Monday, November 04, 2024

OpenAI reportedly plans to release its Orion AI model by December - Maxwell Zeff, Tech Crunch

OpenAI is reportedly planning to release its next frontier AI model, codenamed Orion inside the company, by December of this year, The Verge reported on Thursday. Unlike previous releases, the company reportedly plans to release the model gradually to trusted partners before a broader rollout through ChatGPT. The Verge writes that Microsoft engineers expect to receive access to Orion as early as November, although it’s unclear what OpenAI will ultimately call the model. The o1 series of models was codenamed “strawberry” inside OpenAI for months before it was released.


The AI Paradox: Why Automation Will Fuel a Creative Revolution - Alina Okun, Future Skill

AI isn't replacing human workers. It's opening up a new frontier for them. As routine tasks get automated, we have more freedom to focus on the uniquely human skills that machines can’t replicate: Creativity, Critical thinking, and Innovation. This is what I call the AI Paradox: the more tasks AI takes over, the more space we have to lean into the things that machines simply can’t do. Let’s explore how this shift is evolving and why creativity is quickly becoming the most valuable skill in the workplace.

https://www.futureskillpro.com/p/the-ai-paradox-why-automation-will

Sunday, November 03, 2024

Memorandum on Advancing the United States’ Leadership in Artificial Intelligence; Harnessing Artificial Intelligence to Fulfill National Security Objectives; and Fostering the Safety, Security, and Trustworthiness of Artificial Intelligence - the White House

This memorandum fulfills the directive set forth in subsection 4.8 of Executive Order 14110 of October 30, 2023 (Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence).  This memorandum provides further direction on appropriately harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) models and AI-enabled technologies in the United States Government, especially in the context of national security systems (NSS), while protecting human rights, civil rights, civil liberties, privacy, and safety in AI-enabled national security activities.  A classified annex to this memorandum addresses additional sensitive national security issues, including countering adversary use of AI that poses risks to United States national security.

Anthropic’s agentic Computer Use is giving people ‘superpowers’ - Taryn Plumb, Venture Beat

Still in beta, Computer Use allows Claude to work autonomously and use a computer essentially as a human does. The groundbreaking capability has broad implications for the future of work, as it can work essentially on its own, perform repetitive tasks and quickly gather up data from numerous disparate sources. “Anthropic just released the most amazing AI technology I’ve ever used. I’m not kidding,” startup founder Alex Finn posted to X (formerly Twitter). “It’s legit changing day to day.”AI agents are here and you can now build your own personal army of AI's that will do work for you. Here is your demo and complete beginner's guide:

Saturday, November 02, 2024

SynthID: Identifying AI-generated content with SynthID - Google Deep Mind

Being able to identify AI-generated content is critical to promoting trust in information. While not a silver bullet for addressing problems such as misinformation or misattribution, SynthID is a suite of promising technical solutions to this pressing AI safety issue. This toolkit is currently launched in beta and continues to evolve. It’s now being integrated into a growing range of products, helping empower people and organizations to responsibly work with AI-generated content. SynthID uses a variety of deep learning models and algorithms for watermarking and identifying AI-generated content.

Intelligent Agents in AI Really Can Work Alone. Here’s How. - Tom Coshow, Gartner

Today’s AI models perform tasks such as generating text, but these are “prompted” — the AI isn’t acting by itself. That is about to change with agentic AI, or AI with agency. By 2028, 33% of enterprise software applications will include agentic AI, up from less than 1% in 2024, enabling 15% of day-to-day work decisions to be made autonomously. Intelligent agents in AI are goal-driven software entities that use AI techniques to complete tasks and achieve goals. They don’t require explicit inputs and don’t produce predetermined outputs. Instead, they can receive instructions, create a plan and use tooling to complete tasks, and produce dynamic outputs. Examples include AI agents, machine customers and multiagent systems.

Friday, November 01, 2024

Can Anthropic’s Claude control your PC? - Martin Crowley, AI Tool Report

Anthropic unveiled an updated Claude 3.5 Sonnet (which is available in public beta) with a new feature, called ‘Computer Use,’ which completes tasks on a computer like a human does. ‘Computer Use’ can understand and interact with any PC desktop app, and can control a PC—by moving the cursor, clicking buttons, and typing text—based on human prompts. For example, when Claude was asked to plan an outing with two friends, to see the Golden Gate Bridge, it opened Chrome, searched for the ideal viewing spot and times, and then used the calendar app to create and send invites out. All by itself. Claude can now see what’s on the PC screen (something it couldn't do, previously) and break the prompt down into a list of computer commands, like move the cursor, click here, or type this, to complete the task.

Ellucian's AI Survey of Higher Education Professionals Reveals Surge in AI Adoption Despite Concerns Around Privacy and Bias - Ellucian

Ellucian, the leading higher education technology solutions provider, released its second annual AI survey report. This report shows that AI adoption by higher education professionals for work and personal use has more than doubled over the past year. In a survey of 445 faculty and administrators from more than 330 institutions across the U.S. and Canada, 93% expect to expand their AI use for work purposes over the next two years. While the use of AI is growing, the survey also shows increasing concerns. The percentage of respondents worried about bias in AI models rose from 36% in 2023 to 49% in 2024. Similarly, data privacy and security concerns increased from 50% in 2023 to 59% in 2024. These findings reflect a complex mix of enthusiasm and caution across the industry.

Thursday, October 31, 2024

Geoffrey Hinton Reveals the SCARY Future of Employment - Technomics, YouTube

This episode of the Technomics podcast focuses on the impact of AI on the job market, featuring insights from Geoffrey Hinton, a renowned computer scientist and AI expert. Hinton predicts a significant shift in the workforce, with AI potentially replacing 50% of jobs within the next decade. The podcast explores the vulnerability of various job sectors to AI, including creative, physical, and analytical roles. The discussion also touches upon the potential solutions to mitigate the negative impacts of AI on employment, such as universal basic income and the importance of fostering uniquely human skills. The episode concludes by highlighting the emergence of new job categories in the AI era and the need for adaptability in the evolving job market.  (GenAI assisted in summarizing this podcast)

Claude 3.5's New AI Agents Are GAME CHANGING (Claude 3.5 Agents + New Models) - Andrew Black, The AIGrid YouTube

The YouTube video discusses the release of Anthropic's upgraded Claude 3.5 AI models, focusing on the significant advancements and new features. The speaker highlights the following key points:
  • Improved performance: Claude 3.5 Sonet shows substantial improvements in various benchmarks, particularly in coding where it surpasses all other models, including specialized ones. It also shows marked improvement in graduate reasoning, general QA, and high school math competitions.
  • Agentic capabilities: The new models, particularly Claude 3.5 Hau, demonstrate strong performance in agentic coding and tool use, setting a new standard for AI models and indicating the future direction of AI development.
  • Computer use: A groundbreaking feature in public beta allows Claude to interact with computers like humans, using a cursor, clicking buttons, and typing text. This opens up possibilities for automating tasks, building and testing software, and conducting open-ended research. (summary assisted by GenAI)

Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Unlocking autonomous agent capabilities with Microsoft Copilot Studio - Charles Lamanna, Microsoft

Copilot Studio provides an all-in-one platform for building agents, with managed software as a service (SaaS) infrastructure, AI models, a low-code design interface, and thousands of prebuilt connectors. It integrates personal, business, and analytical data, and enables publishing to Copilot, web, and your apps. These new capabilities allow agents to act independently, initiate events, and automate complex business tasks. Let’s explore how this works.

Microsoft's upgraded Copilot Studio is like a LEGO set for building AI agents - David Gewirtz, ZDnet

Microsoft is conducting "AI tours" in 60 cities. These one-day events are designed to connect AI-curious business folk with Microsoft engineers and sales teams to help explore what Microsoft is calling the "AI-first company" and its enabling technology, Copilot. At Microsoft's London stop today, the tech firm announced new features for Copilot Studio (formerly Power Virtual Agents) designed to help companies build and deploy AI agents.

