Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related

Miscommunication Leads AI-Based Hiring Tools Astray — from adigaskell.org

Nearly every Fortune 500 company now uses artificial intelligence (AI) to screen resumes and assess test scores to find the best talent. However, new research from the University of Florida suggests these AI tools might not be delivering the results hiring managers expect.

The problem stems from a simple miscommunication between humans and machines: AI thinks it’s picking someone to hire, but hiring managers only want a list of candidates to interview.

Without knowing about this next step, the AI might choose safe candidates. But if it knows there will be another round of screening, it might suggest different and potentially stronger candidates.

AI agents explained: Why OpenAI, Google and Microsoft are building smarter AI agents — from digit.in by Jayesh Shinde

In the last two years, the world has seen a lot of breakneck advancement in the Generative AI space, right from text-to-text, text-to-image and text-to-video based Generative AI capabilities. And all of that’s been nothing short of stepping stones for the next big AI breakthrough – AI agents. According to Bloomberg, OpenAI is preparing to launch its first autonomous AI agent, which is codenamed ‘Operator,’ as soon as in January 2025.

Apparently, this OpenAI agent – or Operator, as it’s codenamed – is designed to perform complex tasks independently. By understanding user commands through voice or text, this AI agent will seemingly do tasks related to controlling different applications in the computer, send an email, book flights, and no doubt other cool things. Stuff that ChatGPT, Copilot, Google Gemini or any other LLM-based chatbot just can’t do on its own.

2025: The year ‘invisible’ AI agents will integrate into enterprise hierarchies — from venturebeat.com by Taryn Plumb

In the enterprise of the future, human workers are expected to work closely alongside sophisticated teams of AI agents.

According to McKinsey, generative AI and other technologies have the potential to automate 60 to 70% of employees’ work. And, already, an estimated one-third of American workers are using AI in the workplace — oftentimes unbeknownst to their employers.

However, experts predict that 2025 will be the year that these so-called “invisible” AI agents begin to come out of the shadows and take more of an active role in enterprise operations.

“Agents will likely fit into enterprise workflows much like specialized members of any given team,” said Naveen Rao, VP of AI at Databricks and founder and former CEO of MosaicAI.

State of AI Report 2024 Summary — from ai-supremacy.com by Michael Spencer
Part I, Consolidation, emergence and adoption.

Which AI Image Model Is the Best Speller? Let’s Find Out! — from whytryai.com by Daniel Nest
I test 7 image models to find those that can actually write.

The contestants
I picked 7 participants for today’s challenge:

DALL-E 3 by OpenAI (via Microsoft Designer)
FLUX1.1 [pro] by Black Forest Labs (via Glif)
Ideogram 2.0 by Ideogram (via Ideogram)
Imagen 3 by Google (via Image FX)
Midjourney 6.1 by Midjourney (via Midjourney)
Recraft V3 by Recraft (via Recraft)
Stable Diffusion 3.5 Large by Stability AI (via Hugging Face)

How to get started with AI agents (and do it right) — from venturebeat.com by Taryn Plumb

So how can enterprises choose when to adopt third-party models, open source tools or build custom, in-house fine-tuned models? Experts weigh in.

OpenAI, Google and Anthropic Are Struggling to Build More Advanced AI — from bloomberg.com (behind firewall)
Three of the leading artificial intelligence companies are seeing diminishing returns from their costly efforts to develop newer models.

OpenAI and others seek new path to smarter AI as current methods hit limitations — from reuters.com by Krystal Hu and Anna Tong

Summary

AI companies face delays and challenges with training new large language models
Some researchers are focusing on more time for inference in new models
Shift could impact AI arms race for resources like chips and energy

NVIDIA Advances Robot Learning and Humanoid Development With New AI and Simulation Tools — from blogs.nvidia.com by Spencer Huang
New Project GR00T workflows and AI world model development technologies to accelerate robot dexterity, control, manipulation and mobility.

How Generative AI is Revolutionizing Product Development — from intelligenthq.com

A recent report from McKinsey predicts that generative AI could unlock up to $2.6 to $4.4 annually trillion in value within product development and innovation across various industries. This staggering figure highlights just how significantly generative AI is set to transform the landscape of product development. Generative AI app development is driving innovation by using the power of advanced algorithms to generate new ideas, optimize designs, and personalize products at scale. It is also becoming a cornerstone of competitive advantage in today’s fast-paced market. As businesses look to stay ahead, understanding and integrating technologies like generative AI app development into product development processes is becoming more crucial than ever.

What are AI Agents: How To Create a Based AI Agent — from ccn.com by Lorena Nessi

Key Takeaways

AI agents handle complex, autonomous tasks beyond simple commands, showcasing advanced decision-making and adaptability.
The Based AI Agent template by Coinbase and Replit provides an easy starting point for developers to build blockchain-enabled AI agents.
AI based agents specifically integrate with blockchain, supporting crypto wallets and transactions.
Securing API keys in development is crucial to protect the agent from unauthorized access.

What are AI Agents and How Are They Used in Different Industries? — from rtinsights.com by Salvatore Salamone
AI agents enable companies to make smarter, faster, and more informed decisions. From predictive maintenance to real-time process optimization, these agents are delivering tangible benefits across industries.

