Tulane University is mapping out a visionary path for integrating AI into its academic and research endeavors, including providing comprehensive training and support for faculty, encouraging the use of new artificial intelligence tools in teaching, and addressing ethical concerns related to the use of AI. The AI in Classroom Committee and the University Committee on Generative AI (GenAI) in Research were convened last fall by Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs Robin Forman in response to President Michael A. Fitts’ call to examine how AI can and should best be applied to advance the mission of the university.
Saturday, August 31, 2024
Why AI Makes Educators More Important Than Ever - Cornelia C. Walther, Forbes
As AI becomes an integral part of our daily lives, the real question isn’t how it works but how we can use it to enhance both ourselves and the world around us. Whether you're a teacher, a manager, or a parent, everyone of us has the power to be an educator, a coach, or a mentor in this new era where AI is playing a transformative role. The challenge lies in curating a mindset that moves away from seeing AI and humans as competing forces and instead embraces a hybrid approach that leverages the strengths of both. From an ‘either-or’ logic we are tasked to reframe our mindset to ‘And’.
Friday, August 30, 2024
Silicon Whistleblowers: When Autonomous Robots Become Our Moral Compass - Thomas Frey, Futurist Speaker
The robot whistleblower is a concept that could revolutionize the way we expose and combat corruption. These autonomous humanoid robots would serve as impartial information intermediaries, bridging the gap between hidden truths and public knowledge without the vulnerabilities inherent to human whistleblowers. The advantages of using AI for whistleblowing are manifold. First and foremost, these robotic entities would be immune to the human fears and pressures that often deter potential whistleblowers. They wouldn’t worry about legal repercussions, exile, or damage to personal relationships. This fearlessness could lead to more frequent and bold exposures of wrongdoing, as the robot would not hesitate to reveal information regardless of its sensitivity or the power of those implicated.
It's the End of the World as We Know It: Do We Feel Fine? - Diane Stopyra, University of Delaware
The AI genie is out of the bottle. In 2024, artificial intelligence has infiltrated every sector of our lives, from healthcare to politics to dog walking (yes, you really can enlist a robot for that). But for all its ubiquity, AI remains a question mark in the collective consciousness. Are we optimistic… or afraid? Thinking about this new era feels like watching a Blue Hen playoff game: You’re excited but also on the edge of your seat with nervous energy.
Thursday, August 29, 2024
University of Alabama Program Pushes AI Use on Professors - Williesha Morris, al.com
The University of Alabama is embracing AI in the classroom with the Artificial Intelligence Teaching Enhancement Initiative, which guides faculty on incorporating the technology in the classroom. From conversing with Mayan people to creating a virtual travel guide to debating the effectiveness of capital punishment, educators are using artificial intelligence n numerous ways to spice up classroom activities and assignments. The University of Alabama is embracing the usage of AI in the classroom with the Artificial Intelligence Teaching Enhancement Initiative, which guides faculty on incorporating the technology in the classroom.
OpenAI ORION (GPT-5) Arrives with Strawberry AI This Fall: AGI Soon! - AI Revolution
OpenAI's upcoming AI model, codenamed 'Strawberry,' promises groundbreaking advancements in solving complex problems and generating synthetic data, potentially advancing towards AGI. This model, surpassing previous benchmarks, showcases significant improvements in reasoning and planning, with implications for fields ranging from business strategy to national security. Despite internal challenges and debates on AI safety, Strawberry's development highlights a major leap in AI capabilities, putting OpenAI at the forefront of cutting-edge technology.
Wednesday, August 28, 2024
Special Report: Reducing Points of Friction With AI - Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed
Inside Higher Ed’s new deep dive report, published with support from Amazon Web Services, reviews the wide variety of ways in which institutions are using AI, including that meaningful middle territory in which institutions are using both generative and nongenerative AI to optimize enrollment and other often-opaque processes for students to boost access and equity. It also considers how institutions such as the University of Michigan and Arizona State University are approaching AI from an enterprise perspective.