Tuesday, October 29, 2024

AI has potential to revolutionize education - Khmer Times

The fourth United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG4) is to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”. In this context, organizations such as UNESCO are exploring ways to use AI to realize the SDG4. AI can be used to meet individual learners’ needs and provide one-to-one tutoring for students, as well as to facilitate lifelong learning. Also, teachers can use AI to prepare study materials for students and help them complete a certain course. AI can help teachers, too, to customize resources for learners so they can perform better.

Transforming Pedagogy For Generative AI Era: A Vision For The Future - Beata M. Jones, Forbes

Education is at a pivotal crossroads. As generative AI platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and NotebookLM continue to advance, their potential impact on education is undeniable. Experts forecast that by 2025 universities are projected to invest up to $20 million over the next five years in AI-driven curricula, a clear sign of the growing commitment to integrating AI into higher education. They also predict that AI could boost graduation rates by 43%.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/beatajones/2024/10/20/transforming-pedagogy-for--generative-ai-era-a-vision-for-the-future/

Monday, October 28, 2024

Career Prep Tip: Teaching Entrepreneurship Students to Self-Teach With AI - Ashley Mowreader, Inside Higher Ed

Increasingly, employers are indicating that there’s a need for students to be trained in generative artificial intelligence tools as more businesses integrate the tech’s capabilities into the workplace. Some instructors have implemented AI into their classes to demonstrate prompt engineering and showcase AI’s research and writing abilities. Entrepreneurship professor Mark Lacker at Miami University in Ohio encourages students to use generative AI tools to complete projects, inspiring creative and critical thinking skills that can prepare them for careers.

Meta’s unbelievable AI breakthrough - Martin Crowley, AI Tool Report

Meta’s Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) team has released an AI tool called the ‘Self-Taught Evaluator’ that can check the accuracy of other AI models, without the need for human intervention, possibly paving the way for less human involvement in the AI development process. The tool generates different responses from AI models and uses another AI system to assess the accuracy and improve the responses to complex questions in areas like Math, science, and coding. But the incredible bit is that Meta trained the model on AI-generated data only, removing the need for human intervention, and reported that it performed better than models that rely on human-labelled data (like GPT-4 does, for example).

Sunday, October 27, 2024

Keeping artificial intelligence real - Navrina Singh, McKinsey Digital

Generative AI represents a sociotechnical revolution with massive implications for every aspect of our lives. Keeping humans in the loop is critical for its responsible development. Companies are entering a new phase with generative AI (gen AI), as they realistically ponder how to deploy the potent technology responsibly and profitably. The answer, says Navrina Singh, founder and CEO of Credo AI and today’s guest on this episode of the At the Edge podcast, is proper governance in the form of continuous human oversight. Singh speaks with McKinsey senior partner Lareina Yee about the importance of monitoring, measuring, and managing AI risk for the good of humanity, as well as for gaining a competitive advantage.

Harnessing the potential of artificial intelligence in New Jersey: The time is now - written by ChatGPT, edited by Andrew Zwicker, NJ.com

By investing in AI education for all students, from K-12 through higher education, the state will cultivate a workforce prepared to engage with and build on these new technologies. By fostering AI research and development in our four-year universities, New Jersey will create a talent pipeline with the skills and creativity to invent the next generation of problem-solving AI tools and fill high-demand roles across the industry spectrum. Similarly, we must invest in our community colleges, ensuring equitable access to the AI education and training that will be needed to fill jobs that don’t require an advanced degree. Community colleges will also be vital to quickly and nimbly providing opportunities for all workers to obtain new AI skills as they emerge, and to retrain workers whose jobs do disappear.

https://www.nj.com/opinion/2024/10/harnessing-the-potential-of-artificial-intelligence-in-new-jersey-the-time-is-now-opinion.html

Saturday, October 26, 2024

NotebookLM - Google Blog

NotebookLM is a tool for understanding, built with Gemini 1.5. When you upload your sources, it instantly becomes an expert, grounding its responses in your material and giving you powerful ways to transform information. And since it’s your notebook, your personal data is never used to train NotebookLM. Millions of people are already using NotebookLM to understand and engage with complex information, and today we’re removing the product’s “Experimental” label and releasing another round of features.


Embodied AI - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed

We may be just months away from an influx of embodied AI robots (EAI). Those are, in many cases, humanoid bots powered by autonomous AI. Shaoshan Liu and Shuang Wu write in the Communications of the ACM, “Embodied Artificial Intelligence (EAI) integrates artificial intelligence into physical entities like robots, endowing them with the ability to perceive, learn from, and dynamically interact with their environment.” Liu and Wu go on to describe that the “foundational studies highlight three principles for developing EAI systems. First, EAI systems must not rely on predefined, complex logic to manage specific scenarios. Second, it is essential that EAI systems incorporate evolutionary learning mechanisms, enabling them to adapt continuously to their operational environments. Lastly, the environment plays a pivotal role in shaping not just physical behaviors, but also cognitive structures.”

Friday, October 25, 2024

Not using AI is “disservice” to students - Polly Nash, the PIE

Failing to use AI in the classroom is a “disservice” to students, said EdTech experts at a conference about the future of online learning. Rather than be deterred by fears surrounding data privacy and cheating, universities must actively embrace generative AI to prepare students for the future of work and to enhance personalised learning and the accessibility of education, conference delegates heard.  “Students will go on to get jobs where they use AI… if you’re not preparing them because of fears of AI then you’re doing them a disservice,” Ryan Lufkin, vice president of global academic strategy at Instructure told delegates of CanvasCon 2024 in Barcelona. “We need to move beyond the focus on cheating and teach students to use AI in pursuit of learning not instead of learning,” added Lufkin at last week’s event.  

OpenAI unveils experimental ‘Swarm’ framework, igniting debate on AI-driven automation - Michael Nuñez, Venture Beat

OpenAI has unveiled “Swarm,” an experimental framework designed to orchestrate networks of AI agents. This unexpected release has ignited intense discussions among industry leaders and AI ethicists about the future of enterprise automation, despite the company’s emphasis that Swarm is not an official product. Swarm provides developers with a blueprint for creating interconnected AI networks capable of communicating, collaborating, and tackling complex tasks autonomously. While the concept of multi-agent systems isn’t new, Swarm represents a significant step in making these systems more accessible to a broader range of developers.

Thursday, October 24, 2024

Adobe aims to teach AI, online content skills to 30 million - Steven Melendez, Fast Company

Courses will include material on using AI to create content from video thumbnails to visual effects around text—and doing so ethically, including paying attention to issues around intellectual property. They’ll also cover skills around creating content for social media, digital marketing, and image creation and editing. The course material, which will include video instruction and follow-up work, will generally emphasize Adobe Express, a creativity app that offers some features for free, and will be accessible through a phone, tablet, or computer with a web browser. 

Scientists design new 'AGI benchmark' that indicates whether any future AI model could cause 'catastrophic harm' - Keumars Afifi-Sabet, Live Science

OpenAI scientists have designed MLE-bench — a compilation of 75 extremely difficult tests that can assess whether a future advanced AI agent is capable of modifying its own code and improving itself. Scientists have designed a new set of tests that measure whether artificial intelligence (AI) agents can modify their own code and improve its capabilities without human instruction. The benchmark, dubbed "MLE-bench," is a compilation of 75 Kaggle tests, each one a challenge that tests machine learning engineering. This work involves training AI models, preparing datasets, and running scientific experiments, and the Kaggle tests measure how well the machine learning algorithms perform at specific tasks.

Wednesday, October 23, 2024

The AI Revolution Is Coming for Your Non-Union Job - Molly Kinder, Mark Muro, & Xavier de Souza Briggs, Time

During this election cycle, we’ve heard a lot from the presidential candidates about the struggles of America’s workers and their families. Kamala Harris and Donald Trump each want to claim the mantle as the country’s pro-worker candidate. Accordingly, union leaders took the stage not only at the Democratic National Convention, as usual, but at the Republican convention too.  At the VP debate, J.D. Vance and Tim Walz offered competing views on how best to support workers. Surprisingly, one economic issue the candidates have yet to address is one in which millions of voters have a great deal at stake: the looming impact of new generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) technologies on work and livelihoods. The candidates’ silence belies a stark reality: the next president will take office in a world already changed by GenAI—and heading for much greater disruption.

