K12 District-Level Perspectives on AI — from aiforeducation.io by Amanda Bickerstaff, Dr. Patrick Gittisriboongul, Samantha Armstrong, & Brett Roer

Want to know how K12 schools are navigating the adoption of AI and what district-level leaders really think about GenAI EdTech tools?

Join us for this free webinar where we discussed AI technology, literacy, training, and the responsible adoption of GenAI tools in K12. Our panel explored what is working well – and not so well – across their districts from a school leader and practitioner’s perspective.


ChatGPT Has Changed Teaching. Our Readers Tell Us How. — from chronicle.com by Beth McMurtrie and Beckie Supiano

Those vastly different approaches to college writing pretty much sum up the responses to generative AI: They’re all over the map.

One year after its release, ChatGPT has pushed higher education into a liminal place. Colleges are still hammering out large-scale plans and policies governing how generative AI will be dealt with in operations, research, and academic programming. But professors have been forced more immediately to adapt their classrooms to its presence. Those adaptations vary significantly, depending on whether they see the technology as a tool that can aid learning or as a threat that inhibits it.

Nearly 100 faculty members shared their stories. While not a representative sample, they teach at a wide range of institutions: 15 community colleges, 32 public and 24 private four-year colleges or universities, seven international institutions, and one for-profit college. They teach a variety of subjects, including animal science, statistics, computer science, history, accounting, and composition. Many spent hours learning about AI: enrolling in workshops and webinars, experimenting with the tools, and reading articles, so that they could enter the fall semester informed and prepared.


The Disruption of AI in CTE Is Real — from techlearning.com by Annie Galvin Teich
An ACTE expert panel urges CTE educators to jump on the AI train as it’s already left the station

10 Best Practices for AI and CTE 

  1. Embrace AI and use it first for simple tasks to create efficiencies. Then use it to individualize instruction and for formative assessment tools aligned to standards.
  2. Be creative and conscious of internal bias and ethics. Focus on DEI and access.
  3. Encourage students to use apps and tools to start moving toward an integrated curriculum using AI.
  4. Prepare students for jobs of the future by partnering with industry to solve real problems.
  5. …and others

How are universities responding to generative AI? — from medium.com by Nic Newman
What’s next for higher education as we enter a new wave of edtech innovation: AI-powered learning

Where will AI make a big difference?
At Emerge, we have identified eight high-level trends — what we’re calling “engines of opportunity”. These eight “engines of opportunity” capture our ideas about how AI is being used to drive better practice and outcomes in HE, now and into the future.

They fall into two main categories:

  • Making learning more engaging: solutions that scale high quality pedagogy at low cost.
  • Making teaching more efficient: solutions that save educators and organisations time and money.

 


New Resource Catalogs and Makes Searchable Nearly 600 GPTs Related to Law, Tax and Regulatory Issues — from lawnext.com by Bob Ambrogi

But if you are looking for a law-related GPT, a new site can help. Raymond Blyd, the Amsterdam-based cofounder of Legalpioneer, a site that lists law-related companies, and CEO of Legalcomplex, a company that tracks investments and market data, has uncovered nearly 600 law-related GPTs and made them searchable on a new resource he calls Legalpioneer Copilot.

Blyd (who recently changed the spelling of his last name from Blijd) told me that the GPTs he has found cover a range of legal, regulatory and tax issues, and could be useful for academics, professionals and businesses.


With Launch of New AI Features, LawToolBox Is First Legal App Approved for Use with Copilot for Microsoft 365 — from lawnext.com by Bob Ambrogi


How It Works: AutoNDA, A Free Platform to Automate NDAs Under the Open Source oneNDA Standard — from lawnext.com by Bob Ambrogi

AutoNDA is designed for inhouse legal and business teams that need to streamline and centralize the NDA process. It enables self-serve access for your business teams and gives in-house teams control over outbound NDAs. It also stores and organizes all completed NDAs.


On LawNext: The Law Students Working to End Racism in the Legal System — from lawnext.com by Bob Ambrogi

 

Google hopes that this personalized AI -- called Notebook LM -- will help people with their note-taking, thinking, brainstorming, learning, and creating.

