content development, aggregation, repositories

1-800-CHAT-GPT—12 Days of OpenAI: Day 10

Per The Rundown: OpenAI just launched a surprising new way to access ChatGPT — through an old-school 1-800 number & also rolled out a new WhatsApp integration for global users during Day 10 of the company’s livestream event.

How Agentic AI is Revolutionizing Customer Service — from customerthink.com by Devashish Mamgain

Agentic AI represents a significant evolution in artificial intelligence, offering enhanced autonomy and decision-making capabilities beyond traditional AI systems. Unlike conventional AI, which requires human instructions, agentic AI can independently perform complex tasks, adapt to changing environments, and pursue goals with minimal human intervention.

This makes it a powerful tool across various industries, especially in the customer service function. To understand it better, let’s compare AI Agents with non-AI agents.
…
Characteristics of Agentic AI

- Autonomy: Achieves complex objectives without requiring human collaboration.
- Language Comprehension: Understands nuanced human speech and text effectively.
- Rationality: Makes informed, contextual decisions using advanced reasoning engines.
- Adaptation: Adjusts plans and goals in dynamic situations.
- Workflow Optimization: Streamlines and organizes business workflows with minimal oversight.

Clio: A system for privacy-preserving insights into real-world AI use — from anthropic.com

How, then, can we research and observe how our systems are used while rigorously maintaining user privacy?

Claude insights and observations, or “Clio,” is our attempt to answer this question. Clio is an automated analysis tool that enables privacy-preserving analysis of real-world language model use. It gives us insights into the day-to-day uses of claude.ai in a way that’s analogous to tools like Google Trends. It’s also already helping us improve our safety measures. In this post—which accompanies a full research paper—we describe Clio and some of its initial results.

Evolving tools redefine AI video — from heatherbcooper.substack.com by Heather Cooper
Google’s Veo 2, Kling 1.6, Pika 2.0 & more

AI video continues to surpass expectations
The AI video generation space has evolved dramatically in recent weeks, with several major players introducing groundbreaking tools.

Here’s a comprehensive look at the current landscape:

Veo 2…
Pika 2.0…
Runway’s Gen-3…
Luma AI Dream Machine…
Hailuo’s MiniMax…
OpenAI’s Sora…
Hunyuan Video by Tencent…

There are several other video models and platforms, including …

Incorporating Financial Literacy into Your Classroom Curriculum [edcircuit.com]

On 12/21/2024, in content development, aggregation, repositories, curriculum, education, education technology, productivity / tips and tricks, real-world assignments, student-related, surviving, teachers, youth, by Daniel Christian

Incorporating Financial Literacy into Your Classroom Curriculum — from edcircuit.com by EdCircuit Staff
Teaching Beyond the Textbook

Table of Contents

The Importance of Teaching Financial Literacy
Incorporating Financial Literacy into Your CurriculumUse Real-Life Examples
Integrate it into Other Subjects
Use Technology
Make it Interactive
Start Early
Conclusion

“What Is Agentic AI?” [Nvidia’s Pounds] + other items re: AI in general

On 12/09/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, Adobe, analytics, art, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, business, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, communications, communities of practice, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, creativity, data related items, design, digital audio, digital learning, digital photography, digital storytelling, digital video, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, Google, graphics, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, legislatures / government / legal, marketing/social marketing, media/film, Microsoft, multimedia, music, Natural Language Processing (NLP), new media literacies, NVIDIA, online media, Open AI, platforms, podcasting, presentations, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, programming, skills, social media, strategy, student-related, technologies for your home, technology (general), tools, United States, vendors, videoconferencing, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Where to start with AI agents: An introduction for COOs — from fortune.com by Ganesh Ayyar

Picture your enterprise as a living ecosystem, where surging market demand instantly informs staffing decisions, where a new vendor’s onboarding optimizes your emissions metrics, where rising customer engagement reveals product opportunities. Now imagine if your systems could see these connections too! This is the promise of AI agents — an intelligent network that thinks, learns, and works across your entire enterprise.

Today, organizations operate in artificial silos. Tomorrow, they could be fluid and responsive. The transformation has already begun. The question is: will your company lead it?

The journey to agent-enabled operations starts with clarity on business objectives. Leaders should begin by mapping their business’s critical processes. The most pressing opportunities often lie where cross-functional handoffs create friction or where high-value activities are slowed by system fragmentation. These pain points become the natural starting points for your agent deployment strategy.

