Chicago

Alpha School, which opened in Austin, Texas, in 2014, is set to open a K-8 location in Chicago. It charges $55,000 a year in tuition and uses "guides," in lieu of teachers, to motivate kids to complete online lessons.

The robots have shattered two city bus shelters within the last week, fueling heated discussion amongst Chicago humans who say they shouldn’t have to share the public way with automatons.

Though denying liability, the cloud software provider and its client, Chicago Public Schools, are paying to settle allegations of improperly collecting, monitoring and sharing private data and communications.

The self-driving taxi company is deploying about 10 vehicles in Chicago to start mapping the city’s streets — thus “laying the early groundwork” for future operations there — Waymo said Wednesday.

A project to analyze flooding in south Chicago will eventually consist of about 50 sensors transmitting data in real time for analysts and emergency responders.

The community engagement tech supplier helped the city’s public school system, one of the largest in the U.S., gather feedback during the search for a new leader. The company expects more such work.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s office has published the first of what is expected to be several reports detailing the technology delays and assigning blame for where the fault lies.

Suburban school districts on the outskirts of Chicago are staffing technology committees, implementing guidelines, training teachers and planning pilot programs to embrace AI as a necessity in the coming school year.

A cyber attack by a Russian hacking group in February compromised private student data, and the district is advising those affected to change their passwords and remain vigilant in looking out for identity theft.

A cyber attack in late 2024 exposed names, dates of birth, student identification numbers and Medicaid identification numbers, but not Social Security numbers or financial information, of current and former students.

The University of Chicago’s proprietary chatbot, PhoenixAI, leverages OpenAI models but serves as an open-ended platform for faculty, students and administrators to experiment and find new use cases.

Transit pilot projects in Los Angeles and Chicago are deploying camera technology to identify vehicles blocking bus lanes and issue citations. The programs are designed to make the services more efficient.

Owners of vehicles parked in bike and bus lanes downtown can now receive warnings and, soon, tickets in the mail, as a delayed program to test automated ticketing for the parking infractions has begun.

It’s been two weeks since Mayor Brandon Johnson ended the city’s contract with the company that owns and operates the ShotSpotter gunshot-detection technology, despite opposition from the City Council.

The City Council is signaling once more its commitment to keeping acoustic gunshot detection technology in Chicago, even if that effort continues to pit aldermen against Mayor Brandon Johnson.

ShotSpotter’s days in Chicago are numbered, but some aldermen are trying — once again — to throw the gunshot detection system a last-minute lifeline as its time ticks down.

The utility ComEd is working with Illinois nonprofit QUILT to improve middle-mile broadband infrastructure across Chicago’s South and West sides while reducing costs. The initiative is enabled by a federal grant.

The university's Hyde Park Labs, set to open in 2025, will provide lab and office space for life sciences, data science and renewable energy researchers, and host venture capital firms ready to support new technology.