Google NotebookLM (experiment)

From DSC:
Google hopes that this personalized AI/app will help people with their note-taking, thinking, brainstorming, learning, and creating.

It reminds me of what Derek Bruff was just saying in regards to Top Hat’s Ace product being able to work with a much narrower set of information — i.e., a course — and to be almost like a personal learning assistant for the course you are taking. (As Derek mentions, this depends upon how extensively one uses the CMS/LMS in the first place.)

 

Can new AI help to level up the scales of justice?


From DSC:
As you can see from the above items, Mr. David Goodrich, a great human being and a fellow Instructional Designer, had a great comment and question regarding the source of my hope that AI — and other forms of legaltech — could significantly provide more access to justice here in America. Our civil justice system has some serious problems — involving such areas as housing, employment, healthcare, education, families, and more.

I’d like to respond to that question here.

First of all, I completely get what David is saying. I, too, have serious doubts that our horrible access to justice (#A2J) situation will get better. Why? Because:

  • Many people working within the legal field like it this way, as they are all but assured victory in most of the civil lawsuits out there.
  • The Bar Associations of most of the states do not support changes that would threaten their incomes/livelihoods. This is especially true in California and Florida.
  • The legal field in general is not composed, for the most part, of highly innovative people who make things happen for the benefit of others. For example, the American Bar Association is 20+ years behind in terms of providing the level of online-based learning opportunities that they should be offering. They very tightly control how legal education is delivered in the U.S.

Here are several areas that provide me with hope for our future


There are innovative individuals out there fighting for change.
And though some of these individuals don’t reside in the United States, their work still impacts many here in America. For examples, see:

There are innovative new companies, firms, and other types of organizations out there fighting for change. For examples:

There are innovative new tools and technologies out there such as:

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) 
    • AI and machine learning remain pivotal in legaltech, especially for in-house lawyers who deal with vast quantities of contracts and complex legal matters. In 2024, these technologies will be integral for legal research, contract review, and the drafting of legal documents. Statistics from the Tech & the Law 2023 Report state more than three in five corporate legal departments (61%) have adopted generative AI in some capacity, with 7% actively using generative AI in their day-to-day work. With constant improvements to LLM (Large Language Models) by the big players, i.e. OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft (via OpenAI), 2024 will see more opportunities open and efficiencies gained for legal teams. (Source)
    • From drafting contracts to answering legal questions and summarising legal issues, AI is revolutionising the legal profession and although viewed with a sceptical eye by some law firms, is generally perceived to be capable of bringing huge benefits. (Source)
    • Legal bots like Harvey will assist lawyers with discovery.
  • Technology-assisted review (TAR) in e-discovery
  • Due to COVID 19, there were virtual courtrooms set up and just like with virtual/online-based learning within higher education, many judges, litigants, lawyers, and staff appreciated the time savings and productivity gains. Along these lines, see Richard Susskind’s work. [Richard] predicts a world of online courts, AI-based global legal businesses, disruptive legal technologies, liberalized markets, commoditization, alternative sourcing, simulated practice on the metaverse, and many new legal jobs. (Source)

There are innovative states out there fighting for change. For examples:

  • Utah in 2020 launched a pilot program that suspended ethics rules to allow for non-lawyer ownership of legal services providers and let non-lawyers apply for a waiver to offer certain legal services. (Source)
  • Arizona in 2021 changed its regulatory rules to allow for non-lawyer ownership. (Source)
  • Alaska with their Alaska Legal Services Corporation
  • …and others

And the last one — but certainly not the least one — is where my faith comes into play. I believe that the Triune God exists — The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit — and that the LORD is very active in our lives and throughout the globe. And one of the things the LORD values highly is JUSTICE. For examples:

  • Many seek an audience with a ruler, but it is from the Lord that one gets justice. Proverbs 29:26 NIV
  • These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts; Zechariah 8:16 NIV
  • …and many others as can be seen below

The LORD values JUSTICE greatly!


So I believe that the LORD will actively help us provide greater access to justice in America.


Well…there you have it David. Thanks for your question/comment! I appreciate it!