Create podcasts in minutes — from elevenlabs.io by Eleven Labs
Now anyone can be a podcast producer

Top AI tools for business — from theneuron.ai

This week in AI: 3D from images, video tools, and more — from heatherbcooper.substack.com by Heather Cooper
From 3D worlds to consistent characters, explore this week’s AI trends

Another busy AI news week, so I organized it into categories:

Image to 3D
AI Video
AI Image Models & Tools
AI Assistants / LLMs
AI Creative Workflow: Luma AI Boards

Want to speak Italian? Microsoft AI can make it sound like you do. — this is a gifted article from The Washington Post;
A new AI-powered interpreter is expected to simulate speakers’ voices in different languages during Microsoft Teams meetings.

Artificial intelligence has already proved that it can sound like a human, impersonate individuals and even produce recordings of someone speaking different languages. Now, a new feature from Microsoft will allow video meeting attendees to hear speakers “talk” in a different language with help from AI.

What Is Agentic AI? — from blogs.nvidia.com by Erik Pounds
Agentic AI uses sophisticated reasoning and iterative planning to autonomously solve complex, multi-step problems.

The next frontier of artificial intelligence is agentic AI, which uses sophisticated reasoning and iterative planning to autonomously solve complex, multi-step problems. And it’s set to enhance productivity and operations across industries.

Agentic AI systems ingest vast amounts of data from multiple sources to independently analyze challenges, develop strategies and execute tasks like supply chain optimization, cybersecurity vulnerability analysis and helping doctors with time-consuming tasks.

“OpenAI wants to pair online courses with chatbots” [Wiggers] + other items re: AI in our learning ecosytems

On 12/07/2024, in adjunct faculty, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Australia, business, career development, change, changing business models, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, education, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, Google, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, IT in HE, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, new business models, online learning, Open AI, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, research, skills, society, sociology, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, the downsides of how people use tech, tools, training / L&D, trends, United States, universities, vendors, workplace, writing, youth, by Daniel Christian

What Students Are Saying About Teachers Using A.I. to Grade — from nytimes.com by The Learning Network; via Claire Zau
Teenagers and educators weigh in on a recent question from The Ethicist.

Is it unethical for teachers to use artificial intelligence to grade papers if they have forbidden their students from using it for their assignments?

That was the question a teacher asked Kwame Anthony Appiah in a recent edition of The Ethicist. We posed it to students to get their take on the debate, and asked them their thoughts on teachers using A.I. in general.

While our Student Opinion questions are usually reserved for teenagers, we also heard from a few educators about how they are — or aren’t — using A.I. in the classroom. We’ve included some of their answers, as well.

OpenAI wants to pair online courses with chatbots — from techcrunch.com by Kyle Wiggers; via James DeVaney on LinkedIn

If OpenAI has its way, the next online course you take might have a chatbot component.

Speaking at a fireside on Monday hosted by Coeus Collective, Siya Raj Purohit, a member of OpenAI’s go-to-market team for education, said that OpenAI might explore ways to let e-learning instructors create custom “GPTs” that tie into online curriculums.

“What I’m hoping is going to happen is that professors are going to create custom GPTs for the public and let people engage with content in a lifelong manner,” Purohit said. “It’s not part of the current work that we’re doing, but it’s definitely on the roadmap.”

15 Times to use AI, and 5 Not to — from oneusefulthing.org by Ethan Mollick
Notes on the Practical Wisdom of AI Use

There are several types of work where AI can be particularly useful, given the current capabilities and limitations of LLMs. Though this list is based in science, it draws even more from experience. Like any form of wisdom, using AI well requires holding opposing ideas in mind: it can be transformative yet must be approached with skepticism, powerful yet prone to subtle failures, essential for some tasks yet actively harmful for others. I also want to caveat that you shouldn’t take this list too seriously except as inspiration – you know your own situation best, and local knowledge matters more than any general principles. With all that out of the way, below are several types of tasks where AI can be especially useful, given current capabilities—and some scenarios where you should remain wary.

Learning About Google Learn About: What Educators Need To Know — from techlearning.com by Ray Bendici
Google’s experimental Learn About platform is designed to create an AI-guided learning experience

Google Learn About is a new experimental AI-driven platform available that provides digestible and in-depth knowledge about various topics, but showcases it all in an educational context. Described by Google as a “conversational learning companion,” it is essentially a Wikipedia-style chatbot/search engine, and then some.