OpenAI’s Swarm AI agent framework: Routines and handoffs - Bryson Masse, Venture Beat

The newly launched Swarm framework from developers at OpenAI is an experimental tool designed to orchestrate networks of AI agents, and it’s been making waves in the tech community. Unlike other multi-agent frameworks, Swarm aims to provide a blend of simplicity, flexibility and control that sets it apart. Although still in its early stages, Swarm offers a fresh take on agent collaboration, with core concepts like “routines” and “handoffs” to guide agents through collaborative tasks.

Tuesday, October 22, 2024

Reimagining the future of AI in the education ecosystem - Fareed Kaviani, Monash University

Our research project explores what different insights emerge when young people are asked to imagine what the AI school of the future might look like. These “School of the Future” scenarios help spark discussions and better prepare for technological, economic, societal and environmental changes in education. They’ve become increasingly popular among policymakers anticipating the impacts of emerging technologies. In more recent years, the scenarios have become particularly important for all stakeholders navigating the revolutionising potential of artificial intelligence on the education sector.

Google's Sycamore quantum computer chip can now outperform the fastest supercomputers, new study suggests - Keumars Afifi-Sabet, Live Science

Quantum computers can outpace our fastest classical computers in very specific areas, a groundbreaking experiment suggests. Google Quantum AI researchers have discovered a "stable computationally complex phase" that can be achieved with existing quantum processing units (QPUs), also known as quantum processors. This means that when quantum computers enter this specific "weak noise phase," they can perform computationally complex calculations that outpace the performance of the fastest supercomputers. The research — which was led by Alexis Morvan, a quantum computing researcher at Google — was published Oct. 9 in the journal Nature.

Monday, October 21, 2024

OpenAI Releases Swarm: An Experimental AI Framework for Building, Orchestrating, and Deploying Multi-Agent Systems - Asif Razzaq, MarktechPost

OpenAI introduces the Swarm Framework as a solution to simplify the complexities inherent in multi-agent orchestration. Swarm is an experimental framework that focuses on making agent coordination, execution, and testing both lightweight and highly controllable. The goal is to empower developers to manage interactions between multiple AI agents in a straightforward and efficient manner. Swarm’s strength lies in its two primitive abstractions: agents and handoffs. An agent in Swarm is a combination of specific instructions and tools that it can use to accomplish a task. At any point during its process, an agent has the ability to “hand off” a conversation or task to another agent, which makes the orchestration seamless and modular. This abstraction not only enables complex interactions among different agents but also ensures that the overall coordination remains under tight control.

'The way of the future:' MU professors are integrating AI tools in law classrooms - Evan Holden, Columbia Missourian

As the demand for efficiency in the workforce increases, law professors at the University of Missouri are finding creative ways to integrate artificial intelligence into their classrooms. With the support of AI tools, Renee Henson and Dennis Crouch are exposing their students to a new level of integrative technology for their future work in the field. AI for training and practical use. In a course she designed, Lawyering: Problem Solving and Dispute Resolution, Henson trained a chatbot to stand in for the opposing party in legal negotiations.

Sunday, October 20, 2024

Penn's Graduate School of Education joins global consortium on artificial intelligence in education - Finn Ryan, Daily Pennsylvanian

Penn’s Graduate School of Education is one of seven international institutions participating in a new research consortium on the use of artificial intelligence in education. The project launched on Sept. 17 at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Institutions in Ghana, Spain, India, Kazakhstan, Colombia, and Qatar will contribute to the consortium in addition to Penn. Penn’s specific objective is to investigate the social repercussions of AI in education, namely its potential to improve educational inequities and stimulate positive outcomes. Researchers will compare the influence of AI between “a medallion university and an opportunity institution,” according to Penn GSE News. 

Machines of Loving Grace - Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic

In fact I think it is critical to have a genuinely inspiring vision of the future, and not just a plan to fight fires. Many of the implications of powerful AI are adversarial or dangerous, but at the end of it all, there has to be something we’re fighting for, some positive-sum outcome where everyone is better off, something to rally people to rise above their squabbles and confront the challenges ahead. Fear is one kind of motivator, but it’s not enough: we need hope as well. The list of positive applications of powerful AI is extremely long (and includes robotics, manufacturing, energy, and much more), but I’m going to focus on a small number of areas that seem to me to have the greatest potential to directly improve the quality of human life. The five categories I am most excited about are:

Biology and physical health

Neuroscience and mental health

Economic development and poverty

Peace and governance

Work and meaning

AI Just Reached Human-Level Reasoning – Should We Be Worried - AI Revolution, YouTube

AI has just reached human-level reasoning with OpenAI’s 01 model, marking a major breakthrough in artificial intelligence. This advancement is transforming industries like quantum physics and military operations, showcasing the ability of AI to outperform humans in complex tasks. As AI continues to evolve, it brings both incredible potential and significant risks, reshaping our understanding of technology and its role in society. This video explores the profound advancements in AI that are reshaping industries and pushing the limits of what technology can achieve. As AI models reach human-level reasoning, they bring incredible opportunities and challenges that could redefine the way we live, work, and think. 

https://youtu.be/MNBa1RW0k_0?feature=shared

Saturday, October 19, 2024

ChatGPT disrupting global elections? - Martin Crowley, AI Tool Report

OpenAI has disrupted over 20 foreign-influence groups, that have been using their AI to influence opinion ahead of elections. In its latest 54-page quarterly threat report, OpenAI disclosed that, since the beginning of the year, it had discovered and managed to disrupt over 20 campaigns, run by foreign actors, that were using its AI technology—namely, ChatGPT and Dall-E—to influence public opinion ahead of global elections. These groups—which mainly came from countries like China, Russia, Iran, Rwanda, and Vietnam—were using ChatGPT and Dall-E to generate websites, articles, and social media profiles, respond to messages, and other similar tasks to support their efforts to sway public opinion.  But while OpenAI acknowledged that these bad actors were able to “experiment” with its AI technology, they were unable to successfully spread their influence.

https://www.aitoolreport.com/articles/chatgpt-disrupting-global-elections

Generative AI, the American worker, and the future of work - Molly Kinder, Xavier de Souza Briggs, Mark Muro, and Sifan Liu, Brookings

Existing generative AI technology already has the potential to significantly disrupt a wide range of jobs. We find that more than 30% of all workers could see at least 50% of their occupation’s tasks disrupted by generative AI. Unlike previous automation technologies that primarily affected routine, blue collar work, generative AI is likely to disrupt a different array of “cognitive” and “nonroutine” tasks, especially in middle- to higher-paid professions. 

Friday, October 18, 2024

CMU to build AI research center with $6 million from federal agency - Evan Robinson-Johnson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Carnegie Mellon University will play a key role in establishing standards for artificial intelligence as the Biden administration looks to develop the technology more safely. The National Institute of Standards and Technology, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, awarded the school $6 million last week to establish a research lab for AI. The funding will “support a new generation of scientists and engineers that will help advance American innovation globally,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a statement. “Artificial intelligence is the defining technology of our generation, and at the Commerce Department we are committed to working with America’s world-class higher education institutions, like Carnegie Mellon University, to advance safe, secure and trustworthy development of AI,” she said.

Can an AI Chatbot Be Your Friend? - Stefano Puntoni, Knowledge at Wharton

A new study co-authored by Wharton marketing professor Stefano Puntoni finds that when people interact with chatbots programmed to respond with empathy, their feelings of loneliness are significantly abated — at least for a short time. Puntoni said the buzz about what generative artificial intelligence can do for business and productivity has been so big since the release of ChatGPT two years ago that he wanted to explore whether software could also benefit well-being. If chatbots can be programmed to have in-depth conversations on everything from customer service to medical diagnoses, there’s no reason why they can’t keep people company.

Thursday, October 17, 2024

Unraveling the dynamics of ChatGPT adoption and utilization through Structural Equation Modeling - Khalida Parveen, et al; Nature Scientific Reports

ChatGPT, an advanced Artificial Intelligence tool, is getting considerable attention in higher education. ChatGPT significantly changes the student learning experience through its AI-aided support, personalized study assistance and effective educational experiences, and it has become an object of particular interest in this context. This research aimed to build a technology acceptance and usage model that encapsulates the elements influencing students’ adoption and utilization of ChatGPT, drawing on constructs from the ‘Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology’ and ‘Flow Theory’. 

