HigherEd AI Daily: April 15, 2026 – Anthropic AI Outperforms Its Own Researchers, Chrome Gets Built-In AI Skills, Claude Code Learns to Run Routines

Three updates today that collectively point toward a world where AI is not just a tool you pick up but infrastructure quietly running beneath your work.

Dr. Ali Green

Anthropic's AI Outperformed Anthropic's Own Researchers on a Key Research Benchmark for the First Time

The Neuron reported this week that Anthropic's Claude Mythos Preview scored higher than the company's own human researchers on at least one internal research benchmark measuring the ability to identify novel approaches to complex technical problems. This is a milestone Anthropic itself flagged as significant in its model card. The result does not mean the model is more capable than researchers across all dimensions, but it signals that on specific structured reasoning tasks, the gap between AI and expert human performance is closing faster than most institutions are prepared for.

Why this matters for your teaching

For faculty who study AI, teach research methods, or are involved in peer review processes, this development is worth discussing directly with students and colleagues. The implications for how we define expertise, evaluate evidence, and trust AI-generated research outputs are not yet settled.

Read more: The Neuron (April 15 Issue)

Pulled from: The Neuron

Google Chrome Now Has Built-In AI Writing and Research Skills That Work Without Any Extension

Superhuman AI reported this week that Google Chrome is rolling out native AI Skills, a set of built-in AI capabilities including summarization, research assistance, and writing support that activate directly within the browser without requiring an extension, app, or account switch. The features use Gemini and operate on-device for basic tasks. The rollout is staged and may take several weeks to reach all users.

Why this matters for your teaching

For faculty who recommend tools to students, Chrome's built-in AI changes the baseline assumption. Students using Chrome will soon have AI research and writing assistance by default. This is a relevant fact when designing assignments that require original synthesis and a meaningful reason to discuss AI literacy explicitly in your courses.

Read more: Superhuman AI (April 15 Issue)

Pulled from: Superhuman AI

Claude Code Now Supports Routines That Run Automatically, Removing the Need to Manually Trigger Repetitive Tasks

TLDR AI reported this week that Anthropic added Routines to Claude Code, a feature that allows users to define recurring sequences of tasks that Claude executes automatically at specified intervals or triggers. Early use cases described in the release notes include automated test runs, scheduled file processing, and recurring summarization of incoming documents. The feature is available in Claude Code for all paid subscribers.

Why this matters for your teaching

For faculty using Claude Code for any form of document processing, research compilation, or course material preparation, Routines means you can now define a workflow once and have it run without manual intervention. This significantly reduces the overhead of incorporating AI into repetitive academic tasks.

Read more: TLDR AI (April 15 Issue)

Pulled from: TLDR AI

Try something new today

Prompt of the Day

"I am a peer reviewer for [journal or conference name] and I want to use AI to help me write more consistent and useful reviews without letting it replace my judgment. Design a four-step peer review workflow where AI assists at specific stages but my expertise remains the decisive factor. For each step, write the exact prompt I would give Claude or Gemini and explain what I should evaluate or add before moving to the next step."

Tool of the Day

Google Chrome AI Skills

Chrome's native AI features now include summarization and writing assistance that work inside the browser without extensions. Rolling out to all users in stages.

Free (built into Chrome)