In addition to having a variety of already-created topics and leading questions (in areas such as history, arts, culture, biology, and physics) the tool allows you to enter prompts using either text or an image. It then provides a general overview/answer, and then suggests additional questions, topics, and more to explore in regard to the initial subject.

The idea is for student use is that the AI can help guide a deeper learning process rather than just provide static answers.

What OpenAI’s PD for Teachers Does—and Doesn’t—Do — from edweek.org by Olina Banerji
What’s the first thing that teachers dipping their toes into generative artificial intelligence should do?

They should start with the basics, according to OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT and one of the world’s most prominent artificial intelligence research companies. Last month, the company launched an hour-long, self-paced online course for K-12 teachers about the definition, use, and harms of generative AI in the classroom. It was launched in collaboration with Common Sense Media, a national nonprofit that rates and reviews a wide range of digital content for its age appropriateness.

…the above article links to:

ChatGPT Foundations for K–12 Educators — from commonsense.org

This course introduces you to the basics of artificial intelligence, generative AI, ChatGPT, and how to use ChatGPT safely and effectively. From decoding the jargon to responsible use, this course will help you level up your understanding of AI and ChatGPT so that you can use tools like this safely and with a clear purpose.

Learning outcomes:

Understand what ChatGPT is and how it works.
Demonstrate ways to use ChatGPT to support your teaching practices.
Implement best practices for applying responsible AI principles in a school setting.

Takeaways From Google’s Learning in the AI Era Event — from edtechinsiders.substack.com by Sarah Morin, Alex Sarlin, and Ben Kornell
Highlights from Our Day at Google + Behind-the-Scenes Interviews Coming Soon!

NotebookLM: The Start of an AI Operating System
Google is Serious About AI and Learning
Google’s LearnLM Now Available in AI Studio
Collaboration is King
If You Give a Teacher a Ferrari

Rapid Responses to AI — from the-job.beehiiv.com by Paul Fain
Top experts call for better data and more short-term training as tech transforms jobs.

AI could displace middle-skill workers and widen the wealth gap, says landmark study, which calls for better data and more investment in continuing education to help workers make career pivots.
…
Ensuring That AI Helps Workers
Artificial intelligence has emerged as a general purpose technology with sweeping implications for the workforce and education. While it’s impossible to precisely predict the scope and timing of looming changes to the labor market, the U.S. should build its capacity to rapidly detect and respond to AI developments.
That’s the big-ticket framing of a broad new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Congress requested the study, tapping an all-star committee of experts to assess the current and future impact of AI on the workforce.

“In contemplating what the future holds, one must approach predictions with humility,” the study says…

“AI could accelerate occupational polarization,” the committee said, “by automating more nonroutine tasks and increasing the demand for elite expertise while displacing middle-skill workers.”
…
The Kicker: “The education and workforce ecosystem has a responsibility to be intentional with how we value humans in an AI-powered world and design jobs and systems around that,” says Hsieh.

AI Predators: What Schools Should Know and Do — from techlearning.com by Erik Ofgang
AI is increasingly be used by predators to connect with underage students online. Yasmin London, global online safety expert at Qoria and a former member of the New South Wales Police Force in Australia, shares steps educators can take to protect students.

The threat from AI for students goes well beyond cheating, says Yasmin London, global online safety expert at Qoria and a former member of the New South Wales Police Force in Australia.

Increasingly at U.S. schools and beyond, AI is being used by predators to manipulate children. Students are also using AI generate inappropriate images of other classmates or staff members. For a recent report, Qoria, a company that specializes in child digital safety and wellbeing products, surveyed 600 schools across North America, UK, Australia, and New Zealand.

Why We Undervalue Ideas and Overvalue Writing — from aiczar.blogspot.com by Alexander “Sasha” Sidorkin

A student submits a paper that fails to impress stylistically yet approaches a worn topic from an angle no one has tried before. The grade lands at B minus, and the student learns to be less original next time. This pattern reveals a deep bias in higher education: ideas lose to writing every time.

This bias carries serious equity implications. Students from disadvantaged backgrounds, including first-generation college students, English language learners, and those from under-resourced schools, often arrive with rich intellectual perspectives but struggle with academic writing conventions. Their ideas – shaped by unique life experiences and cultural viewpoints – get buried under red ink marking grammatical errors and awkward transitions. We systematically undervalue their intellectual contributions simply because they do not arrive in standard academic packaging.

