“…what if generative AI could provide every instructor with a genuine teaching assistant – a teaching assistant that actually assisted instructors with their teaching?”
For my cryptography course, Mollick’s first option would probably mean throwing out all my existing reading questions. My intent with these reading questions was noble, that is, to guide students to the big questions and debates in the field, but those are exactly the kinds of questions for which AI can write decent answers. Maybe the AI tools would fare worse in a more advanced course with very specialized readings, but in my intro to cryptography course, they can handle my existing reading questions with ease.
What about option two? I think one version of this would be to do away with the reading response assignment altogether.
Generative AI imagines new protein structures — from news.mit.edu by Rachel Gordon; resource from Sunday Signal MIT researchers develop “FrameDiff,” a computational tool that uses generative AI to craft new protein structures, with the aim of accelerating drug development and improving gene therapy.
Ready to Sing Elvis Karaoke … as Elvis? The Weird Rise of AI Music — from rollingstone.com by Brian Hiatt; resource from Misha da Vinci From voice-cloning wars to looming copyright disputes to a potential flood of nonhuman music on streaming, AI is already a musical battleground
Improving Access to Justice: One significant advantage of AI in the legal profession is its potential to improve access to justice. The high costs associated with legal services have traditionally created barriers for individuals with limited financial means. However, AI-powered solutions can help bridge this gap by providing affordable and accessible legal information and guidance. Virtual legal assistants and chatbots can assist individuals with legal queries, empowering them to navigate legal processes more effectively and make informed decisions. By leveraging AI, the legal profession can become more inclusive and ensure that legal services are available to a broader segment of society.
Also relevant/see:
Law Unlimited: Welcome to the re-envisioned legal profession — from jordanfurlong.substack.com by Jordan Furlong Will Generative AI destroy law firms? Only if lawyers are too fixed in their ways to see the possibilities that lie beyond who we’ve always been and what we’ve always done.
Excerpt:
The immediate impact of Gen AI on legal services will be to introduce unprecedented efficiency to the production of countless legal documents and processes. For most of the last century, lawyers have personally performed this work, spending and billing hours or parts of hours to accomplish each task. Law firms have used this production method to provide on-the-job training for inexperienced lawyers and have leveraged those hours to generate profits for their partners. But LLMs can now do the same work in seconds, as effectively as lawyers can today and much better in the near future. This is, among other things, a very serious problem for law firms’ business models and talent development practices, not to mention a real challenge to lawyer education and training and potentially a revolution in access to justice.
A quick note: When I refer to neurodivergent (ND) students, I mean people whose mental or neurological function is different from what is considered typical. This includes not only students with ADHD or autism, but also those with anxiety, depression, or other mental-health disorders. Crucially, I’m also writing here about the many college students who are struggling with their mental health for whatever reason, and need our understanding and care to prevent them from doing poorly, dropping out, or facing something much, much worse.
Two key messages underlie all of the advice that follows: More communication. Less suspicion.
Also from Katie Rose Guest Pryal out at The Chronicle, of Higher Education, see:
Chatbots, data scientists, software engineers. As clients demand more for less, law firms are hiring growing numbers of staff who’ve studied technology not tort law to try and stand out from their rivals.
Law firms are advertising for experts in artificial intelligence “more than ever before,” says Chris Tart-Roberts, head of the legal technology practice at Macfarlanes, describing a trend he says began about six months ago.
Law firm leaders and consultants are unsure of how AI use will ultimately impact the legal workforce.
Consults are advising law firms and attorneys alike to adapt to the use of generative AI, viewing this as an opportunity for attorneys to learn new skills and law firms to take a look at their business models.
Split between foreseeing job cuts and opportunities to introduce new skills and additional efficiencies into the office, firm leaders and consultants remain uncertain about the impact of artificial intelligence on the legal workforce.
However, one thing is certain: law firms and attorneys need to adapt and learn how to integrate this new technology in their business models, according to consultants.
Are you overwhelmed by countless cases, complex legal concepts, and endless readings? Law School AI is here to help. Our cutting-edge AI chatbot is designed to provide law students with an accessible, efficient, and engaging way to learn the law. Our chatbot simplifies complex legal topics, delivers personalized study guidance, and answers your questions in real-time – making your law school journey a whole lot easier.
Job title of the future: metaverse lawyer— from technologyreview.com by Amanda Smith Madaline Zannes’s virtual offices come with breakout rooms, an art gallery… and a bar. .
Excerpt:
Lot #651 on Somnium Space belongs to Zannes Law, a Toronto-based law firm. In this seven-level metaverse office, principal lawyer Madaline Zannes conducts private consultations with clients, meets people wandering in with legal questions, hosts conferences, and gives guest lectures. Zannes says that her metaverse office allows for a more immersive, imaginative client experience. She hired a custom metaverse builder to create the space from scratch—with breakout rooms, presentation stages, offices to rent, an art gallery, and a rooftop bar.
Greg spoke with an AI guest named Justis for this episode. Justis, powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4, was able to have a natural conversation with Greg and provide insightful perspectives on the use of generative AI in the legal industry, specifically in law firms.
