AI Insights
New cybersecurity, artificial intelligence degrees at Upper Iowa University can help protect, grow businesses

FAYETTE, Iowa (KCRG) – Five new degree programs at Upper Iowa University will help students get trained in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and business analytics.
While AI and cybersecurity may be foreign to Main Street business owners, Dubuque County IT Director Nathan Gilmore says investing in the fields is critical.
“It only takes one breach or it only takes one incident to potentially make them close up shop or wipe out years of profits,” says Gilmore.
Data breaches occur every 39 seconds, according to cybersecurity company SentinelOne.
“It is, at this point, in my opinion, no different than an electric bill or a water bill,” explains Gilmore. “It’s just part of doing business.”
While investments in cybersecurity can help protect companies, Gilmore says artificial intelligence can help business owners save time and money. AI can complete automated tasks, including billing, scheduling appointments, and answering questions for customers online, among others.
“It’s automated. You’re not using actual staff time. Those are the sorts of force multipliers you can use AI in a very positive fashion,” says Gilmore.
Gilmore says more trained workers are needed in both growing fields to address demand, and new degree programs at Upper Iowa University launching this fall will help fill the need.
“It was kind of a no-brainer for us,” shares Dr. Billie Cowley, Vice President for Academic Affairs at Upper Iowa University.
This fall, UIU in Fayette is launching the following:
- Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity
- Bachelor of Science in Business Analytics
- Master of Business Administration, Cybersecurity
- Master of Business Administration, Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Master of Public Administration, Cybersecurity
“It’s extremely exciting. There will be a pool of knowledgeable, trained people who will be able to serve this Upper Midwest region,” says Gilmore. “Yes, a lot of this stuff can be none remotely. No question, it can be, but Main Street is also a very face-to-face type world. They want to talk to somebody.”
Cowley says she’s seen firsthand the rate at which AI is evolving.
“We’ve done some AI training with faculty, and what we learn in the fall is now different than what we know in the spring,” says Cowley.
To match, Cowley says the programs are designed to shift to match how these fields evolve.
“That is massive because this is not a static industry,” says Gilmore. “If those programs are set up to incorporate the changes that are here and coming, that is a massive boom for these programs because this stuff is changing monthly.”
Cowley says there’s no limit to the number of students Upper Iowa will enroll in these programs. Instead, enrollment will be based on demand, and staff will be hired, as needed.
“Upper Iowa is like home to me and my husband,” shares Cowley. “To be apart and see this growth, there’s no words to describe what this means.”
More information about UIU’s new offerings can be found at GO.UIU.EDU/FutureReady.
Copyright 2025 KCRG. All rights reserved.
AI Insights
a tool to stop scams

(WJAR) — We often talk about how cyber criminals are using artificial intelligence to make their scams more believable.
But AI can also be used to stop scams.
Bentley University professor and creator of scamicide.com Steve Weisman said some companies are now harnessing the power of AI to protect their customers from scams.
“Google is very much taking the lead on this,” Weisman said. “So when you do searches on Google Chrome, you’re going to find that much of the time – 80% of the time, if it’s a scammy website, it will come up.”
He continued, “The same thing if you’re using email, the same thing if you’re using an Android phone – Google has programs now that will recognize quite often if it is a scam communication and will alert you.”
Weisman said we can also expect the technology to improve as time goes on.
“It’s machine learning, so not only are they taking what’s out there and recognizing it, but the good guys are now teaching the artificial intelligence to learn and predict what’s going to happen,” explained Weisman.
He said PayPal has also rolled out AI-powered scam alerts for peer-to-peer payments – flagging transactions that seem suspicious.
In some cases, blocking PayPal will block those payments entirely if the transaction is determined to be too high risk.
AI Insights
Colorado Passes Bill Amending Current AI Legislation