Google Scholar’s New AI Outline Tool Explained By Its Founder — from techlearning.com by Erik Ofgang
Google Scholar PDF reader uses Gemini AI to read research papers. The AI model creates direct links to the paper’s citations and a digital outline that summarizes the different sections of the paper.

Google Scholar has entered the AI revolution. Google Scholar PDF reader now utilizes generative AI powered by Google’s Gemini AI tool to create interactive outlines of research papers and provide direct links to sources within the paper. This is designed to make reading the relevant parts of the research paper more efficient, says Anurag Acharya, who co-founded Google Scholar on November 18, 2004, twenty years ago last month.

The Four Most Powerful AI Use Cases in Instructional Design Right Now — from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr. Philippa Hardman
Insights from ~300 instructional designers who have taken my AI & Learning Design bootcamp this year

AI-Powered Analysis: Creating Detailed Learner Personas…
AI-Powered Design: Optimising Instructional Strategies…
AI-Powered Development & Implementation: Quality Assurance…
AI-Powered Evaluation: Predictive Impact Assessment…

How Are New AI Tools Changing ‘Learning Analytics’? — from edsurge.com by Jeffrey R. Young
For a field that has been working to learn from the data trails students leave in online systems, generative AI brings new promises — and new challenges.

In other words, with just a few simple instructions to ChatGPT, the chatbot can classify vast amounts of student work and turn it into numbers that educators can quickly analyze.

Findings from learning analytics research is also being used to help train new generative AI-powered tutoring systems.
…
Another big application is in assessment, says Pardos, the Berkeley professor. Specifically, new AI tools can be used to improve how educators measure and grade a student’s progress through course materials. The hope is that new AI tools will allow for replacing many multiple-choice exercises in online textbooks with fill-in-the-blank or essay questions.

Increasing AI Fluency Among Enterprise Employees, Senior Management & Executives — from learningguild.com by Bill Brandon

This article attempts, in these early days, to provide some specific guidelines for AI curriculum planning in enterprise organizations.

The two reports identified in the first paragraph help to answer an important question. What can enterprise L&D teams do to improve AI fluency in their organizations?

You could be surprised how many software products have added AI features. Examples (to name a few) are productivity software (Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace); customer relationship management (Salesforce and Hubspot); human resources (Workday and Talentsoft); marketing and advertising (Adobe Marketing Cloud and Hootsuite); and communication and collaboration (Slack and Zoom). Look for more under those categories in software review sites.

Closing the digital use divide with active and engaging learning [Ascione]

On 12/04/2024, in active learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, collaboration, communications, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, creativity, curriculum, data related items, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, face-to-face, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning preferences, multimedia, new media literacies, personalized/customized learning, programming, simulations, skills, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, tools, United States, vendors, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, vision/possibilities, XR - extended reality, youth, by Daniel Christian

Closing the digital use divide with active and engaging learning — from eschoolnews.com by Laura Ascione
Students offered insight into how to use active learning, with digital tools, to boost their engagement

When it comes to classroom edtech use, digital tools have a drastically different impact when they are used actively instead of passively–a critical difference examined in the 2023-2024 Speak Up Research by Project Tomorrow.

Students also outlined their ideal active learning technologies:

Collaboration tools to support projects
Student-teacher communication tools
Online databases for self-directed research
Multi-media tools for creating new content
Online and digital games
AI tools to support personalized learning
Coding and computer programming resources
Online animations, simulations, and virtual labs
Virtual reality equipment and content

DC: This is a great posting! “AI Tutors: Hype or Hope for Education?” [Bailey & Warner]

On 12/04/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, content development, aggregation, repositories, education, education reform, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, future, game-changing environment, Google, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, K-12 related, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, mathematics, multimedia, new media literacies, Open AI, personalized/customized learning, relationships, science, skills, student-related, teachers, the downsides of how people use tech, United States, vendors, vision/possibilities, writing, by Daniel Christian

AI Tutors: Hype or Hope for Education? — from educationnext.org by John Bailey and John Warner
In a new book, Sal Khan touts the potential of artificial intelligence to address lagging student achievement. Our authors weigh in.