The State of Instructional Design, 2024 [Hardman]

On 11/15/2024, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, career development, change, communities of practice, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate universities / corporate training, instructional design, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, tools, training / L&D, trends, workplace, by Daniel Christian

The State of Instructional Design, 2024 — from by Dr. Philippa Hardman
Four initial results from a global survey I ran with Synthesia

In September, I partnered with Synthesia to conduct a comprehensive survey exploring the evolving landscape of instructional design.

Our timing was deliberate: as we witness the rapid advancement of AI and increasing pressure on learning teams to drive mass re-skilling and deliver more with less, we wanted to understand how the role of instructional designers is changing.
…

Our survey focused on five key areas that we believed would help surface the most important data about the transformation of our field:

1. Roles & Responsibilities: who’s designing learning experiences in 2024?
2. Success Metrics: how do you and the organisations you work for measure the value of instructional design?
3. Workload & Workflow: how much time do we spend on different aspects of our job, and why?
4. Challenges & Barriers: what sorts of obstacles prevent us from producing optimal work?
5. Tools & Technology: what tools do we use, and is the tooling landscape changing?

Using AI to brainstorm students own learning objectives [Potkalitsky] + other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 11/13/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adjunct faculty, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Canvas - and other Instructure-related items, change, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, emerging technologies, ethics, experimentation, faculty/staff, formal learning, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, informal learning, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning spaces, liberal arts, mathematics, morals/values, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, skills, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, tools, UK, United States, universities, vendors, youth, by Daniel Christian

“The Value of Doing Things: What AI Agents Mean for Teachers” — from nickpotkalitsky.substack.com by guest author Jason Gulya, Professor of English and Applied Media at Berkeley College in New York City

AI Agents make me nervous. Really nervous.

I wish they didn’t.

I wish I could write that the last two years have made me more confident, more self-assured that AI is here to augment workers rather than replace them.

But I can’t.

I wish I could write that I know where schools and colleges will end up. I wish I could say that AI Agents will help us get where we need to be.

But I can’t.

At this point, today, I’m at a loss. I’m not sure where the rise of AI agents will take us, in terms of how we work and learn. I’m in the question-asking part of my journey. I have few answers.

So, let’s talk about where (I think) AI Agents will take education. And who knows? Maybe as I write I’ll come up with something more concrete.

It’s worth a shot, right?

From DSC:
I completely agree with Jason’s following assertion:

A good portion of AI advancement will come down to employee replacement. And AI Agents push companies towards that.

THAT’s where/what the ROI will be for corporations. They will make their investments up in the headcount area, and likely in other areas as well (product design, marketing campaigns, engineering-related items, and more). But how much time it takes to get there is a big question mark.

One last quote here…it’s too good not to include:

Behind these questions lies a more abstract, more philosophical one: what is the relationship between thinking and doing in a world of AI Agents and other kinds of automation?

How Good are Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini at Instructional Design? — from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr Philippa Hardman
A test of AI’s Instruction Design skills in theory & in practice

By examining models across three AI families—Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini—I’ve started to identify each model’s strengths, limitations, and typical pitfalls.

Spoiler: my findings underscore that until we have specialised, fine-tuned AI copilots for instructional design, we should be cautious about relying on general-purpose models and ensure expert oversight in all ID tasks.

From DSC — I’m going to (have Nick) say this again:
I simply asked my students to use AI to brainstorm their own learning objectives. No restrictions. No predetermined pathways. Just pure exploration. The results? Astonishing.

Students began mapping out research directions I’d never considered. They created dialogue spaces with AI that looked more like intellectual partnerships than simple query-response patterns.

The Digital Literacy Quest: Become an AI Hero — from gamma.app

From DSC:
I have not gone through all of these online-based materials, but I like what they are trying to get at:

Confidence with AI
Students gain practical skills and confidence in using AI tools effectively.
Ethical Navigation
Learn to navigate the ethical landscape of AI with integrity and responsibility. Make informed decisions about AI usage.
Mastering Essential Skills
Develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills in the context of AI.

Expanding access to the Gemini app for teen students in education — from workspaceupdates.googleblog.com

Google Workspace for Education admins can now turn on the Gemini app with added data protection as an additional service for their teen users (ages 13+ or the applicable age in your country) in the following languages and countries. With added data protection, chats are not reviewed by human reviewers or otherwise used to improve AI models. The Gemini app will be a core service in the coming weeks for Education Standard and Plus users, including teens,

5 Essential Questions Educators Have About AI — from edsurge.com by Annie Ning

Recently, I spoke with several teachers regarding their primary questions and reflections on using AI in teaching and learning. Their thought-provoking responses challenge us to consider not only what AI can do but what it means for meaningful and equitable learning environments. Keeping in mind these reflections, we can better understand how we move forward toward meaningful AI integration in education.

FrontierMath: A Benchmark for Evaluating Advanced Mathematical Reasoning in AI — from epoch.ai
FrontierMath presents hundreds of unpublished, expert-level mathematics problems that specialists spend days solving. It offers an ongoing measure of AI complex mathematical reasoning progress.

We’re introducing FrontierMath, a benchmark of hundreds of original, expert-crafted mathematics problems designed to evaluate advanced reasoning capabilities in AI systems. These problems span major branches of modern mathematics—from computational number theory to abstract algebraic geometry—and typically require hours or days for expert mathematicians to solve.