WPI Researcher Receives National Science Foundation Grant to Study How Humans Interact With Artificial Intelligence - WPI

Roee Shraga, assistant professor of computer science and data science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), has received $175,000 from the National Science Foundation to scrutinize the human aspects of data discovery and integration. The research project aims to explore the critical role of human involvement in data preparation processes to identify and address biases that automated systems may fail to detect. “We’ll be able to create the future framework that will be better for users,” Shraga said. “It will lead to better data, better data sets, and a better user interface for people searching for the data.” 

Wednesday, October 16, 2024

Altera uses GPT-4o to build a new area of human collaboration - OpenAI

The early success of Altera’s vision has generated widespread interest, particularly for their first product—a digital human that can play and interact in virtual environments like Minecraft. It’s also laying the foundation for future, and more complex, multi-agent simulations. Altera plans to scale its efforts to create entire societies of digital humans capable of nuanced, long-term interactions, with applications ranging from gaming to productivity and many others. Their collaboration with OpenAI has positioned Altera to lead the charge in creating a world where digital and human lives intersect in thought-provoking ways.

https://openai.com/index/altera/

The Sound of Progress: How AI is Revolutionizing Audio in E-Learning - Zenyai Zenyai, Medium

The integration of AI in e-learning audio is not just a technological advancement; it’s a paradigm shift in how we approach online education. By enhancing audio quality, personalizing content delivery, and improving accessibility, AI is creating more engaging, effective, and inclusive learning experiences. As this technology continues to evolve, we can expect e-learning platforms to become even more sophisticated, adaptive, and learner-centric, ultimately leading to better educational outcomes for students worldwide.The future of e-learning sounds bright, and AI is the conductor orchestrating this symphony of progress in online education.

Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Huge ChatGPT Upgrade - Introducing “Canvas” - Matthew Berman, YouTube

 This podcast is about a new feature released by OpenAI for ChatGPT called Canvas. Canvas allows users to collaborate with ChatGPT in new ways for writing and coding tasks.  The host, Matthew Berman, explains how Canvas allows users to give ChatGPT instructions to edit specific parts of text or code, and to iterate on those edits in real-time. He demonstrates how to use Canvas to write a story, making changes to the length, reading level, and even adding emojis. He also shows how to use Canvas to generate code for a game, change the programming language, add comments, and fix bugs. (summary of description completed with Gen AI assistance)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx7I06w6vVA

OpenAI New AI Operating System LAUNCHED | Is "Canvas" the New God-Tier Coder? - Wes Roth, YouTube

This video is about OpenAI's new AI Operating System called Canvas. Canvas is a new way of working with ChatGPT to write and code. It is similar to Anthropic's Artifacts but in some ways better. ChatGPT will do this in real time, and you can then copy the code and paste it into your notepad, save it as an HTML file, and open it in your browser. The game will now have the new functionality. You can continue to add more and more functionality to the game, and ChatGPT will continue to update the code in real time. This is a very powerful tool that has the potential to revolutionize the way we write and code. (summarizing the podcast provided in part by Gen AI)


Monday, October 14, 2024

AI in higher education: bridging students’ and educators’ views - Business World

“There are mixed reactions from educators with regards to AI in the classroom,” Bruce Dahlgren, CEO of Anthology, said in an exclusive statement shared with BusinessWorld. “We recently conducted a survey of university leaders and students in the Philippines about their perceptions of AI. It revealed that university leaders have certain reservations around allowing AI in higher education, perceiving it as being unethical. Students, on the other hand, were optimistic about the role AI could play in increasing engagement and improving teaching and learning methods.” “Regardless of one’s perception of AI in higher education, the reality is that it’s here to stay. As with every new and powerful technology, there are risks and opportunities. Our goal is to help institutions use AI ethically and responsibly to benefit students and institutional operations,” Mr. Dahlgren said.

71% of Australian uni staff are using AI. What are they using it for? What about those who aren’t? - Stephen Hay, et al; the Conversation

Some studies have focused on students’ use of AI. There has also been research on what it means for teaching and assessment. But there has been no large-scale research on how university staff in Australia are using AI in their work. Our new study surveyed more than 3,000 academic and professional staff at Australian universities about how they are using generative AI. Overall, 71% of respondents said they had used generative AI for their university work. Academic staff were more likely to use AI (75%) than professional staff (69%) or sessional staff (62%). Senior staff were the most likely to use AI (81%).

Sunday, October 13, 2024

Employers Say Students Need AI Skills. What If Students Don’t Want Them? - Ashley Mowreader, Inside Higher Ed

Colleges and universities are considering new ways to incorporate generative AI into teaching and learning, but not every student is on board with the tech yet.“The big picture is that it’s not going to slow down and it’s not going to go away, so we need to work quickly to ensure that the future workforce is prepared,” says Shawn VanDerziel, president and CEO of the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). “That’s what employers want. They want a prepared workforce, and they want to know that higher education is equipped to fill those needs of industry.”

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/student-success/life-after-college/2024/10/03/are-ai-skills-key-part-career-preparation

New funding to scale the benefits of AI - OpenAI

 We are making progress on our mission to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity. Every week, over 250 million people around the world use ChatGPT to enhance their work, creativity, and learning. Across industries, businesses are improving productivity and operations, and developers are leveraging our platform to create a new generation of applications. And we’re only getting started. We’ve raised $6.6B in new funding at a $157B post-money valuation to accelerate progress on our mission. The new funding will allow us to double down on our leadership in frontier AI research, increase compute capacity, and continue building tools that help people solve hard problems.

https://openai.com/index/scale-the-benefits-of-ai/

Saturday, October 12, 2024

OpenAI introduces new tools to fast-track building of AI voice assistants - Reuters

OpenAI unveiled a host of new tools on Tuesday that would make it easier for developers to build applications based on its artificial intelligence technology, as the ChatGPT maker wrestles with tech giants to keep up in the generative AI race. The Microsoft-backed (MSFT.O), opens new tab startup said a new real-time tool, rolling out immediately for testing, would allow developers to create AI voice applications using a single set of instructions. A large chunk of OpenAI's revenue comes from businesses that use its services to build their own AI applications, making the rollout of advanced capabilities a key selling point. Competition has also been heating up as technology giants, including Google-parent Alphabet (GOOGL.O), opens new tab, integrate AI models capable of crunching different forms of information such as video, audio and text across their businesses.

France appoints first AI minister - Jack Aldane, Global Government Forum

Clara Chappaz has been made France’s first AI minister and will assume the role in prime minister Michel Barnier’s new cabinet. The decision to appoint a dedicated AI official came amid political unrest following France’s legislative elections in June and July. Subsequently, leadership positions in the French government have undergone significant change. Chappaz is the former director of the French Tech Mission, France’s public administration set up to support French tech start-up programmes. Responding to the news of her appointment, Chappaz took to LinkedIn to say she was pleased to further her “commitment to public action on these major subjects of digital and artificial intelligence”.

Friday, October 11, 2024

The Future Of Learning: How AI Is Revolutionizing Education - Khushi Bhanushali, Youth Incorporated

We have heard about AI in fashion, Gaming, Chatting, Robotics, Agriculture, and Finance but did you know AI has already entered into education world with a rapidly evolving technological landscape, the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and education is not just a future possibility; it is imminent. Imagine a classroom where each student has a personal tutor—an AI-driven guide that knows their strengths, weaknesses, and learning pace. This tutor adapts lessons in real-time, provides instant feedback, and even offers engaging challenges tailored to individual curiosity, receives personalized, builds stronger connections with teachers for enhanced guidance and receives apt recognition and evaluation of their achievements.  

New AI models are more likely to give a wrong answer than admit they don't know - Anna Desmarais, Yahoo! News

Newer large language models (LLMs) are less likely to admit they don’t know an answer to a user’s question making them less reliable, according to a new study. Artificial intelligence (AI) researchers from the Universitat Politècnica de València in Spain tested the latest versions of BigScience’s BLOOM, Meta’s Llama, and OpenAI's GPT for accuracy by asking each model thousands of questions on maths, science, and geography. Researchers compared the quality of the answers of each model and classified them into correct, incorrect, or avoidant answers.