In Salman Khan’s new book, Brave New Words: How AI Will Revolutionize Education (and Why That’s a Good Thing) (Viking, 2024), the Khan Academy founder predicts that AI will transform education by providing every student with a virtual personalized tutor at an affordable cost. Is Khan right? Is radically improved achievement for all students within reach at last? If so, what sorts of changes should we expect to see, and when? If not, what will hold back the AI revolution that Khan foresees? John Bailey, a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, endorses Khan’s vision and explains the profound impact that AI technology is already making in education. John Warner, a columnist for the Chicago Tribune and former editor for McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, makes the case that all the hype about AI tutoring is, as Macbeth quips, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Two items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 11/27/2024, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, Google, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, IT in HE, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, research, skills, student-related, teaching & learning, tools, training / L&D, United States, universities, vendors, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Notebook LM continues to make waves…

2024: The State of Generative AI in the Enterprise — from menlovc.com (Menlo Ventures)
The enterprise AI landscape is being rewritten in real time. As pilots give way to production, we surveyed 600 U.S. enterprise IT decision-makers to reveal the emerging winners and losers.

This spike in spending reflects a wave of organizational optimism; 72% of decision-makers anticipate broader adoption of generative AI tools in the near future. This confidence isn’t just speculative—generative AI tools are already deeply embedded in the daily work of professionals, from programmers to healthcare providers.

Despite this positive outlook and increasing investment, many decision-makers are still figuring out what will and won’t work for their businesses. More than a third of our survey respondents do not have a clear vision for how generative AI will be implemented across their organizations. This doesn’t mean they’re investing without direction; it simply underscores that we’re still in the early stages of a large-scale transformation. Enterprise leaders are just beginning to grasp the profound impact generative AI will have on their organizations.

Business spending on AI surged 500% this year to $13.8 billion, says Menlo Ventures — from cnbc.com by Hayden Field

Key Points

Business spending on generative AI surged 500% this year, hitting $13.8 billion — up from just $2.3 billion in 2023, according to data from Menlo Ventures released Wednesday.
OpenAI ceded market share in enterprise AI, declining from 50% to 34%, per the report.
Amazon-backed Anthropic doubled its market share from 12% to 24%.

Microsoft quietly assembles the largest AI agent ecosystem—and no one else is close — from venturebeat.com by Matt Marshall

Microsoft has quietly built the largest enterprise AI agent ecosystem, with over 100,000 organizations creating or editing AI agents through its Copilot Studio since launch – a milestone that positions the company ahead in one of enterprise tech’s most closely watched and exciting segments.
…
The rapid adoption comes as Microsoft significantly expands its agent capabilities. At its Ignite conference [that started on 11/19/24], the company announced it will allow enterprises to use any of the 1,800 large language models (LLMs) in the Azure catalog within these agents – a significant move beyond its exclusive reliance on OpenAI’s models. The company also unveiled autonomous agents that can work independently, detecting events and orchestrating complex workflows with minimal human oversight.

Now Hear This: World’s Most Flexible Sound Machine Debuts — from
Using text and audio as inputs, a new generative AI model from NVIDIA can create any combination of music, voices and sounds.

Along these lines, also see:

Nvidia unveils AI model for music, audio that can modify voices, generate new sounds — from seekingalpha.com

AI Agents Versus Human Agency: 4 Ways To Navigate Our AI-Driven World — from forbes.com by Cornelia C. Walther

To understand the implications of AI agents, it’s useful to clarify the distinctions between AI, generative AI, and AI agents and explore the opportunities and risks they present to our autonomy, relationships, and decision-making.
…
AI Agents: These are specialized applications of AI designed to perform tasks or simulate interactions. AI agents can be categorized into:

- Tool Agents…
- Simulation Agents..

While generative AI creates outputs from prompts, AI agents use AI to act with intention, whether to assist (tool agents) or emulate (simulation agents). The latter’s ability to mirror human thought and action offers fascinating possibilities — and raises significant risks.

Skill-Based Training: Embrace the Benefits; Stay Wary of the Hype — from learningguild.com by Paige Yousey

1. Direct job relevance
One of the biggest draws of skill-based training is its direct relevance to employees’ daily roles. By focusing on teaching job-specific skills, this approach helps workers feel immediately empowered to apply what they learn, leading to a quick payoff for both the individual and the organization. Yet, while this tight focus is a major benefit, it’s important to consider some potential drawbacks that could arise from an overly narrow approach.

Be wary of:

Overly Narrow Focus: Highly specialized training might leave employees with little room to apply their skills to broader challenges, limiting versatility and growth potential.
Risk of Obsolescence: Skills can quickly become outdated, especially in fast-evolving industries. L&D leaders should aim for regular updates to maintain relevance.
Neglect of Soft Skills: While technical skills are crucial, ignoring soft skills like communication and problem-solving may lead to a lack of balanced competency.