In the first part of their discussion, Justis gave an overview of the legal industry’s interest in and uncertainty around adopting generative AI. While many law firm leaders recognize its potential, some are unsure of how it fits into legal work or worry about risks. Justis pointed to examples of firms exploring AI and said letting lawyers experiment with the tools could help identify use cases.
Putting Humans First: Solving Real-Life Problems With Legal Innovation— from abovethelaw.com by Olga Mack Placing the end-user at the heart of the process allows innovators to identify pain points and create solutions that directly address the unique needs and challenges individuals and businesses face.
A pilot project designed to test the potential of artificial intelligence tools at McCarthy Tétrault LLP showed that certain types of applications for the legal profession seemed to work better than others, panellists told attendees to the recent Canadian Lawyer Legal Tech Summit.
“I would say that the results were mixed,” David Cohen, senior director of client service delivery for the firm. During the panel, moderated by University of Calgary assistant professor Gideon Christian, Cohen spoke about a pilot of about 40 lawyers from different practices at the firm who used an AI platform with only public data.
The group [testing the platform] said it needs to get better before we start using this for research,” he said. However, he said, when it came to tasks like generating documents, reviewing 100-page cases “and summarizing and analyzing them,” the AI platforms did much better.
To help with this, our Client Success Team have summarised the eight key legal technology trends in the market, as well as the themes discussed at recent legal technology events and conferences including the British Legal Technology Forum and iManage ConnectLive Virtual 2023, both of which we were proud to sponsor.
On a somewhat related note, also see:
Designing the Law Office of the Future — from workdesign.com by Deborah Nemeth Deborah Nemeth of SmithGroup shares how inspiration from higher education and hospitality can help inform the next evolution of the law office.
“The proposed transaction will complement Thomson Reuters existing AI roadmap and builds on its recent initiatives, including a commitment to invest more than $100 million annually on AI capabilities, the development of new generative AI experiences across its product suite, as well as a new plugin with Microsoft and Microsoft 365 Copilot for legal professionals,” TR’s announcement said.
From DSC: I post this to show how AI continues to make inroads into the legal realm — and how serious vendors are about it. I believe AI-enabled applications will eventually increase access to justice for the citizens of the United States of America.
Below is an addendum on 6/28/23 that further illustrates how serious vendors are about AI:
Databricks announced it will pay $1.3 billion to acquire MosaicML, an open source startup with neural networks expertise that has built a platform for organizations to train large language models and deploy generative AI tools based on them.
— Daniel Christian (he/him/his) (@dchristian5) June 23, 2023
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On giving AI eyes and ears— from oneusefulthing.org by Ethan Mollick AI can listen and see, with bigger implications than we might realize.
Excerpt:
But even this is just the beginning, and new modes of using AI are appearing, which further increases their capabilities. I want to show you some examples of this emerging world, which I think will soon introduce a new wave of AI use cases, and accompanying disruption.
We need to recognize that these capabilities will continue to grow, and AI will be able to play a more active role in the real world by observing and listening. The implications are likely to be profound, and we should start thinking through both the huge benefits and major concerns today.
Even though generative AI is a new thing, it doesn’t change why students cheat. They’ve always cheated for the same reason: They don’t find the work meaningful, and they don’t think they can achieve it to their satisfaction. So we need to design assessments that students find meaning in.
Tricia Bertram Gallant
Caught off guard by AI— from chonicle.com by Beth McMurtrie and Beckie Supiano Professor scrambled to react to ChatGPT this spring — and started planning for the fall
Excerpt:
Is it cheating to use AI to brainstorm, or should that distinction be reserved for writing that you pretend is yours? Should AI be banned from the classroom, or is that irresponsible, given how quickly it is seeping into everyday life? Should a student caught cheating with AI be punished because they passed work off as their own, or given a second chance, especially if different professors have different rules and students aren’t always sure what use is appropriate?
…OpenAI built tool use right into the GPT API with an update called function calling. It’s a little like a child’s ability to ask their parents to help them with a task that they know they can’t do on their own. Except in this case, instead of parents, GPT can call out to external code, databases, or other APIs when it needs to.
Each function in function calling represents a tool that a GPT model can use when necessary, and GPT gets to decide which ones it wants to use and when. This instantly upgrades GPT capabilities—not because it can now do every task perfectly—but because it now knows how to ask for what it wants and get it. .
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How ChatGPT can help disrupt assessment overload— from timeshighereducation.com by David Carless Advances in AI are not necessarily the enemy – in fact, they should prompt long overdue consideration of assessment types and frequency, says David Carless
Excerpt:
Reducing the assessment burden could support trust in students as individuals wanting to produce worthwhile, original work. Indeed, students can be co-opted as partners in designing their own assessment tasks, so they can produce something meaningful to them.
A strategic reduction in quantity of assessment would also facilitate a refocusing of assessment priorities on deep understanding more than just performance and carries potential to enhance feedback processes.
If we were to tackle assessment overload in these ways, it opens up various possibilities. Most significantly there is potential to revitalise feedback so that it becomes a core part of a learning cycle rather than an adjunct at its end. End-of-semester, product-oriented feedback, which comes after grades have already been awarded, fails to encourage the iterative loops and spirals typical of productive learning. .
