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)
Thursday, October 31, 2024
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%.
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.
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.
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.
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)
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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