2. Enhanced job performance…
3. Addresses skill gaps…
…and several more areas to consider

Another item from Paige Yousey

5 Key EdTech Innovations to Watch — from learningguild.com by Paige Yousey

AI-driven course design
…
Strengths

Content creation and updates: AI streamlines the creation of training materials by identifying resource gaps and generating tailored content, while also refreshing existing materials based on industry trends and employee feedback to maintain relevance.
Data-driven insights: Use AI tools to provide valuable analytics to inform course development and instructional strategies, helping learner designers identify effective practices and improve overall learning outcomes.
Efficiency: Automating repetitive tasks, such as learner assessments and administrative duties, enables L&D professionals to concentrate on developing impactful training programs and fostering learner engagement.

Concerns

Limited understanding of context: AI may struggle to understand the specific educational context or the unique needs of diverse learner populations, potentially hindering effectiveness.
Oversimplification of learning: AI may reduce complex educational concepts to simple metrics or algorithms, oversimplifying the learning process and neglecting deeper cognitive development.
Resistance to change: Learning leaders may face resistance from staff who are skeptical about integrating AI into their training practices.

Also from the Learning Guild, see:

Use Twine to Easily Create Engaging, Immersive Scenario-Based Learning — from learningguild.com by Bill Brandon

Scenario-based learning immerses learners in realistic scenarios that mimic real-world challenges they might face in their roles. These learning experiences are highly relevant and relatable. SBL is active learning. Instead of passively consuming information, learners actively engage with the content by making decisions and solving problems within the scenario. This approach enhances critical thinking and decision-making skills.

SBL can be more effective when storytelling techniques create a narrative that guides learners through the scenario to maintain engagement and make the learning memorable. Learners receive immediate feedback on their decisions and learn from their mistakes. Reflection can deepen their understanding. Branching scenarios add simulated complex decision-making processes and show the outcome of various actions through interactive scenarios where learner choices lead to different outcomes.

Embrace the Future: Why L&D Leaders Should Prioritize AI Digital Literacy — from learningguild.com by Dr. Erica McCaig

The role of L&D leaders in AI digital literacy
For L&D leaders, developing AI digital literacy within an organization requires a well-structured curriculum and development plan that equips employees with the knowledge, skills, and ethical grounding needed to thrive in an AI-augmented workplace. This curriculum should encompass a range of competencies that enhance technical understanding and foster a mindset ready for innovation and responsible use of AI. Key areas to focus on include:

Understanding AI Fundamentals: …
Proficiency with AI Tools: …
Ethical Considerations: …
Cultivating Critical Thinking: …

7 Legal Tech Trends To Watch In 2025 — from lexology.com by Sacha Kirk
Australia, United Kingdom November 25 2024

In-house legal teams are changing from a traditional support function to becoming proactive business enablers. New tools are helping legal departments enhance efficiency, improve compliance, and to deliver greater strategic value.

Here’s a look at seven emerging trends that will shape legal tech in 2025 and insights on how in-house teams can capitalise on these innovations.

1. AI Solutions…
2. Regulatory Intelligence Platforms…
…
7. Self-Service Legal Tools and Knowledge Management
As the demand on in-house legal teams continues to grow, self-service tools are becoming indispensable for managing routine legal tasks. In 2025, these tools are expected to evolve further, enabling employees across the organisation to handle straightforward legal processes independently. Whether it’s accessing pre-approved templates, completing standard agreements, or finding answers to common legal queries, self-service platforms reduce the dependency on legal teams for everyday tasks.

Advanced self-service tools go beyond templates, incorporating intuitive workflows, approval pathways, and built-in guidance to ensure compliance with legal and organisational policies. By empowering business users to manage low-risk matters on their own, these tools free up legal teams to focus on complex and high-value work.

What DICE does in this posting will be available 24x7x365 in the future [Christian]

On 11/20/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adjunct faculty, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, career development, changing business models, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, distance education, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, entrepreneurship, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, internet, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, liberal arts, library / librarians, lifelong learning, MBA, microlearning, multimedia, Natural Language Processing (NLP), neurodivergent/special needs, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, online learning, online media, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, remote teaching and learning, skills, staying relevant, student-related, surviving, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, training / L&D, universities, vendors, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, vocational / trades, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, web-based collaboration, Web3, webinars, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
First of all, when you look at the following posting:

What Top Tech Skills Should You Learn for 2025? — from dice.com by Nick Kolakowski

…you will see that they outline which skills you should consider mastering in 2025 if you want to stay on top of the latest career opportunities. They then list more information about the skills, how you apply the skills, and WHERE to get those skills.