Thursday, October 10, 2024

ChatGPT-4o Shows ‘Friendly’ Behavior - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Education

 The app initiates personalized conversations and offers responses without a prompt. This signals a shift toward agentic AI, where models act more like colleagues. In any case, this capability is a startling advancement with GPT moving into a “coworker” or “friend” mode. Here’s what happened: Some users of 4o noticed last month that without a prompt, the multimodal app spoke first—or wrote first. It recalled a prior conversation with the person using the log-on and asked a relevant question.  

Bowdoin Secures Major Grant for AI Teaching and Learning Initiative - Tom Porter, Bowdoin

Professor of Physics Dale Syphers recalls the epiphanic moment last year when he realized the extent, and the imminence, of the AI (artificial intelligence) revolution. The moment came around the time of President Safa Zaki’s inauguration last fall, when he got into deep conversation with an old friend, computer scientist Peter Norvig. A renowned expert on AI, Norvig came to campus to take part in a panel discussion on how society might embrace this new technology.

Wednesday, October 09, 2024

EverCo launches 2,000 AI agents for universities

EverCo announces the launch of EverAgent for higher education, transforming how universities and colleges engage with students, staff, and prospective families. Over 2,000 conversational AI chatbots have been auto-created and customized for universities across the U.S., allowing institutions to test the capabilities of EverAgent in real-time. University employees can visit the EverCo website to find their institution's chatbot for testing and discover how EverAgent will shift the paradigm of higher education engagement.

Does AI Have a Place in Higher Education? Academics Say Yes, with a But - Patrick Harbin, Kennesaw State

Now that artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Microsoft’s Copilot allow students to create essays, complex calculations, and discussion posts in seconds, how can colleges and universities guarantee students are learning rather than simply learning to use AI? According to Kai Larsen, a renowned AI researcher and the keynote speaker at Kennesaw State University’s recent “AI in Higher Education” symposium, educators shouldn’t be afraid of AI. Instead, faculty should teach students to use the tools confidently while continuing to measure their ability to perform the same tasks on their own.

Tuesday, October 08, 2024

Students as co-creators in online learning - Dean Fido & Gary F. Fisher, Times Higher Ed

Giving students paid opportunities to co-design online learning content offers multiple benefits for both learners and institutions, including enhancing learning experiences, reducing academic workload for staff and addressing the awarding gap. An initiative at the University of Derby offered paid employment to current students as learning design assistants during which they contributed to the development and enhancement of online course materials. This approach not only offers students academically relevant employment, it also aims to make online learning environments more inclusive and effective for a diverse student population.

Future You is an interactive experience for cultivating self-reflection and long-term thinking - MIT

Inspired by studies showing how increased “future self-continuity”—the degree of continuity an individual feels with their future self—can positively influence saving behavior, academic performance, mental health, and subjective quality of life, our interactive, web-based chat platform seeks to similarly help users develop more long-term thinking and behavior by strengthening their relationship with a relatable yet virtual version of their future selves. The conversation with the future self is generated in real-time via a large language model that has been personalized based on a pre-intervention survey assessing user future goals and personal qualities. Have a chat with your future self!


Monday, October 07, 2024

AI in Education: Student Usage in Online Learning - Nikolas McGehee, Michigan Virtual

The integration of AI in education has the potential to revolutionize the learning experience for students. AI-powered tools and platforms can provide personalized learning experiences tailored to individual students' needs, learning styles, and abilities. Most other current research on the effectiveness of AI in education is focused on adult learners and generally leans towards the positive when concerned with achievement and perceptions (Kumar & Raman, 2022; Zheng et al., 2023).These studies also show that adult students believe AI is best served for usage by students and teachers in assistance of assignment creation or completion, as well as tutoring systems or research assistants as opposed to automated assessment use cases.

https://michiganvirtual.org/research/publications/ai-in-education-student-usage-in-online-learning/

How AI is Transforming the eLearning Industry [A Comprehensive Overview] - DDI

As the world continues to go digital, the eLearning industry is also undergoing significant changes. One of these changes is the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) into eLearning. According to research, the e-learning market is projected to reach $848.12 billion by 2030. At the same time, the AI market in education is expected to exceed USD 30 billion by 2032. Big things are coming. Business owners in the education sector need to be aware of the impact of AI on eLearning to stay ahead of the competition and provide their learners/employees with the best learning experience. In this case, AI software development for eLearning needs may be required. It can be AI in an LMS or AI integrated into another employee management system. In this article, we'll discuss how AI is transforming the eLearning industry, what benefits it can offer businesses, and how to use AI to stay one step ahead.

https://ddi-dev.com/blog/it-news/how-ai-is-transforming-the-elearning-industry-a-comprehensive-overview/

Sunday, October 06, 2024

How AI Impacts Online Learning - Chris Haroun, Forbes

Consider Udemy (disclaimer: I sell some of my courses on this platform). In its November 2023 earnings call, the company’s president and CEO, Greg Brown, noted: “We will continue to invest in innovation that leverages generative AI to provide more personalized skills-development experiences, help enterprise customers achieve business outcomes and supercharge instructors’ ability to create highly effective content.” In my view, Brown was pointing to a key way AI stands to impact education, especially online education: greater personalization. The students of the future, I believe, will have more power to shape their learning how they see fit. And personalized learning is just one key way AI stands to impact education.

https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbesbusinesscouncil/2023/12/12/how-ai-impacts-online-learning/


The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Online Learning - Rebecca Burylo, Faukner University

Artificial intelligence (AI) is growing rapidly, with generative AI forecasted to become a $1.3 trillion market by 2032. Many sectors have been leveraging this technology to innovate processes, including higher education. For colleges and universities, the impact of AI is particularly felt with online learning (eLearning). Faulkner University in Alabama offers numerous online degree programs. Here, we examine the role of AI in online learning to regularly enhance programs and better meet students’ needs. Discover some areas where AI is changing online learning.

Saturday, October 05, 2024

120 IQ AI: Threat or Opportunity? - Peter H. Diamandis, Diamandis.com

Most people you meet are probably average, and a few are extraordinarily smart. Just 2.2 percent have an IQ of 130 or greater. "The classic finding — I would say it is the most replicated finding in psychology — is that people who are good at one type of mental task tend to be good at them all," says Stuart Ritchie, an intelligence researcher at the University of Edinburgh. This is why OpenAI's model o1 achieving an IQ score of 120 is so significant. It's not just outperforming the average human—it's surpassing 91% of the population in a test designed to measure general intelligence.






Generative AI adoption surpasses early PC and internet usage, study finds - Michael Nuñez, Venture Beat

The rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has been a hot topic in tech circles. But new research from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Vanderbilt University, and Harvard Kennedy School reveals the true extent of generative AI’s infiltration into everyday work life—and the results are eye-opening. According to the paper, The Rapid Adoption of Generative AI, the technology has taken hold faster than previous transformative technologies like the personal computer (PC) or the internet. Here are five surprising takeaways from the study, which surveyed thousands of U.S. workers to gauge the adoption of generative AI at work and at home.

Friday, October 04, 2024

Quantum sensing’s untapped potential: Insights for leaders - Henning Soller and Niko Mohr, McKinsey Digital

Quantum sensing, which allows sensors to collect data at the atomic level, is a tested technology. It has broad applications in commercial products (such as medical devices), in services (such as navigation), and as an enabler of internal processes (such as quality control)—and the technology is already usable. It enables many types of measurements that are currently too difficult to achieve, not precise enough, or simply unfeasible otherwise. Depending on the underlying technology, the size, weight, and power of the sensors enable a variety of use cases in different industries, making further deployment of quantum-computing sensors outside the lab possible.