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed legislation last week that amends a previously passed state law enacting AI safeguards — delaying enforcement of that initial law by several months.
Senate Bill 24-205 (SB 24-205), also known as the Colorado AI Act, was enacted in May to protect consumers from high-risk AI systems by implementing a risk management program. AI systems can pose risks of discrimination and bias in areas including hiring and education. Since the Colorado AI Act’s passage, some people have been working to slow down the regulations from taking effect.
SB 24-205 as signed in May would require AI developers to start protecting consumers from “reasonably foreseeable risks or algorithmic discrimination,” while Senate Bill 25B-004 (SB 25B-004) — signed Aug. 28 — amends that initial law to delay enforcement from Feb. 1, 2026, to June 30, 2026.
The newly signed SB 25B-004, also known as the AI Sunshine Act, will keep the key transparency and accountability measures from the Colorado AI Act intact. The legislation still aims to ensure Coloradans are protected from the foreseeable risks of high-risk systems through impact assessments, information disclosures, and publicly available risk summaries. Developers will be required to provide deployers with risk information. The key change, per the AI Sunshine Act, is the implementation date.
The proposed law initially aimed to simplify the original law and reduce obligations on Colorado businesses, but as passed, it effectively replaces the obligations enacted by the initial law, albeit on an adjusted timeline.
The AI Sunshine Act received support from a coalition of more than 50 local and national civil society organizations, including the Center for Democracy and Technology, the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition, AARP Colorado, and the National Employment Law Project.
A statement from this group emphasized that further delay of these accountability and transparency protections would leave Coloradans unprotected from risks posed by automated decision-making systems and would reward the “intransigence” in negotiations between public interest groups and corporate interest groups.
“Consumers want this,” Rep. Brianna Titone, state House District 27, said in a statement. “Poll after poll after poll. Consumers want us to do something on AI.”
Some stakeholders have been urging that the Colorado AI Act should be adjusted or repealed prior to that initial February 2026 deadline. State lawmakers have explored multiple bills to amend the state’s rules. Ultimately, the deadline change was the only AI law amendment that was enacted during the state’s special session.
President Donald Trump’s new AI Action Plan includes allowances for the federal government to restrict funding to states based on their AI policies. However, there is bipartisan support for maintaining states’ authority to regulate AI technologies.
AI Insights
Reese Witherspoon Thinks AI Needs More Girlbosses

Photo: TheStewartofNY/WireImage
One thing about Reese Witherspoon? She is going to get women into male-dominated spaces. And if those spaces are an environmentally disastrous, creative wasteland designed to eliminate the human touch from art? Well, they could still use a feminine touch. The actress recently told Glamour that it’s “so important that women are involved in AI” lest they be left behind by the filmmaking industry.
Witherspoon and her The Morning Show co-stars are on the cover of Glamour this month to promote the show’s upcoming fourth season, and during her interview Witherspoon spent a lot of time talking about AI. The actress brought it up herself when asked how she avoids burnout in an ever-changing industry.
“I’m a very hard worker, and I like to change and adapt to new structures and new environments. I’m always looking forward to how media is evolving and how I can help be part of bringing women along in those emerging industries,” Witherspoon said. “And now we’re doing it with AI. It’s so, so important that women are involved in AI … because it will be the future of filmmaking. And you can be sad and lament it all you want, but the change is here.”
The actress added that there will “never be a lack of creativity and ingenuity and actual physical manual building of things.” “It might diminish,” she noted, “but it’s always going to be [of] the highest importance in art and in expression of self.” Hmmm.
Siding with the diminishment is not an amazing look, but it seems that Witherspoon is wholly committed to Team AI. She told the magazine that she uses AI tools “every day” for different tasks. “I use search tools, like Perplexity, every day,” Witherspoon said, “I use Vetted AI. Like, if you’re buying a blender, it’ll show you six different blenders and also recommend the best product.” For about 20 more seconds of your time, you can Google “best blender 2025” and get the same thing without contributing to the depletion of the world’s water supply, but go off.
Witherspoon didn’t stop there, going on to sing the praises of her AI assistant. “Simple AI is an AI assistant that can be really helpful for anyone out there who doesn’t want to have to make a doctor’s appointment because you don’t want to sit on hold or deal with the problems of navigating hospital systems,” she said, sounding a lot like she might be angling for a seat on the board.
This is not the first time Witherspoon has gone all-in on gender equality in the latest tech innovations. In 2022, her production company announced it would be partnering with a women-focused NFT collective to adapt the crypto-backed images into TV and movies. So far, nothing has come out of that partnership, but maybe Witherspoon’s foray into AI will be more fruitful. I look forward to the season of Big Little Lies where everyone looks a little too smooth and Nicole Kidman has a sixth finger. That’s feminism.
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