These Living Computers Are Made from Human Neurons - Jordan Kinard, Scientific American
Artificial intelligence systems, even those as sophisticated as ChatGPT, depend on the same silicon-based hardware that has been the bedrock of computing since the 1950s. But what if computers could be molded from living biological matter? Some researchers in academia and the commercial sector, wary of AI’s ballooning demands for data storage and energy, are focusing on a growing field known as biocomputing. This approach uses synthetic biology, such as miniature clusters of lab-grown cells called organoids, to create computer architecture. Biocomputing pioneers include Swiss company FinalSpark, which earlier this year debuted its “Neuroplatform”—a computer platform powered by human-brain organoids—that scientists can rent over the Internet for $500 a month.
Tuesday, August 27, 2024
California weakens bill to prevent AI disasters before final vote, taking advice from Anthropic - Maxwell Zeff, TechCrunch
“We accepted a number of very reasonable amendments proposed, and I believe we’ve addressed the core concerns expressed by Anthropic and many others in the industry,” said Senator Wiener in a statement to TechCrunch. “These amendments build on significant changes to SB 1047 I made previously to accommodate the unique needs of the open source community, which is an important source of innovation.” SB 1047 still aims to prevent large AI systems from killing lots of people, or causing cybersecurity events that cost over $500 million, by holding developers liable. However, the bill now grants California’s government less power to hold AI labs to account.
Internships in Generative AI: Best Ones to Explore in August 2024 - Analytics Insight
With AI, Generative AI has emerged as a major transformation in the tech world in recent years. While driving innovation across various sectors including content creation, software development, healthcare, and finance, generative AI has given hope to organizations to adapt its updated mechanisms without any second thought. As companies continue to explore their potential, the demand for skilled professionals is increasing day by day. For students who want to pursue a career in this field, and for beginners who are yet to get hands on experience, internships in Gen AI offer opportunities to gain practical experience. Through these internships, they can strengthen their understanding, and possibly secure a job in this dynamic field. This article discusses some of the top AI Generative internships that will be available in August 2024, outlining their benefits, how to apply, and what makes them unique.
Monday, August 26, 2024
How A.I. Can Help Start Small Businesses - Sydney Ember, NY Times
A professor at Carnegie Mellon University, Sean Ammirati has groups of mostly graduate students start businesses from scratch over the course of the spring semester. Some of the start-ups that his 49 students created this year were classic examples of the form: a dating app for couples in long-distance relationships, a personalized fitness app. But Mr. Ammirati also noticed something unusual. “I have a pretty good sense how fast the progress that students should make in a semester should be,” he said. “In 14 years, I’ve never seen students make the kind of progress that they made this year.” And he knew exactly why that was the case. For the first time, Mr. Ammirati had encouraged his students to use generative artificial intelligence as part of their process — “think of generative A.I as your co-founder,” he recalled telling them.
UC Berkeley to Offer Law Degree With AI Focus - Chase DiFeliciantonio, San Francisco Chronicle
UC Berkeley School of Law has become, possibly, the first law school to offer a degree focused on artificial intelligence literacy for lawyers, as the emerging technology begins to alter the legal profession and the practice of law. "We've always had a strong focus on law and technology, and if you think about what is top of mind for regulators and policy makers, it's AI," said Adam Sterling, the law school's assistant dean. He said the need for a degree focused in the area has increased, as more companies use AI and the technology becomes something attorneys must be familiar with. Roughly half of law schools already offer classes focusing on AI, with an even higher percentage offering clinics and other education about using AI tools, according to a recent American Bar Association survey. Berkeley's two-semester course is different in that it offers a standalone degree for attorneys.
Sunday, August 25, 2024
The AI Scientist | Fully Automated Open-Ended Scientific Discovery - Wes Roth, YouTube
This news story, originally posted on August 22nd in this blog, is one that has such important ramifications that I encourage all to watch/listen to Wes Roth's podcast. This is about Sakana AI’s ‘AI Scientist’ that conducts research autonomously, challenging scientific norms. As reported in Venture Beat, "Sakana AI, in collaboration with scientists from the University of Oxford and the University of British Columbia, has developed an artificial intelligence system that can conduct end-to-end scientific research autonomously. This breakthrough, named “The AI Scientist,” promises to completely transform the process of scientific discovery. The AI Scientist automates the entire research lifecycle, from generating novel ideas to writing full scientific manuscripts."