 

From DSC:
Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to gift someone an article or access to a particular learning module? This would be the case whether you are a subscriber to that vendor/service or not. I thought about this after seeing the following email from MLive.com.
.

MLive.com's gift an article promotion from December 2023; one must be a subscriber though to gift an article

.

Not only is this a brilliant marketing move — as recipients can get an idea of the services/value offered — but it can provide concrete information to someone.

Perhaps colleges and universities should take this idea and run with it. They could gift courses and/or individual lectures! Doing so could open up some new revenue streams, aid adult learners in their lifelong learning pathways, and help people build new skills — all while helping market the colleges and universities. Involved faculty/staff members could get a percentage of the sales. Sounds like a WIN-WIN to me.

 

Q* MAY have made a breakthrough in two more intelligence domains (reasoning and planning). — from stefanbauschard.substack.com by Stefan Bauschard.
That shouldn’t surprise you; it will eventually happen.

DSC: I’m a bit confused this am as I’m seeing multiple — but different – references to “Q” and what it is. It seems to be at least two different things: 1) OpenAI’s secret project Q* and 2) Amazon Q, a new type of generative artificial intelligence-powered assistant

We need to start aligning the educational system with a world where humans live with machines that have intelligence capabilities that approximate their own.

  • Today’s freshmen *may* graduate into a world where AIs have at least similar intelligence abilities to humans. Today’s 1st graders *probably* will.
  • Efforts need to be made to align the educational system with a world where machines will have intelligence capabilities similar to those of humans.


Uncovering the AI Industry: 50 Most Visited AI Tools and Their 24B+ Traffic Behavior — from writerbuddy.ai; via AI Valley – Barsee



AWS Announces Amazon Q to Reimagine the Future of Work — from press.aboutamazon.com
New type of generative AI-powered assistant, built with security and privacy in mind, empowers employees to get answers to questions, solve problems, generate content, and take actions using the data and expertise found at their company

LAS VEGAS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–At AWS re:Invent, Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com, Inc. company (NASDAQ: AMZN), today announced Amazon Q, a new type of generative artificial intelligence-(AI) powered assistant that is specifically for work and can be tailored to a customer’s business. Customers can get fast, relevant answers to pressing questions, generate content, and take actions—all informed by a customer’s information repositories, code, and enterprise systems. Amazon Q provides information and advice to employees to streamline tasks, accelerate decision making and problem solving, and help spark creativity and innovation at work.



 

3 Questions for Deborah Dougherty on Higher Ed’s Past and Future — from insidehighered.com by Joshua Kim
A conversation with the director of the Andison Center for Teaching Excellence at Alma College about higher ed in 2060.

From DSC:
I was hoping to see a bit more from Deborah’s answer to where she sees higher education (including Alma College) might end up 35 years from now. Her answer seemed like business as usual —  the status quo. Nothing will change (hopefully, in her perspective). If that’s the case, many will be shut out of higher education. We can do better. I don’t mean to bash a residential, liberal arts, collegiate experience. I worked for such an institution for 10 years! But it needs to be augmented. New business models. More access. 


Butler University launches two-year college with degrees free to most students — from chalkbeat.org by MJ Slaby

Students can earn an associate degree from Butler University at no cost to them, and continue on to earn a bachelor’s degree for $10,000, thanks to a new program.

On Friday, Butler announced it is opening a new two-year college on campus that will offer  associate degrees in business and allied health. The program will start enrolling students in fall 2025.

The program is focused on Indianapolis-area students from low-income backgrounds, including students who are undocumented. The university said in its Friday announcement that it wants to make college more accessible and affordable for previously underserved students, and help them navigate the college-going process.

 

 



Don’t Believe the Hype? Practical Thoughts About Using AI in Legal (Stephen Embry – TechLaw Crossroads) — from tlpodcast.com by Stephen Embry

Despite the hype and big promises about AI, if it is used correctly, could it be the differentiator that sets good legal professionals apart from the pack? Stephen Embry offers a good argument for this in the latest episode.