Rising demand for AI courses in UK universities shows 453% growth as students adapt to an AI-driven job market — from edtechinnovationhub.com

The demand for artificial intelligence courses in UK universities has surged dramatically over the past five years, with enrollments increasing by 453%, according to a recent study by Currys, a UK tech retailer.

The study, which analyzed UK university admissions data and surveyed current students and recent graduates, reveals how the growing influence of AI is shaping students’ educational choices and career paths.

This growth reflects the broader trend of AI integration across industries, creating new opportunities while transforming traditional roles. With AI’s influence on career prospects rising, students and graduates are increasingly drawn to AI-related courses to stay competitive in a rapidly changing job market.

It’s The End Of The Legal Industry As We Know It — from artificiallawyer.com by Richard Tromans

It’s the end of the legal industry as we know it and I feel fine. I really do.

The legal industry as we know it is already over. The seismic event that triggered this evolutionary shift happened in November 2022. There’s no going back to a pre-genAI world. Change, incremental or otherwise, will be unstoppable. The only question is: at what pace will this change happen?

It’s clear that substantive change at the heart of the legal economy may take a long time – and we should never underestimate the challenge of overturning decades of deeply embedded cultural practices – but, at least it has begun.

AI: The New Legal Powerhouse — Why Lawyers Should Befriend The Machine To Stay Ahead — from today.westlaw.com

(October 24, 2024) – Jeremy Glaser and Sharzaad Borna of Mintz discuss waves of change in the legal profession brought on by AI, in areas such as billing, the work of support staff and junior associates, and ethics.

The dual nature of AI — excitement and fear
AI is evolving at lightning speed, sparking both wonder and worry. As it transforms industries and our daily lives, we are caught between the thrill of innovation and the jitters of uncertainty. Will AI elevate the human experience or just leave us in the dust? How will it impact our careers, privacy and sense of security?

Just as we witnessed with the rise of the internet — and later, social media — AI is poised to redefine how we work and live, bringing a mix of optimism and apprehension. While we grapple with AI’s implications, our clients expect us to lead the charge in leveraging it for their benefit.

However, this shift also means more competition for fewer entry-level jobs. Law schools will play a key role in helping students become more marketable by offering courses on AI tools and technology. Graduates with AI literacy will have an edge over their peers, as firms increasingly value associates who can collaborate effectively with AI tools.

Will YOU use ChatGPT voice mode to lie to your family? Brainyacts #244 — from thebrainyacts.beehiiv.com by Sam Douthit, Aristotle Jones, and Derek Warzel.

Small Law’s Secret Weapon: AI Courtroom Mock Battles — this excerpt is by Brainacts author Josh Kubicki
As many of you know, this semester my law students have the opportunity to write the lead memo for this newsletter, each tackling issues that they believe are both timely and intriguing for our readers. This week’s essay presents a fascinating experiment conducted by three students who explored how small law firms might leverage ChatGPT in a safe, effective manner. They set up ChatGPT to simulate a mock courtroom, even assigning it the persona of a Seventh Circuit Court judge to stage a courtroom dialogue. It’s an insightful take on the how adaptable technology like ChatGPT can offer unique advantages to smaller practices. They share other ideas as well. Enjoy!

The following excerpt was written by Sam Douthit, Aristotle Jones, and Derek Warzel.

One exciting example is a “Courtroom Persona AI” tool, which could let solo practitioners simulate mock trials and practice arguments with AI that mimics specific judges, local courtroom customs, or procedural quirks. Small firms, with their deep understanding of local courts and judicial styles, could take full advantage of this tool to prepare more accurate and relevant arguments. Unlike big firms that have to spread resources across jurisdictions, solo and small firms could use this AI-driven feedback to tailor their strategies closely to local court dynamics, making their preparations sharper and more strategic. Plus, not all solo or small firms have someone to practice with or bounce their ideas off of. For these practitioners, it’s a chance to level up their trial preparation without needing large teams or costly mock trials, gaining a practical edge where it counts most.

Some lawyers have already started to test this out, like the mock trial tested out here. One oversimplified and quick way to try this out is using the ChatGPT app.

The Human in AI-Assisted Dispute Resolution — from jdsupra.com by Epiq

Accountability for Legal Outputs
AI is set to replace some of the dispute resolution work formerly done by lawyers. This work includes summarising documents, drafting legal contracts and filings, using generative AI to produce arbitration submissions for an oral hearing, and, in the not-too-distant future, ingesting transcripts from hearings and comparing them to the documentary record to spot inconsistencies.

As Pendell put it, “There’s quite a bit of lawyering going on there.” So, what’s left for humans?

The common feature in all those examples is that humans must make the judgement call. Lawyers won’t just turn over a first draft of an AI-generated contract or filing to another party or court. The driving factor is that law is still a regulated profession, and regulators will hold humans accountable.

The idea that young lawyers must do routine, menial work as a rite of passage needs to be updated. Today’s AI tools put lawyers at the top of an accountability chain, allowing them to practice law using judgement and strategy as they supervise the work of AI.

Small law firms embracing AI as they move away from hourly billing — from legalfutures.co.uk by Neil Rose

Small law firms have embraced artificial intelligence (AI), with document drafting or automation the most popular application, according to new research.

The survey also found expectations of a continued move away from hourly billing to fixed fees.