What Is Gemini Live and How Do You Use It? - Julian Chokkattu, Wired
This is Google's response to OpenAI's GPT-4o, a way to talk to the assistant naturally, much like a normal voice conversation between two humans (or at least that's the goal). It's rolling out in English to Gemini Advanced subscribers ($20 per month), and you can access it by tapping on the little Live button at the bottom right of the Gemini app. It will come to the iOS app and more languages in the coming weeks. Sissie Hsiao, Google’s vice president of Gemini experiences, tells WIRED this chatbot isn’t just a reheated Google Assistant. Instead, it’s an interface that’s been completely rebuilt using generative AI. “Over the years of building Assistant, there are two things users have asked us for repeatedly,” Hsiao says. “Number one is they've asked for a more fluid and natural assistant—they want to be able to talk to it naturally without having to change the way they speak. The second is more capable; to help them solve their life problems, not just simple tasks.”
How are you feeling today?
I will begin writing that column today - again, though, no hurry on your insight(s) - I will just be getting started.
Saturday, August 24, 2024
Midjourney has competition — I got access to Google Imagen 3 and it is impressive - Ryan Morrison, Tom's Guide
Google DeepMind promises higher-quality images across a range of styles including photorealism, oil paintings and graphic art. It can also understand natural language prompts and complex camera angles. I fed all this into Claude and had it come up with a bullet list of promised features. I then refined each bullet into a prompt to cover as many areas as possible. The one I’m most excited for is its ability to accurately render text on an image — something few do very well.
Screen time can be safer for your kids with these devices - Jennifer Jolly, USA Today
AI also mirrors society, but it’s a tool we can actually use for good. It can identify virtually anything, including the safety of any given webpage or search term, acting as a sort of protective bubble for kids as they traverse the internet. “We’re not in the business of taking the internet away from kids; as any parent can attest, kids want what they can’t have,” Tim Estes, CEO of Angel AI, writes via email. “The online world also can be an incredibly valuable resource for kids, who risk missing out on key learning opportunities, as well as the chance to build healthy online habits, if they don’t explore the internet earlier on in life.”
Friday, August 23, 2024
6 hard truths of generative AI in the enterprise - Esther Schein, CIO
A May global McKinsey survey puts generative AI usage at 65% of organizations, nearly double the firm’s previous survey 10 months ago. And with that rise, use case are proliferating. As with past technology adoption patterns, most are starting to use genAI in areas that provide tactical benefits, such as improving their existing processes and reducing costs, says Jim Rowan, a principal at Deloitte Consulting. This approach helps derive value from “low-hanging fruit” while building knowledge, experience, and confidence with a new technology, Rowan says.
Can the Mobile Wave Help Us Navigate the AI Wave? - Scott A. Snyder and Julie Ask, Knowledge at Wharton
The AI Wave is growing fast. Billions of people globally are using foundation models like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Llama, along with a sprawling number of vertical generative AI (gen AI) applications. Many enterprises have leaned into this new wave, with over 70% using gen AI in their enterprises; however, just 15% are achieving real business impact at scale. Sound familiar? What can enterprises learn from the Mobile Wave that might help them avoid the same challenges in achieving real transformation in the AI Wave? Let’s start by looking at the similarities and differences between the two waves.
Thursday, August 22, 2024
Sakana AI’s ‘AI Scientist’ conducts research autonomously, challenging scientific norms - Venture Beat
Sakana AI, in collaboration with scientists from the University of Oxford and the University of British Columbia, has developed an artificial intelligence system that can conduct end-to-end scientific research autonomously. This breakthrough, named “The AI Scientist,” promises to completely transform the process of scientific discovery. The AI Scientist automates the entire research lifecycle, from generating novel ideas to writing full scientific manuscripts. “We propose and run a fully AI-driven system for automated scientific discovery, applied to machine learning research,” the team reports in their newly released paper.
The key to accelerating AI development? Pragmatism plus imagination - McKinsey Podcast
Leaders are treating generative AI as less of a curiosity and more an integral part of business. McKinsey research sheds light on who is using AI, how they’re using it, and the challenges that remain. We’re here to discuss the latest McKinsey report on the state of AI, a technology evolving at an exponential rate. When it comes to gen AI, which is just one type of AI, our latest results show that 65 percent of our respondents reported their organizations regularly use it. This is double the percentage from our previous survey, which we conducted less than 12 months ago. Why is this new number important?
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