What you need to know

• Google’s August roundup for Gemini Drops details the latest updates for the AI, such as “Guided Learning” for students.
• This is a step-by-step guided learning experience that students can use to gain a little more understanding for complex topics.
• Other updates include Gemini’s storybook update for full AI-illustrated stories for kids, “personal context” in the Gemini app, and Temporary Chats.

After introducing it in July, Google’s back once again with its Gemini Drops, and August has a lot going on.

Earlier today (Aug 13), Google highlighted its August edition of Gemini Drops, detailing everything new that’s been announced and still on the way to users. One of its major updates is “Guided Learning” for students, which they can use to ask for step-by-step help with Gemini. Students looking to study with a little more depth (and assistance) can provide Gemini with all the details they can before, and let the AI break it down in a more digestible fashion.

Google states in today’s post that Gemini will also create “images, diagrams, videos, and interactive quizzes” to further enhance a student’s learning experience.

Elsewhere, Google is highlighting its newest Storybook update for Gemini. Parents can now create illustrated and AI-voiced storybooks for their kids using their own photos, their child’s drawings, and more. The company states that parents can tell Gemin to create a specific story based on a photo, and tell the AI their child’s age and interests to help create a short storybook they might enjoy.

This storybook feature is available for users globally on computers and mobile devices.

From Fun & Intuitive to new Gemini intelligence

There is an update that concerns Gemini Ultra subscribers this month, and that’s the AI’s “Deep Thinking” upgrade. As Google states, Deep Thinking enables the AI to understand and provide better answers for users with complex math and coding problems. The company states Deep Thinking upgrades Gemini’s “reasoning,” likely making the answers it returns more comprehensive.

A big Gemini update just started rolling out this week, which Google briefly mentions, and that involves “personal context.” Essentially, the personal context feature enables Gemini to remember and callback to previous chats you’ve had with it. These older chats will help it remember key details about you automatically without you needing to repeat yourself. If you’ve previously asked Gemini for a recipe, but said you were allergic to a specific seasoning, the next time you look for inspiration, Gemini will (ideally) keep that allergy in mind.

Of course, the AI can still mess up, so it’s always worth keeping an eye out for that. Additionally, “Temporary Chats” arrive, giving users a little more privacy when asking questions that you don’t want Gemini to remember. Temporary Chats were announced on August 13, but Google states this will take some time to reach more users, so it might take a few weeks.

Google first introduced Gemini Drops in July, where it creates a complete roundup of the latest updates for the AI.

Facepalm: As artificial intelligence becomes more sophisticated, a new breed of scam is quietly siphoning millions from the US higher education system. Cybercriminals are using AI-driven bots to impersonate students, enroll in online college courses, and divert financial aid, leaving real individuals with stolen identities and fraudulent debt.

One San Francisco resident, Heather Brady, learned the hard way how sophisticated education scams have become. A police officer showed up at her home with an unexpected question about her alleged college enrollment in Arizona. Brady had never applied ,but someone else had used her personal information to secure government aid.

Later, she discovered a student loan for more than $9,000 had been issued in her name for classes she never attended. “I just can’t imagine how many people this is happening to that have no idea,” Brady told The Associated Press.

The problem is escalating rapidly as online classes grow more widespread and AI tools make it easier for scammers to automate the entire process. These so-called “ghost students” can complete applications, enroll in classes, participate in coursework, and even submit assignments without a human ever being involved. In some cases, instructors have found that almost none of their students are genuine, with legitimate learners locked out of required classes because bots filled all the available slots.

The financial toll is substantial. In 2024, California’s community colleges reported 1.2 million suspicious applications, leading to over 220,000 likely fraudulent enrollments, according to data obtained by the Associated Press. The system lost at least $11.1 million in unrecoverable financial aid last year alone. Community colleges are particularly vulnerable, as their lower tuition means a greater portion of grant and loan funds goes directly to students for living expenses.

Wayne Chaw, who once took classes at De Anza Community College, was notified about a course he never signed up for. Thieves had used his Social Security number to claim nearly $1,400 in aid, and someone – likely an AI bot – was submitting homework under his name. “This person is typing as me, saying my first and last name. … It’s very freaky when I saw that,” Chaw said.

For victims, unraveling the damage is a long and frustrating ordeal. Brittnee Nelson, a small business owner in Louisiana, discovered that loans had been taken out in her name for schools she never attended. Despite diligently monitoring her credit and safeguarding her identity, she spent two years working to remove the fraudulent debt. “It’s like if someone came into your house and robbed you,” Nelson said.

Colleges say they often lack the power to prevent these scams. Delgado Community College in New Orleans, for example, emphasized that the ultimate authority for loan approval lies with federal agencies. “This is an unfortunate and serious matter, but it is not the direct or indirect result of Delgado’s internal processes,” said spokesperson Barbara Waiters.

In response to the surge in fraud, the US Department of Education recently enacted a temporary measure requiring first-time federal aid applicants to verify their identity with a government-issued ID. The department acknowledged the severity of the threat, stating, “The rate of fraud through stolen identities has reached a level that imperils the federal student aid program.” More robust screening is expected to follow.

While the government scrambles to tighten security, its capacity to investigate and resolve fraud is shrinking. Recent layoffs and staff attrition at key federal offices have left fewer personnel available to assist victims and pursue scammers. Brady, still facing the prospect of a $9,000 debt she never incurred, fears that help may never come. “The agency is going to be so broken down and disintegrated that I won’t be able to do anything, and I’m just going to be stuck” she said.

Recent prosecutions illustrate the scale of the problem. They include a Texas man accused of orchestrating a $1.5 million aid fraud, another individual in Texas admitting to using inmates’ names to claim more than $650,000, and a New York resident pleading guilty to a decade-long, $450,000 scam.

As AI-powered schemes continue to evolve, students and taxpayers remain at risk. Nelson believes stronger identity checks are essential. “If they can make these hurdles a little bit harder and have these verifications more provable, I think that’s really, really, really going to protect people in the long run,” she said.

Cybercriminals are attempting to extort education workers after a hack left their sensitive personal data at risk.

Early this year, an investigation from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike determined that PowerSchool – which operates a widely-used Student Information System (SIS) – witnessed a data breach affecting millions of US school kids.

PowerSchool’s SIS software helps schools track students’ attendance, grades, addresses and oftentimes very specific personal information like Social Security numbers or health history.

PowerSchool disclosed that “current and former students and educators” had their names, contact details, dates of birth, limited medical alert information, Social Security numbers and “other related information” compromised.

Months later, state school leaders and employees from at least 20 North Carolina school systems have reported that hackers have attempted to extort them via threatening emails.

The NBC-affiliated WRAL News reports that the extortion attempt asks for a payment in cryptocurrency in exchange for keeping the victims’ data secret.

While PowerSchool says that the threat has been contained, cybersecurity expert Doug Levin said to “take that with a grain of salt.”

Says Levin,

“We also always encourage literally everyone, whether you’ve been caught up in this incident or not, to just freeze their credit records at the credit reporting agencies… It is a simple step that you can take to provide some measure of protection against financial fraud against yourself, should your information ever get exposed in a data breach like this one…

Incidents have been happening more frequently. They’ve been more sophisticated. They have also been more significant in terms of their impact, whether you’re talking about money or amounts, or the sensitivity of data that has been released.

And one of the things that school systems are doing now is also looking and asking questions of all of their vendors and third parties they do business with, like PowerSchool. There is certainly a trend right now that school systems are beginning to ask many more questions of their vendors and partners to ensure that they have strong cybersecurity in place, while school systems as well are shoring up their cybersecurity practices.”

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