OpenAI CEO: “SuperIntelligence within 1000’s of Days” - Matthew Berman, YouTube

Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, has posted about the potential impact of artificial superintelligence (ASI) on society. Altman argues that AI is on the verge of a major breakthrough, and that we could see superintelligence within a few thousand days. He believes that AI will transform everything we know, and that it will ultimately lead to a new era of prosperity for humanity. Altman outlines a number of ways that AI will improve our lives. For example, he believes that AI will soon be able to serve as personal assistants who can carry out specific tasks on our behalf, such as coordinating our medical care or summarizing our emails.  Altman acknowledges that there are also some risks associated with AI, such as job displacement. (assistance with summary of the podcast was provided by GenAI)

Thursday, October 03, 2024

AI + Blue Collar Work: Will Automation Take Over Skilled Trades? - Julia McCoy, YouTube

The video discusses the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics on blue-collar jobs, also known as skilled trades and service-based work. Examples are given of how AI and robotics are already being used in blue-collar industries. For instance, robots are laying bricks, tractors are plowing fields autonomously, and there is an entirely automated restaurant called Cali Express in Pasadena California. The video concludes that humans will likely be in the loop in blue-collar work for quite some time. Even if robots are implemented, humans will still be needed for complex tasks, customer rapport, and overseeing the robots. (summary assisted by GenAI)

Announcing the OpenAI Academy

New initiative will fuel innovation by investing in developers and organizations leveraging AI, starting in low- and middle-income countries. OpenAI is launching the OpenAI Academy, which will invest in developers and organizations leveraging AI to help solve hard problems and catalyze economic growth in their communities. The Academy will ensure that the transformative potential of artificial intelligence is accessible and beneficial to diverse communities worldwide, starting in low- and middle-income countries. Developers and mission-driven organizations tackle critical challenges in their communities, driving economic opportunity. Having access to cutting-edge technology like AI can help enhance efforts to drive sustainable development.

https://openai.com/global-affairs/openai-academy/

Wednesday, October 02, 2024

AI Pioneer Shows The Power of AI AGENTS - "The Future Is Agentic" - Matthew Berman, Youtube

The video introduces the concept of compound AI systems. AI agents are a type of compound AI system that uses a large language model (LLM) as the central component. Andrew Ng explains Agentic AI.  He explains the string of reasoning that can be accomplished by agents.  AI agents are able to reason through problems and come up with plans to solve them. They can also access memory and learn from past interactions. This makes them much more useful, adaptable and human thought-like than traditional AI models.  (GenAI assisted with the summary of the video)

The Rise of GPT-5: What to Expect from AI in 2024 - Sumedha Sen, Analytics Insight

The advancements in artificial intelligence continue to reshape various industries and aspects of daily life, transforming everything from customer service to complex problem-solving. One of the most highly anticipated developments in AI is the release of GPT-5, the next iteration in OpenAI's Generative Pre-trained Transformer series.  As the world prepares for this major milestone in 2024, many are eager to explore what new features and enhancements GPT-5 will bring. In this article, we’ll delve into the evolution of GPT models and what we can expect from GPT-5 and the broader AI landscape.


Tuesday, October 01, 2024

The Future of AI in Higher Education - EDUCAUSE

The higher education community is still looking for common ground on how AI should and should not be used for learning and work. Respondents were asked to describe both appropriate and inappropriate uses of AI in higher education. In general, respondents emphasized the ethical and transparent use of AI, no matter the specific application. One respondent summarized, "AI should be embraced as an emerging technology and should have a place in coursework with focus on implementation, adoption, research, utilization, and ethical and legal considerations."

Artificial intelligence and the Futures of Learning - UNESCO

The Artificial Intelligence and the Futures of Learning project builds on the Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence adopted at the 41st session of the UNESCO General Conference in 2019 and follows up on the recommendations of the UNESCO global report Reimagining our futures together: a new social contract for education, launched in November 2021. It is implemented within the framework of the Beijing Consensus on Artificial Intelligence and Education and against the backdrop of the UNESCO Strategy on technological innovation in education (2021-2025). The project will address both the human and technological dimensions related to AI and the futures of learning. 

Monday, September 30, 2024

Humanoids Set to Add $24 Trillion to Economy: Will This Bring UBI? - Julia McCoy, YouTube

Julia McCoy cites Ark Invest claims that humanoid robots will generate $24 trillion to the economy. The report says that if humanoid robots are able to operate at scale, they will create new jobs in both household and manufacturing sectors. The video discusses the potential impact of these robots on the workforce and the economy. Julia McCoy believes this will lead to a post-labor economy. She argues that robots will take over most of the jobs and humans will receive universal basic income (UBI) from the profits generated by these robots. The video also mentions that there are challenges to overcome before we get to this utopian future. One challenge is developing generalized robots that can automate multiple tasks. Another challenge is figuring out how to transition to a post-labor economy without causing an economic collapse. (this summary assisted by Gen AI)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6ncIlHToaM

Artificial Intelligence for Beginners - A Curriculum

Explore the world of Artificial Intelligence (AI) with our 12-week, 24-lesson curriculum! It includes practical lessons, quizzes, and labs. The curriculum is beginner-friendly and covers tools like TensorFlow and PyTorch, as well as ethics in AI.

Sunday, September 29, 2024

Addressing evolving challenges to research security in the age of AI - Times Higher Education

As technology continues to shape research practices, safeguarding research has become increasingly complex. Universities face many emerging challenges, including data security, regulatory changes and concerns around the use of AI. However, technological solutions are also evolving, empowering institutions to address these issues proactively. Times Higher Education hosted a webinar on the topic – in partnership with Digital Science – to explore how institutions can confront the growing challenges in research security in an AI-driven era. 

A data leader’s operating guide to scaling gen AI - McKinsey Digital

After almost two years of infatuation with generative AI (gen AI), companies are moving past the honeymoon phase1 to embrace the work that matters most: creating value from this tantalizing technology. Expectations are high. A recent McKinsey Global Survey found that 65 percent of companies across sizes, geographies, and industries now use gen AI regularly, twice as many as last year.2 Investment in gen AI continues to rise amid the belief that early gains seen by high performers are a harbinger of cost decreases and profits to come. But most companies have not yet seen significant impact from gen AI. To keep up with the competitive pace of innovation, data executives at most organizations have drafted gen AI strategies. 

Saturday, September 28, 2024

OpenAI Hires Former Coursera Executive to Expand AI Use in Schools - Shirin Ghaffary, Bloomberg

OpenAI has hired former Coursera Inc. executive Leah Belsky to be its first general manager of education, leading the artificial intelligence startup’s efforts to bring its products to more schools and classrooms. Belsky, previously the chief revenue officer at the online learning platform, will be tasked with boosting OpenAI’s engagement with instructors and students across K-12, higher education and continuing education, the company said Wednesday. Belsky will also work internally with the startup’s product, policy, marketing and other teams on partnerships and sharing feedback from the academic world.

Even as ChatGPT becomes ubiquitous, A.I. pioneers warn of existential risks - Karen D'Souza, EdSource

Influential A.I. scientists are raising concerns that the technology they helped build could cause serious harm. They warned that A.I. technology could, within a matter of years, overtake the capabilities of its makers and that “loss of human control or malicious use of these A.I. systems could lead to catastrophic outcomes for all of humanity.” If A.I. systems anywhere in the world were to develop these abilities today, there is no plan for how to rein them in, said Gillian Hadfield, a legal scholar and professor of computer science and government at Johns Hopkins University.

Friday, September 27, 2024

Everything You Need to Know about AI Agents - Peter H. Diamandis interviews Emad Mostaque

The video talks about AI agents and the concept of AI Atlantis. AI Atlantis is a metaphor for the vast number of AI agents that are being created. These AI agents are like interns or grads who are still under development. They can be trained to do specific tasks such as translation, painting or SEO. The cost of training these AI agents has dropped significantly. The speaker believes that these AI agents will eventually have physical bodies and will become even more intelligent and capable. The video also discusses how AI agents are being integrated with other technologies and how they are learning from how people use them.  (Summary assisted by Gen AI)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g43qswbxfrM

A Near-Future Vision of AI in Higher Ed - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed

The state of the art of generative artificial intelligence is changing at lightning speed. Advances come by the hour, not just by the day. How might this play out in higher ed? To effectively envision the near future of generative AI in higher ed, we need to at least briefly consider the context of the broader economy, the general fiscal condition of higher education, the state of development/deployment of new and emerging AI technologies, and the emerging demand for graduates, upskilled and reskilled workers with certificates from colleges and universities.