Stephen is a long-time attorney and the legal tech aficionado behind the TechLaw Crossroads blog– a great resource for practical and real-world insight about legal tech and how technology is impacting the practice of law. Embry emphasizes that good lawyers will embrace artificial intelligence to increase efficiency and serve their clients better, leaving more time for strategic thinking and advisory roles.

 

Where a developing, new kind of learning ecosystem is likely headed [Christian]

From DSC:
As I’ve long stated on the Learning from the Living [Class]Room vision, we are heading toward a new AI-empowered learning platform — where humans play a critically important role in making this new learning ecosystem work.

Along these lines, I ran into this site out on X/Twitter. We’ll see how this unfolds, but it will be an interesting space to watch.

Project Chiron's vision: Our vision for education Every child will soon have a super-intelligent AI teacher by their side. We want to make sure they instill a love of learning in children.


From DSC:
This future learning platform will also focus on developing skills and competencies. Along those lines, see:

Scale for Skills-First — from the-job.beehiiv.com by Paul Fain
An ed-tech giant’s ambitious moves into digital credentialing and learner records.

A Digital Canvas for Skills
Instructure was a player in the skills and credentials space before its recent acquisition of Parchment, a digital transcript company. But that $800M move made many observers wonder if Instructure can develop digital records of skills that learners, colleges, and employers might actually use broadly.

Ultimately, he says, the CLR approach will allow students to bring these various learning types into a coherent format for employers.

Instructure seeks a leadership role in working with other organizations to establish common standards for credentials and learner records, to help create consistency. The company collaborates closely with 1EdTech. And last month it helped launch the 1EdTech TrustEd Microcredential Coalition, which aims to increase quality and trust in digital credentials.

Paul also links to 1EDTECH’s page regarding the Comprehensive Learning Record

 

New models and developer products announced at DevDay — from openai.com
GPT-4 Turbo with 128K context and lower prices, the new Assistants API, GPT-4 Turbo with Vision, DALL·E 3 API, and more.

Today, we shared dozens of new additions and improvements, and reduced pricing across many parts of our platform. These include:

  • New GPT-4 Turbo model that is more capable, cheaper and supports a 128K context window
  • New Assistants API that makes it easier for developers to build their own assistive AI apps that have goals and can call models and tools
  • New multimodal capabilities in the platform, including vision, image creation (DALL·E 3), and text-to-speech (TTS)


Introducing GPTs — from openai.com
You can now create custom versions of ChatGPT that combine instructions, extra knowledge, and any combination of skills.




OpenAI’s New Groundbreaking Update — from newsletter.thedailybite.co
Everything you need to know about OpenAI’s update, what people are building, and a prompt to skim long YouTube videos…

But among all this exciting news, the announcement of user-created “GPTs” took the cake.

That’s right, your very own personalized version of ChatGPT is coming, and it’s as groundbreaking as it sounds.

OpenAI’s groundbreaking announcement isn’t just a new feature – it’s a personal AI revolution. 

The upcoming customizable “GPTs” transform ChatGPT from a one-size-fits-all to a one-of-a-kind digital sidekick that is attuned to your life’s rhythm. 


Lore Issue #56: Biggest Week in AI This Year — from news.lore.com by Nathan Lands

First, Elon Musk announced “Grok,” a ChatGPT competitor inspired by “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” Surprisingly, in just a few months, xAI has managed to surpass the capabilities of GPT-3.5, signaling their impressive speed of execution and establishing them as a formidable long-term contender.

Then, OpenAI hosted their inaugural Dev Day, unveiling “GPT-4 Turbo,” which boasts a 128k context window, API costs slashed by threefold, text-to-speech capabilities, auto-model switching, agents, and even their version of an app store slated for launch next month.