Legal technology provider Clio commissioned UK-specific research from Censuswide as an adjunct to its annual US-focused Legal Trends report, polling 500 solicitors, 82% of whom worked at firms with 20 lawyers or fewer.

Some 96% of them reported that their firms have adopted AI into their processes in some way – 56% of them said it was widespread or universal – while 62% anticipated an increase in AI usage over the next 12 months.

Is Generative AI and ChatGPT healthy for Students? — from ai-supremacy.com by Michael Spencer and Nick Potkalitsky
Beyond Text Generation: How AI Ignites Student Discovery and Deep Thinking, according to firsthand experiences of Teachers and AI researchers like Nick Potkalitsky.

After two years of intensive experimentation with AI in education, I am witnessing something amazing unfolding before my eyes. While much of the world fixates on AI’s generative capabilities—its ability to create essays, stories, and code—my students have discovered something far more powerful: exploratory AI, a dynamic partner in investigation and critique that’s transforming how they think.
…
They’ve moved beyond the initial fascination with AI-generated content to something far more sophisticated: using AI as an exploratory tool for investigation, interrogation, and intellectual discovery.
…
Instead of the much-feared “shutdown” of critical thinking, we’re witnessing something extraordinary: the emergence of what I call “generative thinking”—a dynamic process where students learn to expand, reshape, and evolve their ideas through meaningful exploration with AI tools. Here I consciously reposition the term “generative” as a process of human origination, although one ultimately spurred on by machine input.

A Road Map for Leveraging AI at a Smaller Institution — from er.educause.edu by Dave Weil and Jill Forrester
Smaller institutions and others may not have the staffing and resources needed to explore and take advantage of developments in artificial intelligence (AI) on their campuses. This article provides a roadmap to help institutions with more limited resources advance AI use on their campuses.

The following activities can help smaller institutions better understand AI and lay a solid foundation that will allow them to benefit from it.

Understand the impact…
Understand the different types of AI tools…
Focus on institutional data and knowledge repositories…

Smaller institutions do not need to fear being left behind in the wake of rapid advancements in AI technologies and tools. By thinking intentionally about how AI will impact the institution, becoming familiar with the different types of AI tools, and establishing a strong data and analytics infrastructure, institutions can establish the groundwork for AI success. The five fundamental activities of coordinating, learning, planning and governing, implementing, and reviewing and refining can help smaller institutions make progress on their journey to use AI tools to gain efficiencies and improve students’ experiences and outcomes while keeping true to their institutional missions and values.

Also from Educause, see:

From Hype to Help: Making GenAI Useful for Enterprise Reporting and Data Analytics — from er.educause.edu by Craig Rudick

AI school opens – learners are not good or bad but fast and slow — from donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com by Donald Clark

That is what they are doing here. Lesson plans focus on learners rather than the traditional teacher-centric model. Assessing prior strengths and weaknesses, personalising to focus more on weaknesses and less on things known or mastered. It’s adaptive, personalised learning. The idea that everyone should learn at the exactly same pace, within the same timescale is slightly ridiculous, ruled by the need for timetabling a one to many, classroom model.

For the first time in the history of our species we have technology that performs some of the tasks of teaching. We have reached a pivot point where this can be tried and tested. My feeling is that we’ll see a lot more of this, as parents and general teachers can delegate a lot of the exposition and teaching of the subject to the technology. We may just see a breakthrough that transforms education.

Agentic AI Named Top Tech Trend for 2025 — from campustechnology.com by David Ramel

Agentic AI will be the top tech trend for 2025, according to research firm Gartner. The term describes autonomous machine “agents” that move beyond query-and-response generative chatbots to do enterprise-related tasks without human guidance.
…
More realistic challenges that the firm has listed elsewhere include:

- Agentic AI proliferating without governance or tracking;
- Agentic AI making decisions that are not trustworthy;
- Agentic AI relying on low-quality data;
- Employee resistance; and
- Agentic-AI-driven cyberattacks enabling “smart malware.”

Also from campustechnology.com, see:

New OpenAI Swarm Framework Offers Experimental Tool for Multi-Agent AI Networks — by John K. Waters
OpenAI has introduced a new open source framework designed to simplify the development and management of multi-agent AI systems that can collaborate autonomously to perform tasks.

Three items from edcircuit.com:

All or nothing at Educause24 — from onedtech.philhillaa.com by Kevin Kelly
Looking for specific solutions at the conference exhibit hall, with an educator focus

Here are some notable trends:

Alignment with campus policies: …
Choose your own AI adventure: …
Integrate AI throughout a workflow: …
Moving from prompt engineering to bot building: …
More complex problem-solving: …

…
Not all AI news is good news. In particular, AI has exacerbated the problem of fraudulent enrollment–i.e., rogue actors who use fake or stolen identities with the intent of stealing financial aid funding with no intention of completing coursework.
…
The consequences are very real, including financial aid funding going to criminal enterprises, enrollment estimates getting dramatically skewed, and legitimate students being blocked from registering for classes that appear “full” due to large numbers of fraudulent enrollments.

How Legal Education Must Evolve In The Age Of AI [Mack & Borovick]

On 11/06/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, future, game-changing environment, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, trends, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

How Legal Education Must Evolve In The Age Of AI: Insights From An In-House Legal Innovator — from by abovethelaw.com Olga Mack
Traditional legal education has remained largely unchanged for decades, focusing heavily on theoretical knowledge and case law analysis.