I assert that in the future, people will be able to see this information on a 24x7x365 basis.

Which jobs are in demand?
What skills do I need to do those jobs?
WHERE do I get/develop those skills?

And that last part (about the WHERE do I develop those skills) will pull from many different institutions, people, companies, etc.

BUT PEOPLE are the key! Oftentimes, we need to — and prefer to — learn with others!

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.

“AI-governed robots can easily be hacked” [Barsee], a new AI capability called “computer use” + numerous other items re: AI in general

On 10/23/2024, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, communications, communities of practice, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, creativity, data related items, digital video, emerging technologies, Google, health, innovation, IT in HE, media/film, Microsoft, multimedia, new media literacies, Open AI, pace of change, platforms, presentations, productivity / tips and tricks, programming, research, robotics, society, the downsides of how people use tech, tools, United States, universities, vendors, writing, by Daniel Christian

AI-governed robots can easily be hacked — from theaivalley.com by Barsee
PLUS: Sam Altman’s new company “World” introduced…

In a groundbreaking study, researchers from Penn Engineering showed how AI-powered robots can be manipulated to ignore safety protocols, allowing them to perform harmful actions despite normally rejecting dangerous task requests.

What did they find ?

Researchers found previously unknown security vulnerabilities in AI-governed robots and are working to address these issues to ensure the safe use of large language models(LLMs) in robotics.
Their newly developed algorithm, RoboPAIR, reportedly achieved a 100% jailbreak rate by bypassing the safety protocols on three different AI robotic systems in a few days.
Using RoboPAIR, researchers were able to manipulate test robots into performing harmful actions, like bomb detonation and blocking emergency exits, simply by changing how they phrased their commands.

Why does it matter?

This research highlights the importance of spotting weaknesses in AI systems to improve their safety, allowing us to test and train them to prevent potential harm.

From DSC:
Great! Just what we wanted to hear. But does it surprise anyone? Even so…we move forward at warp speeds.

From DSC:
So, given the above item, does the next item make you a bit nervous as well? I saw someone on Twitter/X exclaim, “What could go wrong?” I can’t say I didn’t feel the same way.

Introducing computer use, a new Claude 3.5 Sonnet, and Claude 3.5 Haiku — from anthropic.com

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.

Per The Rundown AI:

The Rundown: Anthropic just introduced a new capability called ‘computer use’, alongside upgraded versions of its AI models, which enables Claude to interact with computers by viewing screens, typing, moving cursors, and executing commands.
…
Why it matters: While many hoped for Opus 3.5, Anthropic’s Sonnet and Haiku upgrades pack a serious punch. Plus, with the new computer use embedded right into its foundation models, Anthropic just sent a warning shot to tons of automation startups—even if the capabilities aren’t earth-shattering… yet.

Also related/see:

What is Anthropic’s AI Computer Use? — from ai-supremacy.com by Michael Spencer
Task automation, AI at the intersection of coding and AI agents take on new frenzied importance heading into 2025 for the commercialization of Generative AI.
New Claude, Who Dis? — from theneurondaily.com
Anthropic just dropped two new Claude models…oh, and Claude can now use your computer.
When you give a Claude a mouse — from oneusefulthing.org by Ethan Mollick
Some quick impressions of an actual agent

Introducing Act-One — from runwayml.com
A new way to generate expressive character performances using simple video inputs.

Per Lore by Nathan Lands:

What makes Act-One special? It can capture the soul of an actor’s performance using nothing but a simple video recording. No fancy motion capture equipment, no complex face rigging, no army of animators required. Just point a camera at someone acting, and watch as their exact expressions, micro-movements, and emotional nuances get transferred to an AI-generated character.

Think about what this means for creators: you could shoot an entire movie with multiple characters using just one actor and a basic camera setup. The same performance can drive characters with completely different proportions and looks, while maintaining the authentic emotional delivery of the original performance. We’re witnessing the democratization of animation tools that used to require millions in budget and years of specialized training.

Also related/see:

Introducing, Act-One. A new way to generate expressive character performances inside Gen-3 Alpha using a single driving video and character image. No motion capture or rigging required.

