Welcome to The Hill's Technology newsletter {beacon} Technology Technology   The Big Story  AI set to hit its stride in schools in 2025 Experts predict that 2025 will be the year artificial intelligence (AI) truly gets off the ground in K-12 schools.  © Adobe Stock 2024 laid the groundwork for AI to reach a level of “maturity” in education, with the federal government releasing guidance on the issue and growing numbers of teachers getting professional training on the technology and classes on data science available to students.     Now, a development that once baffled educators and administrators is ready to go mainstream.    “I think the system was still in reaction mode. I think we still saw a lot of uncertainty as to where and how AI fits into education," ” said Zarek Drozda, executive director of Data Science 4 Everyone at the University of Chicago.    “I think you saw this in the way that AI was beginning to be implemented into technology that facilitates classroom management,” he continued.   “I think, over time, going into this next year, that you’re going to see more maturity come to the system even further,” Drozda added.     A report from his group found that since the 2020-21 school year, 2,500 teachers have had more than 71,000 hours of data science professional development, and 277 schools have added data science classes.   Earlier this year, the federal government released a 74-page AI toolkit for schools that focused on safeguarding student privacy, creating plans to integrate the technology to fit student needs and how to use it to assist with learning.   Educators are now using AI to help speed up lesson plan creation and assisting in plans for individualized instruction a student may need.   The new year will offer a major opportunity to take advantage of more of the training educators have received, as well as expanding on AI and computer science literacy in schools.   The Hill's Lexi Lonas Cochran has more here.   Welcome to The Hill’s Technology newsletter, we're Julia Shapero and Miranda Nazzaro — tracking the latest moves from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley.   Did someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.   Essential Reads  How policy will be impacting the tech sector now and in the future:   Steve Bannon tells Elon Musk to ‘sit in the back and study’ President-elect Trump’s former adviser Steve Bannon told tech billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk to “sit in the back and study” amid an ongoing feud between the president-elect’s Silicon Valley backers and his anti-immigrant base over visas for highly skilled workers.  “They’re recent converts,” Bannon said Tuesday on his “War Room” podcast, referring to Musk and the other new Trump supporters from the tech …  Full Story   Germany’s Scholz takes veiled swipe at Musk in New Year’s address German Chancellor Olaf Scholz offered subtle criticism around billionaire Elon Musk’s influence on President-elect Trump early Tuesday, saying the nation’s fate will not be decided by “the owners of social media.” “In our debates, one can be forgiven for sometimes thinking the more extreme an opinion is, the more attention it will garner,” Scholz said in his New Year’s Eve message, without …  Full Story   Ford’s X account calls Israel a ‘terrorist state’ in apparent hack incident The official account for Ford Motor Co. on the social platform X was apparently compromised in a hacking incident behind a viral post calling Israel a “terrorist state.” In a statement posted Monday evening, Ford said its X account was “briefly compromised” and several unauthorized posts were shared. “They do not represent the views of Ford Motor Company,” the company said in its statement. Ford said the company and X are investigating …  Full Story   The Refresh  News we've flagged from the intersection of tech and other topics:   Montenegro extradites Terraform co-founder Montenegro has extradited Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon to the United States to face charges related to the collapse of his firm's cryptocurrency TerraUSD in 2022, Reuters reported.   US telecom firm says network free of Chinese hackers U.S. telecommunications firm Lumen says it has ejected China's Salt Typhoon hackers from its network, following similar confirmations by AT&T and Verizon, TechCrunch reported.   In Other News  Branch out with other reads on The Hill: AI tool helps detect heart problems before symptoms start British researchers have developed an artificial intelligence tool that can identify people at risk of a serious heart condition before symptoms appear, potentially preventing thousands of strokes, the BBC reported. The AI system, developed by scientists at the University of Leeds and Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, analyzes electronic health records to detect warning signs of atrial fibrillation (AF), a condition causing … Full Story   What Others are Reading  Two key stories on The Hill right now: Chip Roy on Johnson: ‘I don’t believe he has the votes’ Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said Tuesday that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) does not have the votes to keep the gavel and that he remains undecided on whether … Read more Wall Street shrugs off political drama, readies for Trump 2.0 Washington, D.C., faces a minefield of deadlines with serious political and economic implications as it enters 2025. But Wall Street doesn’t seem too … Read more   What Others are Reading  Opinion related to tech submitted to The Hill: A federal telework success story faces uncertain future     You're all caught up. See you Thursday!