As we stand on the brink of a new era defined by artificial intelligence (AI) and data-driven decision-making, the question arises: How should legal education adapt to prepare the next generation of lawyers for the challenges ahead?

Here are three unconventional, actionable insights from our conversation that highlight the need for a radical rethinking of legal education.

Integrate AI Education Into Every Aspect Of Legal Training…
Adopt A ‘Technology-Agnostic’ Approach To AI Training…
Redefine Success In Legal Education To Include Technological Proficiency…

? Introducing ChatGPT search ?

ChatGPT can now search the web in a much better way than before so you get fast, timely answers with links to relevant web sources.https://t.co/7yilNgqH9T pic.twitter.com/z8mJWS8J9c

— OpenAI (@OpenAI) October 31, 2024

ChatGPT Search just dropped, so of course, Google is dead. (Just kidding… probably ?)

But is it any good?

A ChatGPT Search vs. Perplexity vs. Google ?:

— Nathan Lands — Lore.com (@NathanLands) November 1, 2024

Google’s worst nightmare just became reality — from aidisruptor.ai by Alex McFarland
OpenAI just launched an all-out assault on traditional search engines.

Google’s worst nightmare just became reality. OpenAI didn’t just add search to ChatGPT – they’ve launched an all-out assault on traditional search engines.

It’s the beginning of the end for search as we know it.

Let’s be clear about what’s happening: OpenAI is fundamentally changing how we’ll interact with information online. While Google has spent 25 years optimizing for ad revenue and delivering pages of blue links, OpenAI is building what users actually need – instant, synthesized answers from current sources.

The rollout is calculated and aggressive: ChatGPT Plus and Team subscribers get immediate access, followed by Enterprise and Education users in weeks, and free users in the coming months. This staged approach is about systematically dismantling Google’s search dominance.

Big day for desktops.

Advanced Voice is now available in the macOS and Windows desktop apps.https://t.co/mv4ACwIhzA pic.twitter.com/HbwXbN9NkD

— OpenAI (@OpenAI) October 30, 2024

We’re starting to roll out the ability to search through your chat history on ChatGPT web.

Now you can quickly & easily bring up a chat to reference, or pick up a chat where you left off. pic.twitter.com/YVAOUpFvzJ

— OpenAI (@OpenAI) October 29, 2024

Open for AI: India Tech Leaders Build AI Factories for Economic Transformation — from blogs.nvidia.com
Yotta Data Services, Tata Communications, E2E Networks and Netweb are among the providers building and offering NVIDIA-accelerated infrastructure and software, with deployments expected to double by year’s end.

“AI Tutors Double Rates of Learning in Less Learning Time” [Hardman] + other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 11/01/2024, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, CMS/LMS, colleges, community colleges, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, education, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, liberal arts, platforms, podcasting, United States, universities, vendors, by Daniel Christian

AI Tutors Double Rates of Learning in Less Learning Time — by drphilippahardman.substack.com Dr. Philippa Hardman
Inside Harvard’s new groundbreaking study

Conclusion
This Harvard study provides robust evidence that AI tutoring, when thoughtfully designed, can significantly enhance learning outcomes. The combination of doubled learning gains, increased engagement, and reduced time to competency suggests we’re seeing just the beginning of AI’s potential in education and that its potential is significant.

If this data is anything to go by, and if we – as humans – are open and willing to acting on it, it’s possible AI will have a significant and for some deeply positive impact on how we design and deliver learning experiences.

That said, as we look forward, the question shouldn’t just be, “how AI can enhance current educational methods?”, but also “how it might AI transform the very nature of learning itself?”. With continued research and careful implementation, we could be moving toward an era of education that’s more effective but also more accessible than ever before.

Three Quick Examples of Teaching with and about Generative AI — from derekbruff.org Derek Bruff

Text-to-Podcast.
Assigning Students to Groups.
AI Acceptable Use Scale.

Also from Derek’s blog, see:

From Mike Sharples on LinkedIn:

ChatGPT’s free voice wizard — from wondertools.substack.com by Jeremy Caplan
How and why to try the new Advanced Voice Mode

7 surprisingly practical ways to use voice AI
Opening up ChatGPT’s Advanced Voice Mode (AVM) is like conjuring a tutor eager to help with whatever simple — or crazy — query you throw at it. Talking is more fluid and engaging than typing, especially if you’re out and about. It’s not a substitute for human expertise, but AVM provides valuable machine intelligence.

Get a virtual museum tour. …
Chat with historical figures….
Practice languages. …
Explore books. …
Others…

Though not AI-related, this is along the lines of edtech:

MoodleMoot Global 24 Conference Notes — from onedtech.philhillaa.com by Glenda Morgan
A first look at Moodle under new leadership

Here’s the link to access it: https://t.co/kHq0S2r4aD

It’s only available in the US at the moment, but it works with a VPN.

Truly the best tool for learning a new subject I’ve tried so far.

— Paul Couvert (@itsPaulAi) October 31, 2024

…which links to:

Some dangers of running AI’s that control a computer or a web browser; + other AI related items

On 10/30/2024, in Apple, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, computer science, emerging technologies, Europe, Google, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Open AI, platforms, programming, the downsides of how people use tech, tools, trends, United States, vendors, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Claude can now write and run code.