Learn more about Act-One below.

(1/7) pic.twitter.com/p1Q8lR8K7G

— Runway (@runwayml) October 22, 2024

Google to buy nuclear power for AI datacentres in ‘world first’ deal — from theguardian.com
Tech company orders six or seven small nuclear reactors from California’s Kairos Power

Google has signed a “world first” deal to buy energy from a fleet of mini nuclear reactors to generate the power needed for the rise in use of artificial intelligence.

The US tech corporation has ordered six or seven small nuclear reactors (SMRs) from California’s Kairos Power, with the first due to be completed by 2030 and the remainder by 2035.

Related:

Three Mile Island nuclear plant will reopen to power Microsoft data centers — from npr.org

ChatGPT Topped 3 Billion Visits in September — from similarweb.com

After the extreme peak and summer slump of 2023, ChatGPT has been setting new traffic highs since May

ChatGPT has been topping its web traffic records for months now, with September 2024 traffic up 112% year-over-year (YoY) to 3.1 billion visits, according to Similarweb estimates. That’s a change from last year, when traffic to the site went through a boom-and-bust cycle.

Crazy “AI Army” — from aisecret.us

Also from aisecret.us, see World’s First Nuclear Power Deal For AI Data Centers

Google has made a historic agreement to buy energy from a group of small nuclear reactors (SMRs) from Kairos Power in California. This is the first nuclear power deal specifically for AI data centers in the world.

New updates to help creators build community, drive business, & express creativity on YouTube — from support.google.com

Hey creators!
Made on YouTube 2024 is here and we’ve announced a lot of updates that aim to give everyone the opportunity to build engaging communities, drive sustainable businesses, and express creativity on our platform.

Below is a roundup with key info – feel free to upvote the announcements that you’re most excited about and subscribe to this post to get updates on these features! We’re looking forward to another year of innovating with our global community it’s a future full of opportunities, and it’s all Made on YouTube!

New autonomous agents scale your team like never before — from blogs.microsoft.com

Today, we’re announcing new agentic capabilities that will accelerate these gains and bring AI-first business process to every organization.

First, the ability to create autonomous agents with Copilot Studio will be in public preview next month.
Second, we’re introducing ten new autonomous agents in Dynamics 365 to build capacity for every sales, service, finance and supply chain team.

10 Daily AI Use Cases for Business Leaders— from flexos.work by Daan van Rossum
While AI is becoming more powerful by the day, business leaders still wonder why and where to apply today. I take you through 10 critical use cases where AI should take over your work or partner with you.

Multi-Modal AI: Video Creation Simplified — from heatherbcooper.substack.com by Heather Cooper

Emerging Multi-Modal AI Video Creation Platforms
The rise of multi-modal AI platforms has revolutionized content creation, allowing users to research, write, and generate images in one app. Now, a new wave of platforms is extending these capabilities to video creation and editing.

Multi-modal video platforms combine various AI tools for tasks like writing, transcription, text-to-voice conversion, image-to-video generation, and lip-syncing. These platforms leverage open-source models like FLUX and LivePortrait, along with APIs from services such as ElevenLabs, Luma AI, and Gen-3.

AI Medical Imagery Model Offers Fast, Cost-Efficient Expert Analysis — from developer.nvidia.com/

Voice and Trust in Autonomous Learning Experiences [Brandon]

On 10/05/2024, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Emotion, engagement / engaging students, instructional design, intelligent systems, interaction design, interactivity, productivity / tips and tricks, training / L&D, by Daniel Christian

Voice and Trust in Autonomous Learning Experiences — from learningguild.com by Bill Brandon

This article seeks to apply some lessons from brand management to learning design at a high level. Throughout the rest of this article, it is essential to remember that the context is an autonomous, interactive learning experience. The experience is created adaptively by Gen AI or (soon enough) by agents, not by rigid scripts. It may be that an AI will choose to present prewritten texts or prerecorded videos from a content library according to the human users’ responses or questions. Still, the overall experience will be different for each user. It will be more like a conversation than a book.
…
In summary, while AI chatbots have the potential to enhance learning experiences, their acceptance and effectiveness depend on several factors, including perceived usefulness, ease of use, trust, relational factors, perceived risk, and enjoyment.

Personalization and building trust are essential for maintaining user engagement and achieving positive learning outcomes. The right “voice” for autonomous AI or a chatbot can enhance trust by making interactions more personal, consistent, and empathetic.

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