The Day That Changed Everything — from joinsuperhuman.ai by Zain Kahn
ALSO: Everything you need to know about yesterday’s OpenAI announcements

  • OpenAI DevDay Part I: Custom ChatGPTs and the App Store of AI
  • OpenAI DevDay Part II: GPT-4 Turbo, Assistants, APIs, and more

OpenAI’s Big Reveal: Custom GPTs, GPT Store & More — from  news.theaiexchange.com
What you should know about the new announcements; how to get started with building custom GPTs


Incredible pace of OpenAI — from theaivalley.com by Barsee
PLUS: Elon’s Gork


 

 

Shocking AI Statistics in 2023 — from techthatmatters.beehiiv.com by Harsh Makadia

  1. Chat GPT reached 100 million users faster than any other app. By February 2023, the chat.openai.com website saw an average of 25 million daily visitors. How can this rise in AI usage benefit your business’s function?
  2. 45% of executives say the popularity of ChatGPT has led them to increase investment in AI. If executives are investing in AI personally, then how will their beliefs affect corporate investment in AI to drive automation further? Also, how will this affect the amount of workers hired to manage AI systems within companies?
  3. eMarketer predicts that in 2024 at least 20% of Americans will use ChatGPT monthly and that a fifth of them are 25-34 year olds in the workforce. Does this mean that there are more young workers using AI?
  4. …plus 10 more stats

People are speaking with ChatGPT for hours, bringing 2013’s Her closer to reality — from arstechnica.com by Benj Edwards
Long mobile conversations with the AI assistant using AirPods echo the sci-fi film.

It turns out that Willison’s experience is far from unique. Others have been spending hours talking to ChatGPT using its voice recognition and voice synthesis features, sometimes through car connections. The realistic nature of the voice interaction feels largely effortless, but it’s not flawless. Sometimes, it has trouble in noisy environments, and there can be a pause between statements. But the way the ChatGPT voices simulate vocal ticks and noises feels very human. “I’ve been using the voice function since yesterday and noticed that it makes breathing sounds when it speaks,” said one Reddit user. “It takes a deep breath before starting a sentence. And today, actually a minute ago, it coughed between words while answering my questions.”

From DSC:
Hmmmmmmm….I’m not liking the sound of this on my initial take of it. But perhaps there are some real positives to this. I need to keep an open mind.


Working with AI: Two paths to prompting — from oneusefulthing.org by Ethan Mollick
Don’t overcomplicate things

  1. Conversational Prompting [From DSC: i.e., keep it simple]
  2. Structured Prompting

For most people, [Conversational Prompting] is good enough to get started, and it is the technique I use most of the time when working with AI. Don’t overcomplicate things, just interact with the system and see what happens. After you have some experience, however, you may decide that you want to create prompts you can share with others, prompts that incorporate your expertise. We call this approach Structured Prompting, and, while improving AIs may make it irrelevant soon, it is currently a useful tool for helping others by encoding your knowledge into a prompt that anyone can use.


These fake images reveal how AI amplifies our worst stereotypes — from washingtonpost.com by Nitasha Tiku, Kevin Schaul, and Szu Yu Chen (behind paywall)
AI image generators like Stable Diffusion and DALL-E amplify bias in gender and race, despite efforts to detoxify the data fueling these results.

Artificial intelligence image tools have a tendency to spin up disturbing clichés: Asian women are hypersexual. Africans are primitive. Europeans are worldly. Leaders are men. Prisoners are Black.

These stereotypes don’t reflect the real world; they stem from the data that trains the technology. Grabbed from the internet, these troves can be toxic — rife with pornography, misogyny, violence and bigotry.

Abeba Birhane, senior advisor for AI accountability at the Mozilla Foundation, contends that the tools can be improved if companies work hard to improve the data — an outcome she considers unlikely. In the meantime, the impact of these stereotypes will fall most heavily on the same communities harmed during the social media era, she said, adding: “People at the margins of society are continually excluded.”


ChatGPT app revenue shows no signs of slowing, but some other AI apps top it — from techcrunch.com by Sarah Perez; Via AI Valley – Barsee

ChatGPT, the AI-powered chatbot from OpenAI, far outpaces all other AI chatbot apps on mobile devices in terms of downloads and is a market leader by revenue, as well. However, it’s surprisingly not the top AI app by revenue — several photo AI apps and even other AI chatbots are actually making more money than ChatGPT, despite the latter having become a household name for an AI chat experience.