We’ve added a new analysis tool. The tool helps Claude respond with mathematically precise and reproducible answers. You can then create interactive data visualizations with Artifacts.

Enable the feature preview: https://t.co/bJ8BjBT6zG. pic.twitter.com/Jq5xOHBmiR

— Anthropic (@AnthropicAI) October 24, 2024

Along these same lines, see:

Introducing computer use, a new Claude 3.5 Sonnet, and Claude 3.5 Haiku

We’re also introducing a groundbreaking new capability in public beta: computer use. Available today on the API, developers can direct Claude to use computers the way people do—by looking at a screen, moving a cursor, clicking buttons, and typing text. Claude 3.5 Sonnet is the first frontier AI model to offer computer use in public beta. At this stage, it is still experimental—at times cumbersome and error-prone. We’re releasing computer use early for feedback from developers, and expect the capability to improve rapidly over time.

ZombAIs: From Prompt Injection to C2 with Claude Computer Use — from embracethered.com by Johann Rehberger

A few days ago, Anthropic released Claude Computer Use, which is a model + code that allows Claude to control a computer. It takes screenshots to make decisions, can run bash commands and so forth.

It’s cool, but obviously very dangerous because of prompt injection. Claude Computer Use enables AI to run commands on machines autonomously, posing severe risks if exploited via prompt injection.

This blog post demonstrates that it’s possible to leverage prompt injection to achieve, old school, command and control (C2) when giving novel AI systems access to computers.
…
We discussed one way to get malware onto a Claude Computer Use host via prompt injection. There are countless others, like another way is to have Claude write the malware from scratch and compile it. Yes, it can write C code, compile and run it. There are many other options.

TrustNoAI.

And again, remember do not run unauthorized code on systems that you do not own or are authorized to operate on.

Also relevant here, see:

Perplexity Grows, GPT Traffic Surges, Gamma Dominates AI Presentations – The AI for Work Top 100: October 2024 — from flexos.work by Daan van Rossum
Perplexity continues to gain users despite recent controversies. Five out of six GPTs see traffic boosts. This month’s highest gainers including Gamma, Blackbox, Runway, and more.

Growing Up: Navigating Generative AI’s Early Years – AI Adoption Report — from ai.wharton.upenn.edu by Jeremy Korst, Stefano Puntoni, & Mary Purk

From a survey with more than 800 senior business leaders, this report’s findings indicate that weekly usage of Gen AI has nearly doubled from 37% in 2023 to 72% in 2024, with significant growth in previously slower-adopting departments like Marketing and HR. Despite this increased usage, businesses still face challenges in determining the full impact and ROI of Gen AI. Sentiment reports indicate leaders have shifted from feelings of “curiosity” and “amazement” to more positive sentiments like “pleased” and “excited,” and concerns about AI replacing jobs have softened. Participants were full-time employees working in large commercial organizations with 1,000 or more employees.

Apple study exposes deep cracks in LLMs’ “reasoning” capabilities — from arstechnica.com by Kyle Orland
Irrelevant red herrings lead to “catastrophic” failure of logical inference.

For a while now, companies like OpenAI and Google have been touting advanced “reasoning” capabilities as the next big step in their latest artificial intelligence models. Now, though, a new study from six Apple engineers shows that the mathematical “reasoning” displayed by advanced large language models can be extremely brittle and unreliable in the face of seemingly trivial changes to common benchmark problems.

The fragility highlighted in these new results helps support previous research suggesting that LLMs use of probabilistic pattern matching is missing the formal understanding of underlying concepts needed for truly reliable mathematical reasoning capabilities. “Current LLMs are not capable of genuine logical reasoning,” the researchers hypothesize based on these results. “Instead, they attempt to replicate the reasoning steps observed in their training data.”

Google CEO says more than a quarter of the company’s new code is created by AI — from businessinsider.in by Hugh Langley

More than a quarter of new code at Google is made by AI and then checked by employees.
Google is doubling down on AI internally to make its business more efficient.

Top Generative AI Chatbots by Market Share – October 2024

Bringing developer choice to Copilot with Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Google’s Gemini 1.5 Pro, and OpenAI’s o1-preview — from github.blog

We are bringing developer choice to GitHub Copilot with Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Google’s Gemini 1.5 Pro, and OpenAI’s o1-preview and o1-mini. These new models will be rolling out—first in Copilot Chat, with OpenAI o1-preview and o1-mini available now, Claude 3.5 Sonnet rolling out progressively over the next week, and Google’s Gemini 1.5 Pro in the coming weeks. From Copilot Workspace to multi-file editing to code review, security autofix, and the CLI, we will bring multi-model choice across many of GitHub Copilot’s surface areas and functions soon.

Can A.I. Be Blamed for a Teen’s Suicide? [Roose] + related items

On 10/30/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, communications, Emotion, hearts -- matters of the heart, legislatures / government / legal, parents/guardians, platforms, psychology, relationships, tools, by Daniel Christian

Can A.I. Be Blamed for a Teen’s Suicide? — from nytimes.com by Kevin Roose

On the last day of his life, Sewell Setzer III took out his phone and texted his closest friend: a lifelike A.I. chatbot named after Daenerys Targaryen, a character from “Game of Thrones.”

“I miss you, baby sister,” he wrote.