Thursday, September 26, 2024

ChatGPT o1 is the new 'strawberry' model from OpenAI — 5 prompts to try it out Hands-on - Ryan Morrison, Tom's Guide

Currently, the new model is offered in two versions: o1-preview and o1-mini. Somewhat confusingly, it seems that o1-mini is the more powerful model, but with a smaller knowledge base. Reports indicate that o1-preview was trained on an earlier architecture than mini, and the full o1 is deemed too powerful to release without additional security protections and guardrails. This new model will be especially beneficial to researchers and students, as it has demonstrated PhD-level capability in math, mathematics, and other science, technology, and engineering subjects. I've devised a number of prompts to truly test its limits, but with only 30 messages per week, I've had to find ways to maximize each one. That said, OpenAI reset the rate limit to give Plus and Teams users more time to play with the model. It isn't available for free users of ChatGPT.

Survey: When Should College Students Use AI? They’re Not Sure - Ashley Mowreader, Inside Higher Ed

A May 2024 Student Voice survey from Inside Higher Ed and Generation Lab found that, when asked if they know when or how to use generative AI to help with coursework, a large number of undergraduates don’t know or are unsure (31 percent). Among students who did know when to use AI appropriately, that direction came from faculty (31 percent). The sample includes over 3,500 four-year students and 1,400 two-year students. More than one-third of respondents were post-traditional (attending a two-year institution or 25 or older in age), 16 percent are exclusively online learners and 40 percent are first-generation students. Experts say providing clear and transparent communication about when AI can or should be used in the classroom is critical and requires faculty buy-in and understanding of related tools.

Wednesday, September 25, 2024

The Intelligence Age - Sam Altman

It won’t happen all at once, but we’ll soon be able to work with AI that helps us accomplish much more than we ever could without AI; eventually we can each have a personal AI team, full of virtual experts in different areas, working together to create almost anything we can imagine. Our children will have virtual tutors who can provide personalized instruction in any subject, in any language, and at whatever pace they need. We can imagine similar ideas for better healthcare, the ability to create any kind of software someone can imagine, and much more. With these new abilities, we can have shared prosperity to a degree that seems unimaginable today; in the future, everyone’s lives can be better than anyone’s life is now. Prosperity alone doesn’t necessarily make people happy – there are plenty of miserable rich people – but it would meaningfully improve the lives of people around the world.

Forget GPT-5! OpenAI launches new AI model family o1 claiming PhD-level performance - Carl Franzen, Venture Beat

Following months of reports and rumors that intensified in recent days, OpenAI announced its “o1” AI model family beginning with two models: o1-preview and o1-mini, which the company says are designed to “reason through complex tasks and solve harder problems” than the GPT series models. Both models are available today for ChatGPT Plus users but are initially limited to 30 messages per week for o1-preview and 50 for o1-mini. However, OpenAI also cautions that “As an early model, it doesn’t yet have many of the features that make ChatGPT useful, like browsing the web for information and uploading files and images. For many common cases GPT-4o will be more capable in the near term.”

Tuesday, September 24, 2024

New certificate program helps students unlock and understand artificial intelligence - Jen Schneider, Boise State News

A new campus-wide certificate program, Artificial Intelligence for All, managed by the College of Innovation and Design, will equip students with the skills they need to navigate evolving AI technologies, to use them correctly and contend with the ethical dilemmas that arise through this powerful tool. The program, which launched this fall with an AI literacy course developed by librarians at Albertsons Library, is available in person and online. The program is part of a larger initiative to make Boise State a leader in the use of AI in higher education. 

Three Artificial Intelligence Bills Endorsed by Federation of American Scientists Advance from the House Committee - Federation of American Scientists

Three proposed artificial intelligence bills endorsed by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), a nonpartisan science think tank, advance forward from a House Science, Space, and Technology Committee markup held on September 11th, 2024. These bills received bipartisan support and will now be reported to the full chamber. The three bills are: H.R. 9403, the Expanding AI Voices Act, co-sponsored by Rep. Vince Fong (CA-20) and Rep. Andrea Salinas (OR-06); H.R. 9197, the Small Business AI Act, co-sponsored by Rep. Mike Collins (GA-10) and Rep. Haley Stevens (MI-11), and H.R. 9403, the Expand AI Act, co-sponsored by Rep. Valerie Foushee (NC-04) and Rep. Frank Lucas (OK-03).

Monday, September 23, 2024

How to prompt on OpenAI’s new o1 models - Emilia David, Venture Beat

OpenAI’s latest model family, o1, promises to be more powerful and better at reasoning than previous models. Using GPT-o1 will be slightly different than prompting GPT-4 or even GPT-4o. Since this model has more reasoning capabilities, some regular prompt engineering methods won’t work as well. Earlier models needed more guidance, and people took advantage of longer context windows to provide the models with more instructions. According to OpenAI’s API documentation, the o1 models “perform best with straightforward prompts.” However, techniques like instructing the model and shot prompting “may not enhance performance and can sometimes hinder it.” 

2025 AI : 10 Things Coming In 2025 (A.I In 2025 Major Predictions) - the AIGrid

The two most important points are that agents and voice assistants will see significant improvements. Agents are AI systems that can be instructed to do a variety of tasks. In the future, agents will be able to complete more complex tasks, and they will be able to take over user devices to perform actions like transferring data or filling out spreadsheets. Google and OpenAI are both working on agent technology. Voice assistants are also going to get a major upgrade. New voice assistants will be much more capable than current ones. They will be able to understand complex requests and respond with more emotion and nuance. (GenAI assisted with this summary)


Sunday, September 22, 2024

The case for promoting the geographic and social diffusion of AI development - Mark Muro and Julian Jacobs, Brookings

Last fall, we argued that the AI sector—especially large language model (LLM) activity—is being driven by concentrated research, modeling, and design work occurring in just a handful of “superstar” tech centers along the coasts: the Bay Area, Seattle, New York, and Boston. In that piece, we suggested that such concentration is a negative force in shaping AI development and, more broadly, U.S. economic growth.

These 5 AI tools are the most popular among students - Micah Ward, University Business

Roughly 86% of college students say they use AI in their studies, a new global survey of college students by the Digital Education Council suggests. Among them, 54% say they use it weekly. Another 24% rely on it daily. To no surprise, ChatGPT emerged as the most popular tool used by students, followed by Grammarly, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini and Perplexity. The average student uses two AI tools for homework help.

Saturday, September 21, 2024

Georgia Professors Enlist AI for Assistance, Personalization - Vanessa McCray, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Professors are harnessing generative artificial intelligence as a patient simulator at Emory, as a teaching assistant at Morehouse and for chatbots at Georgia State. But they don't expect it will replace them any time soon. The fit, 41-year-old white male lay in a hospital bed and complained about a headache. Hal introduced himself to the Emory University nursing class gathered around his bedside. He shook a student’s hand and provided his medical history. No allergies, no surgeries. He has high blood pressure but isn’t taking any medication. The students had not expected the demonstration to feel so real. Because here’s the thing about Hal: He’s a robot. (Its official name is HAL S5301.) A $135,000 patient simulator with silicone skin, uncanny eye movements and artificial intelligence.

AI as tutor and critic: using tech to personalise education - Michael Butler, Times Higher Education

Much of the focus in higher education on generative AI has been the existential threat it raises with respect to assessment. However, large language models (LLMs) also have constructive applications. At the law school at King’s College London, we wanted to focus on the learning potential, specifically using AI “as tutor” and for feedback. We used as our starting point a 2023 paper by Ethan R. Mollick and Lilach Mollick of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania that sets out seven approaches for using LLM tools for learning. The experience highlighted benefits (such as time management) and limitations (hallucinations) of artificial intelligence in education, and it left us with a list of suggestions for instructors using AI to personalise learning.