ChatGPT can now analyze files you upload to it without a plugin — from bgr.com by Joshua Hawkins; via Superhuman

According to new reports, OpenAI has begun rolling out a more streamlined approach to how people use ChatGPT. The new system will allow the AI to choose a model automatically, letting you run Python code, open a web browser, or generate images with DALL-E without extra interaction. Additionally, ChatGPT will now let you upload and analyze files.

 

Florida bar weighs whether lawyers using AI need client consent — from reuters.com by Karen Sloan; via Brainyacts

Oct 16 (Reuters) – Florida lawyers might soon be required to get their client’s consent before using artificial intelligence on their legal matters.

The Florida Bar is crafting a new advisory opinion focused on the use of AI and has asked Florida lawyers to weigh in. Florida bar leaders have tasked the Florida Board Review Committee on Professional Ethics with creating rules around the use of generative AI, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google Bard or Microsoft’s Bing.


On a somewhat related note, also see:

 

WHAT WAS GARY MARCUS THINKING, IN THAT INTERVIEW WITH GEOFF HINTON? — from linkedin.com by Stephen Downes

Background (emphasis DSC): 60 Minutes did an interview with ‘the Godfather of AI’, Geoffrey Hinton. In response, Gary Marcus wrote a column in which he inserted his own set of responses into the transcript, as though he were a panel participant. Neat idea. So, of course, I’m stealing it, and in what follows, I insert my own comments as I join the 60 Minutes panel with Geoffrey Hinton and Gary Marcus.

Usually I put everyone else’s text in italics, but for this post I’ll put it all in normal font, to keep the format consistent.

Godfather of Artificial Intelligence Geoffrey Hinton on the promise, risks of advanced AI


OpenAI’s Revenue Skyrockets to $1.3 Billion Annualized Rate — from maginative.com by Chris McKay
This means the company is generating over $100 million per month—a 30% increase from just this past summer.

OpenAI, the company behind the viral conversational AI ChatGPT, is experiencing explosive revenue growth. The Information reports that CEO Sam Altman told the staff this week that OpenAI’s revenue is now crossing $1.3 billion on an annualized basis. This means the company is generating over $100 million per month—a 30% increase from just this past summer.

Since the launch of a paid version of ChatGPT in February, OpenAI’s financial growth has been nothing short of meteoric. Additionally, in August, the company announced the launch of ChatGPT Enterprise, a commercial version of its popular conversational AI chatbot aimed at business users.

For comparison, OpenAI’s total revenue for all of 2022 was just $28 million. The launch of ChatGPT has turbocharged OpenAI’s business, positioning it as a bellwether for demand for generative AI.



From 10/13:


New ways to get inspired with generative AI in Search — from blog.google
We’re testing new ways to get more done right from Search, like the ability to generate imagery with AI or creating the first draft of something you need to write.

 

Next month Microsoft Corp. will start making its artificial intelligence features for Office widely available to corporate customers. Soon after, that will include the ability for it to read your emails, learn your writing style and compose messages on your behalf.

From DSC:
As readers of this blog know, I’m generally pro-technology. I see most technologies as tools — which can be used for good or for ill. So I will post items both pro and con concerning AI.

But outsourcing email communications to AI isn’t on my wish list or to-do list.

 

The Legal Tech Ecosystem: Innovation, Advancement & the Future of Law Practice — by Colin Levy (Author), Tatia Gordon-Troy (Editor), Bjarne Tellman (Foreword)

The Legal Tech Ecosystem: Innovation, Advancement & the Future of Law Practice

The legal landscape is evolving at an unprecedented pace, with the seismic shifts of recent years demanding a fresh perspective on the role of technology and innovation within the legal profession. The Legal Tech Ecosystem delves into this essential transformation, shedding light on the crucial interplay between law and technology in today’s complex world.

At its core, this book addresses the profound changes unfolding in the legal domain, driven by macro-economic forces. These changes have placed an ever-increasing burden on legal departments to accomplish more with fewer resources. A quartet of pillars—the explosive growth of regulations, the challenges posed by globalization, the convergence of risk dimensions, and the pressure on corporate profits—has created an environment where legal professionals must adapt swiftly to succeed.

 
© 2024 | Daniel Christian