makerbase X-Drive board, which continued to run the motor without issue.

Testing went from the lab to a simple load rig. Brandon fitted a 150mm lever arm to the output shaft and hung a 5kg weight from its end. This generates a torque demand of around 7 newton meters. The power came from a bench supply with current limitations in place. Under those conditions, the actuator was able to support and move the load satisfactorily, delivering approximately 7 newton meters of torque. If we had a supply that could deliver a larger current, we’d almost certainly be able to get even more out of it because torque scales directly to available amperage.
[Source]

AI + ML

I am not a number! I am a free agent (that just happens to have a number)

Estonia plans to allow AI agents to have their own digital identities so they can act on behalf of people in a way that can be verified and audited.

The initiative, backed by the country’s Eesti.ai advisory board, calls for the development of ID codes that AI agents can use to take actions, subject to some unspecified authorization and task delegation process.

Academics and corporate technical folk have already made related proposals in recognition of the absence of agentic technical infrastructure. Last month, researchers under the flag of OWASP proposed the Agent Name Service for agent discovery and interoperability. DNS for AI Discovery is another such project.

But these have more to do with platform plumbing while Estonia, known for its embrace of technology, is more focused on permission and punishment. Establishing digital identities for AI agents and authorizing limited powers will help avoid scenarios where individuals are required to delegate broad authority to an agent at the expense of their rights, the government says.

“In the future, AI will increasingly carry out digital tasks on our behalf, compiling reports, preparing declarations or interacting with information systems,” said Prime Minister Kristen Michal in a statement. “To that end, it must be clear who is acting on whose behalf with what rights, and who is ultimately responsible.”

By taking this step, Estonia casts itself as “first country to create digital identities for AI agents.” 

Two weeks ago, Argentina’s President Javier Milei endorsed a similar idea, legislation to allow “non-human corporations,” managed by software, with limited liability. 

“Limited liability is not a luxury for such entities; it is a precondition for their existence,” Milei wrote in a Financial Times op-ed.

Several decades ago, IBM took a similar line on liability but reached the opposite conclusion about automated decision making: “A computer can never be held accountable, therefore a computer must never make a management decision.” 

Despite the citation of that passage from IBM’s 1979 Training Manual in a 2025 blog post, Big Blue’s designated author Doug Bonderud sounds less certain about the impermissibility of AI action these days.

“Should AI be used for management decisions?” he mused. “Maybe. Will it be used to make some of these decisions? Almost certainly.”

While governments work on legal changes that will allow AI agents to operate, private sector companies are already taking a stance, at least with respect to external AI agent usage by customers.

Target Corporation earlier this year revised its Terms & Conditions with a section titled Agentic Commerce and Delegated Access. It states, “Purchases and other actions taken by an Agentic Commerce Agent that you have authorized are considered transactions authorized by you.”

American Express meanwhile has taken the opposite tack by assuming liability for errant agentic commerce. “In the future, if a Card Member authorizes an AI agent to make a purchase and that agent sends American Express the customer’s authenticated purchase intent, American Express will protect eligible customers from charges related to AI agent error,” the company said in April when it introduced its agentic commerce developer kit.

In a pre-print paper last year titled “AI Agents and the Law,” Georgia Institute of Technology professors Mark Riedl and Deven Desai observe that once AI agents have the ability to act in a way that changes the state of the world – e-commerce transactions as opposed to output that requires human interaction for effect – concerns about harm become more pressing.

They note that while the law is well equipped to deal with conflicts arising from human agents, it’s not well-suited to the possibilities of software agents.

“Put simply, although computer science and law have similar notions of agents, a software agent is not the same as a human agent,” they write “For example, agency law disciplines agents by imposing legal liabilities on agents when they misbehave. Human agents can face financial and even criminal penalties; that is not so for software agents.”

To date, AI companies have done their best to limit liability for AI harms. But they’ve not been entirely successful: A Canadian court held Air Canada liable for bad chatbot advice, and a German court held Google liable for inaccurate AI Overview content.

It may be a while before the rules for AI agents get hammered out and harmonized to whatever extent is possible. But in the interim we’ll at least have digital identifiers to call out bad agents by name. ®