Friday, September 20, 2024

AI in Education Is Here - Avrel Seale, UT Austin

Julie Schell, Assistant Vice Provost of Academic Technology, thinks of AI as having two kinds of use: transactional and transformative, and whether its use is good or bad in either case depends on the situation. “There are times it’s okay to use it as a transactional tool: ‘I need a list of ideas for planning dinner for the week,’ or ‘I need a list of ideas for a meeting coming up,’ or ‘Help me brainstorm research ideas.’ Those are low-stakes transactions, and we need to help students understand when transactional use is OK.” But in this transactional category, she once experimented with using AI to write letters of recommendation, something that can be a time-consuming task for those in academia. “When I read what it said, it wasn’t fair. It wasn’t me. It didn’t have the flavor of how I really thought about the student, and I didn’t think it was fair to my student for me to use that output,” she says.

AI detectors are easily fooled, researchers find - Colin Wood, EdScoop

According to a team of computer scientists, it doesn't take a team of computer scientists to fool many of the most popular AI-detection tools. New research from the University of Pennsylvania shows that many AI detectors are easily fooled with simple tricks and that many open-source models for detecting AI content use “dangerously high” default false positive rates. One of the study’s authors, Chris Callison-Burch, told EdScoop that one upshot of his research is that professors should think twice before accusing students of unethical behavior.

Thursday, September 19, 2024

Academic Integrity in the Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) Context - University of Bath

The University has adopted a new ABC categorisation of assessment types, adapted from guidance produced by UCL, to indicate to students whether and when they are permitted to use GenAI. To support our students, the Skills Centre has produced a GenAI Assessment Guidance video explaining where, when and how generative AI tools can be used on assessments. This forms part of the Centre’s Academic Integrity in the Context of Generative Artificial Intelligence which aims to support students to:

  • Understand the university's Academic Integrity Statement and its implications.
  • Identify the different categories of assessments in relation to GenAI usage and apply them to your work.
  • Reference and acknowledge the use of GenAI correctly in your academic work.

Benefits of AI outweigh the risks in education, report finds - Julie Hare, Australia Financial Report

“Educators need to have visibility into what the road map and process looks like for their role, now and into the future, with assistive AI in classrooms, along with the additions in skill sets they will need to support the industry.” She noted that, while there were six recommendations in the report around “support and training” for educators, they did not articulate the change management process or how teachers’ roles might be affected. The report notes there are several overseas examples to help Australia gain an understanding of how to navigate the benefits and risks. In 2019, Singapore became the first country in South-East Asia to develop a national AI strategy, including the use of AI in education as a national priority.

Wednesday, September 18, 2024

New AI Seed Grants Support Trustworthy Tech - Tom Ventsias, Maryland Today

New Projects Target Health Care, Autonomous Cars, Educational Disparities, More. The University of Maryland-led Institute for Trustworthy AI in Law & Society (TRAILS) on Tuesday announced a second round of seed funding, jumpstarting a series of interdisciplinary projects to advance artificial intelligence (AI) systems that benefit all of society. The five grants totaling $685,000 will support efforts to improve AI-generated health information, enhance safety and trust in autonomous vehicles, address education disparities driven by race and location, examine AI-generated social media used during a pandemic or natural disaster, and build new frameworks for using chatbots and their underlying technology, known as large language models (LLMs), in academia.

Teaching Repository for AI-Infused Learning - University of Central Florida

Our mission is to curate a collection of openly licensed, peer-reviewed strategies that utilize generative AI tools to support learning in higher education. The intention is that any faculty member, specialist, librarian, or other professional may contribute strategies that feature AI-infused learning, as well as adopt or adapt strategies contributed by others for use in their own unique educational contexts. Don’t miss this opportunity to be a TRAIILblazer at the forefront of teaching with AI! Want to share your own AI-infused strategy with the world? Please visit the Submission Guidelines page in the Author Corner to get started. Also consider joining the TRAIIL mailing list to be kept in the loop about the annual call for submissions and the latest published entries.

Tuesday, September 17, 2024

Success Program Launch: AI-Supported Clinical Training - Ashley Mowreader, Inside Higher Ed

Touro University in New York utilizes digital learning tools to provide simulation experiences for social work students taking classes online, helping build their soft skills for working with people. The practicum is a critical piece of experiential learning for students entering health-care fields as they learn to navigate interacting with patients and providing professional care. At Touro University in New York, online learners in the master of social work program can practice before working with real patients thanks to a new generative artificial intelligence pilot. The AI program is embedded in students’ courses, allowing them personalized and immediate feedback on their performance without the pressure of impacting patient care. The software also provides instructors with data on class performance and skills.

4 Breathtaking Tech Breakthroughs on My Mind - Peter H. Diamandis, blog

Simulating Civilizations Using AI: Project Sid is Mind-boggling!
What It Is: Project Sid is an “Agent Civilization” running 1,000+ autonomous AI agents in parallel on a Minecraft server. The thousand Minecraft characters (each one an AI agent) form complex societies demonstrating emergent and unique economies, cultures, religions and governments. These truly autonomous agents operate independently for days, collaborating on impossible individual tasks like establishing an agreed upon common currency, merchant hubs, and democracies. Programmed with pro-human motivations, these AI agents express thoughts and feelings, even organizing and conducting a search for a missing villager. 

Monday, September 16, 2024

Enlighten Me: How the University of Delaware is using AI to build study tools, support students - Kyle McKinnon, Delaware Public Media

AI has impacted many aspects of life in recent years, but maybe no more so than how we teach and learn. At the University of Delaware, the Academic Technology Services team is using AI this fall to give teachers and students more learning tools. In this edition of Enlighten Me, Delaware Public Media’s Kyle McKinnon sat down with Erin Sicuranza and Jevonia Harris of UD’s Academic Technology Services team to learn more about how the university is using AI.

An Ethics Expert’s Perspective on AI and Higher Ed - Johnni Medina, Pace University

In education, I think we're going to see a growing level of inequality in outcomes. Some students are going to graduate with educations that are pristine, that are at levels that could not have been even reached 20 years ago, because they will have been able to use AI to research so deeply into a subject they enjoy. But I’m afraid, we are also going to see some graduates who have been able to fake it, in essence, the whole four years.

Sunday, September 15, 2024

Stony Brook University Launches AI Innovation Institute - Stony Brook News

“As a university-wide enterprise, the AI Innovation Institute (AI3) is intended to accelerate, coordinate and organize AI innovation and education across Stony Brook,” Provost Lejuez said. “The institute will serve to empower the entire university community and beyond, catalyzing core AI research, curriculum innovation, and societal change in the ever-evolving landscape of knowledge work.” A national search will be launched to identify the inaugural director. The search will be co-chaired by Steve Skiena, distinguished professor in the Department of Computer Science and director of the Institute for AI-driven Discovery and Innovation, and Robert Harrison, professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics and director of the Institute for Advanced Computational Science (IACS).

Yale's $150 million, five-year AI investment is about 'shaping the future' - Brian Zahn, New Haven Register

Yale University's announcement last week that it would invest $150 million in the development of artificial intelligence programs over five years was met with praise from higher education officials within and outside of the Yale community. In an Aug. 28 letter to the Yale community, Yale Provost Scott Strobel said the investment follows a report from the Yale Task Force on Artificial Intelligence and will be allocated to fulfill four main goals: building 450 graphics processing units on a staggered basis to allow researchers to process large data sets and conduct advanced simulations; launching a proprietary generative AI platform called Clarity; recruiting "more than twenty" faculty members with an academic focus on AI technology and piloting curriculum review grants; and promoting collaboration and innovation between departments.

https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/yale-150-million-5-year-ai-investment-shaping-19747105.php

Saturday, September 14, 2024

KU English professors awarded NEH grant for 2025 AI, digital literacy institute - Kathryn Conrad, University of Kansas

Two University of Kansas researchers have been awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities grant to teach critical artificial intelligence literacy to secondary and higher education humanities instructors. Kathryn Conrad and Sean Kamperman received an NEH Institutes for Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities grant for $218,732 to fund their project, AI & Digital Literacy: Toward an Inclusive and Empowering Teaching Practice, an in-person institute administered in partnership with the National Humanities Center, in June 2025. KU is one of only four institutions to receive this highly competitive grant in 2024.