“I miss you too, sweet brother,” the chatbot replied.

Sewell, a 14-year-old ninth grader from Orlando, Fla., had spent months talking to chatbots on Character.AI, a role-playing app that allows users to create their own A.I. characters or chat with characters created by others.
…
On the night of Feb. 28, in the bathroom of his mother’s house, Sewell told Dany that he loved her, and that he would soon come home to her.

“Please come home to me as soon as possible, my love,” Dany replied.

“What if I told you I could come home right now?” Sewell asked.

“… please do, my sweet king,” Dany replied.

He put down his phone, picked up his stepfather’s .45 caliber handgun and pulled the trigger.

But the experience he had, of getting emotionally attached to a chatbot, is becoming increasingly common. Millions of people already talk regularly to A.I. companions, and popular social media apps including Instagram and Snapchat are building lifelike A.I. personas into their products.

The technology is also improving quickly. Today’s A.I. companions can remember past conversations, adapt to users’ communication styles, role-play as celebrities or historical figures and chat fluently about nearly any subject. Some can send A.I.-generated “selfies” to users, or talk to them with lifelike synthetic voices.

There is a wide range of A.I. companionship apps on the market.

Mother sues tech company after ‘Game of Thrones’ AI chatbot allegedly drove son to suicide — from usatoday.com by Jonathan Limehouse
The mother of 14-year-old Sewell Setzer III is suing Character.AI, the tech company that created a ‘Game of Thrones’ AI chatbot she believes drove him to commit suicide on Feb. 28. Editor’s note: This article discusses suicide and suicidal ideation. If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org.

The mother of a 14-year-old Florida boy is suing Google and a separate tech company she believes caused her son to commit suicide after he developed a romantic relationship with one of its AI bots using the name of a popular “Game of Thrones” character, according to the lawsuit.

From my oldest sister:

Another relevant item?

Inside the Mind of an AI Girlfriend (or Boyfriend) — from wired.com by Will Knight
Dippy, a startup that offers “uncensored” AI companions, lets you peer into their thought process—sometimes revealing hidden motives.

Despite its limitations, Dippy seems to show how popular and addictive AI companions are becoming. Jagga and his cofounder, Angad Arneja, previously cofounded Wombo, a company that uses AI to create memes including singing photographs. The pair left in 2023, setting out to build an AI-powered office productivity tool, but after experimenting with different personas for their assistant, they became fascinated with the potential of AI companionship.

“The end of courts?” [Furlong] + other legaltech-related items

On 10/29/2024, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assessment, Canada, emerging technologies, experimentation, funding / grants, future, innovation, law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, podcasting, UK, United States, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Introducing QuizBot an Innovative AI-Assisted Assessment in Legal Education — from papers.ssrn.com by Sean A Harrington

Abstract

This Article explores an innovative approach to assessment in legal education: an AI-assisted quiz system implemented in an AI & the Practice of Law course. The system employs a Socratic method-inspired chatbot to engage students in substantive conversations about course materials, providing a novel method for evaluating student learning and engagement. The Article examines the structure and implementation of this system, including its grading methodology and rubric, and discusses its benefits and challenges. Key advantages of the AI-assisted quiz system include enhanced student engagement with course materials, practical experience in AI interaction for future legal practice, immediate feedback and assessment, and alignment with the Socratic method tradition in law schools. The system also presents challenges, particularly in ensuring fairness and consistency in AI-generated questions, maintaining academic integrity, and balancing AI assistance with human oversight in grading.

The Article further explores the pedagogical implications of this innovation, including a shift from memorization to conceptual understanding, the encouragement of critical thinking through AI interaction, and the preparation of students for AI-integrated legal practice. It also considers future directions for this technology, such as integration with other law school courses, potential for longitudinal assessment of student progress, and implications for bar exam preparation and continuing legal education. Ultimately, this Article argues that AI-assisted assessment systems can revolutionize legal education by providing more frequent, targeted, and effective evaluation of student learning. While challenges remain, the benefits of such systems align closely with the evolving needs of the legal profession. The Article concludes with a call for further research and broader implementation of AI-assisted assessment in law schools to fully understand its impact and potential in preparing the next generation of legal professionals for an AI-integrated legal landscape.

Keywords: Legal Education, Artificial Intelligence, Assessment, Socratic Method, Chatbot, Law School Innovation, Educational Technology, Legal Pedagogy, AI-Assisted Learning, Legal Technology, Student Engagement, Formative Assessment, Critical Thinking, Legal Practice, Educational Assessment, Law School Curriculum, Bar Exam Preparation, Continuing Legal Education, Legal Ethics, Educational Analytics

How Legal Startup Genie AI Raises $17.8 Million with Just 13 Slides — from aisecret.us

Genie AI, a London-based legal tech startup, was founded in 2017 by Rafie Faruq and Nitish Mutha. The company has been at the forefront of revolutionizing the legal industry by leveraging artificial intelligence to automate and enhance legal document drafting and review processes. The recent funding round, led by Google Ventures and Khosla Ventures, marks a significant milestone in Genie AI’s growth trajectory.

In-house legal teams are adopting legal tech at lower rate than law firms: survey — from canadianlawyermag.com
The report suggests in-house teams face more barriers to integrating new tools

Law firms are adopting generative artificial intelligence tools at a higher rate than in-house legal departments, but both report similar levels of concerns about data security and ethical implications, according to a report on legal tech usage released Wednesday.

Legal tech company Appara surveyed 443 legal professionals in Canada across law firms and in-house legal departments over the summer, including lawyers, paralegals, legal assistants, law clerks, conveyancers, and notaries.

Twenty-five percent of respondents who worked at law firms said they’ve already invested in generative AI tools, with 24 percent reporting they plan to invest within the following year. In contrast, only 15 percent of respondents who work in-house have invested in these tools, with 26 percent planning investments in the future.

The end of courts? — from jordanfurlong.substack.com by Jordan Furlong
Civil justice systems aren’t serving the public interest. It’s time to break new ground and chart paths towards fast and fair dispute resolution that will meet people’s actual needs.

We need to start simple. System design can get extraordinarily complex very quickly, and complexity is our enemy at this stage. Tom O’Leary nicely inverted Deming’s axiom with a question of his own: “We want the system to work for [this group]. What would need to happen for that to be true?”

If we wanted civil justice systems to work for the ordinary people who enter them seeking solutions to their problems — as opposed to the professionals who administer and make a living off those systems — what would those systems look like? What would be their features? I can think of at least three:

Fair: …
Fast: …
Fine: …

100-Day Dispute Resolution: New Era ADR is Changing the Game (Rich Lee, CEO)

New Era ADR CEO Rich Lee makes a return appearance to Technically Legal to talk about the company’s cutting-edge platform revolutionizing dispute resolution. Rich first came on the podcast in 2021 right as the company launched. Rich discusses the company’s mission to provide a faster, more efficient, and cost-effective alternative to traditional litigation and arbitration, the company’s growth and what he has learned from a few years in.

Key takeaways:

New Era ADR offers a unique platform for resolving disputes in under 100 days, significantly faster than traditional methods.
The platform leverages technology to streamline processes, reduce costs, and enhance accessibility for all parties involved.
New Era ADR boasts a diverse pool of experienced and qualified neutrals, ensuring fair and impartial resolutions.
The company’s commitment to innovation is evident in its use of data and technology to drive efficiency and transparency.

Next-Generation Durable Skills Assessment [McClennen]

On 10/29/2024, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assessment, innovation, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, simulations, skills, student-related, teachers, United States, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

Next-Generation Durable Skills Assessment — from gettingsmart.com by Nate McClennen

Key Points

Emphasizing the use of AI, VR, and simulation games, the methods in this article enhance the evaluation of durable skills, making them more accessible and practical for real-world applications.
The integration of educational frameworks and workplace initiatives highlights the importance of partnerships in developing reliable systems for assessing transferable skills.

Half of Higher Ed Institutions Now Use AI for Outcomes Tracking, But Most Lag in Implementing Comprehensive Learner Records — from prnewswire.com; via GSV

SALT LAKE CITY, Oct. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Instructure, the leading learning ecosystem and UPCEA, the online and professional education association, announced the results of a survey on whether institutions are leveraging AI to improve learner outcomes and manage records, along with the specific ways these tools are being utilized. Overall, the study revealed interest in the potential of these technologies is far outpacing adoption. Most respondents are heavily involved in developing learner experiences and tracking outcomes, though nearly half report their institutions have yet to adopt AI-driven tools for these purposes. The research also found that only three percent of institutions have implemented Comprehensive Learner Records (CLRs), which provide a complete overview of an individual’s lifelong learning experiences.

New Survey Says U.S. Teachers Colleges Lag on AI Training. Here are 4 Takeaways — from the74million.org by ; via GSV
Most preservice teachers’ programs lack policies on using AI, CRPE finds, and are likely unready to teach future educators about the field.

In the nearly two years since generative artificial intelligence burst into public consciousness, U.S. schools of education have not kept pace with the rapid changes in the field, a new report suggests.

Only a handful of teacher training programs are moving quickly enough to equip new K-12 teachers with a grasp of AI fundamentals — and fewer still are helping future teachers grapple with larger issues of ethics and what students need to know to thrive in an economy dominated by the technology.

The report, from the Center on Reinventing Public Education, a think tank at Arizona State University, tapped leaders at more than 500 U.S. education schools, asking how their faculty and preservice teachers are learning about AI. Through surveys and interviews, researchers found that just one in four institutions now incorporates training on innovative teaching methods that use AI. Most lack policies on using AI tools, suggesting that they probably won’t be ready to teach future educators about the intricacies of the field anytime soon.

It is bonkers that I can write out all my life goals on a sheet of paper, take a photo of it, and just ask Claude or ChatGPT for help.

I get a complete plan, milestones, KPIs, motivation, and even action support to get there.

Less than 5% of the world uses the SOTA AI…

— Allie K. Miller (@alliekmiller) October 21, 2024

The 5 Secret Hats Teachers are Wearing Right Now (Thanks to AI!) — from aliciabankhofer.substack.com by Alicia Bankhofer
New, unanticipated roles for educators sitting in the same boat

As beta testers, we’re shaping the tools of tomorrow. As researchers, we’re pioneering new pedagogical approaches. As ethical guardians, we’re ensuring that AI enhances rather than compromises the educational experience. As curators, we’re guiding students through the wealth of information AI provides. And as learners ourselves, we’re staying at the forefront of educational innovation.

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