Since AI in education has been moving at the speed of light, we built this AI Tools in Education database to keep track of the most recent AI tools in education and the changes that are happening every day.This database is intended to be a community resource for educators, researchers, students, and other edtech specialists looking to stay up to date. This is a living document, so be sure to come back for regular updates.
These claims conjure up the rosiest of images: human resource departments and their robot buddies solving discrimination in workplace hiring. It seems plausible, in theory, that AI could root out unconscious bias, but a growing body of research shows the opposite may be more likely.
…
Companies’ use of AI didn’t come out of nowhere: For example, automated applicant tracking systems have been used in hiring for decades. That means if you’ve applied for a job, your resume and cover letter were likely scanned by an automated system. You probably heard from a chatbot at some point in the process. Your interview might have been automatically scheduled and later even assessed by AI.
From DSC:
Here was my reflection on this:
DC: Along these lines, I wonder if Applicant Tracking Systems cause us to become like typecast actors and actresses — only thought of for certain roles. Pigeonholed.
— Daniel Christian (he/him/his) (@dchristian5) June 23, 2023
In June, ResumeBuilder.com surveyed more than 1,000 employees who are involved in hiring processes at their workplaces to find out about their companies’ use of AI interviews.
The results:
43% of companies already have or plan to adopt AI interviews by 2024
Two-thirds of this group believe AI interviews will increase hiring efficiency
15% say that AI will be used to make decisions on candidates without any human input
More than half believe AI will eventually replace human hiring managers
Watch OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on the Future of AI — from bloomberg.com Sam Altman, CEO & Co-Founder, OpenAI discusses the explosive rise of OpenAI and its products and what an AI-laced future can look like with Bloomberg’s Emily Chang at the Bloomberg Technology Summit.
The implementation of generative AI within these products will dramatically improve educators’ ability to deliver personalized learning to students at scale by enabling the application of personalized assessments and learning pathways based on individual student needs and learning goals. K-12 educators will also benefit from access to OpenAI technology…
Why it matters: The best AI assistants will be the ones that require the least prompting. They’ll get to know who you are, what you need, and your modus operandi. Profiles are a good starting point, but we believe the game-changer will be larger context windows (that’s nerd-speak for the amount of context ChatGPT can handle). .
From DSC: And how about taking this a step further and remembering — or being able to access — our constantly updated Cloud-Based Learning Profiles?
My hypothesis and research suggest that as bar associations and the ABA begin to recognize the on-going systemic issues of high-cost legal education, growing legal deserts (where no lawyer serves a given population), on-going and pervasive access to justice issues, and a public that is already weary of the legal system – alternative options that are already in play might become more supported.
What might that look like?
The combination of AI-assisted education with traditional legal apprenticeships has the potential to create a rich, flexible, and engaging learning environment. Here are three scenarios that might illustrate what such a combination could look like:
Scenario One – Personalized Curriculum Development
Scenario Two – On-Demand Tutoring and Mentoring
Scenario Three – AI-assisted Peer Networks and Collaborative Learning:
We know that there are challenges – a threat to human jobs, the potential implications for cyber security and data theft, or perhaps even an existential threat to humanity as a whole. But we certainly don’t yet have a full understanding of all of the implications. In fact, a World Economic Forum report recently stated that organizations “may currently underappreciate AI-related risks,” with just four percent of leaders considering the risk level to be “significant.”
A survey carried out by analysts Baker McKenzie concluded that many C-level leaders are over-confident in their assessments of organizational preparedness in relation to AI. In particular, it exposed concerns about the potential implications of biased data when used to make HR decisions.
AI & lawyer training: How law firms can embrace hybrid learning & development — thomsonreuters.com A big part of law firms’ successful adaptation to the increased use of ChatGPT and other forms of generative AI, may depend upon how firmly they embrace online learning & development tools designed for hybrid work environments
Excerpt:
As law firms move forward in using of advanced artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT and other forms of generative AI, their success may hinge upon how they approach lawyer training and development and what tools they enlist for the process.
One of the tools that some law firms use to deliver a new, multi-modal learning environment is an online, video-based learning platform, Hotshot, that delivers more than 250 on-demand courses on corporate, litigation, and business skills.
Ian Nelson, co-founder of Hotshot, says he has seen a dramatic change in how law firms are approaching learning & development (L&D) in the decade or so that Hotshot has been active. He believes the biggest change is that 10 years ago, firms hadn’t yet embraced the need to focus on training and development.
From DSC: Heads up law schools. Are you seeing/hearing this!?
Are we moving more towards a lifelong learning model within law schools?
If not, shouldn’t we be doing that?
Are LLM programs expanding quickly enough? Is more needed?
IAALS, the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System at the University of Denver, announced today the release of its new report, Allied Legal Professionals: A National Framework for Program Growth. As part of IAALS’ Allied Legal Professionals project—which is generously supported by the Sturm Family Foundation—this report includes multiple research-informed recommendations to help standardize a new tier of legal professionals across states, with the goal of increasing the options for accessible and affordable legal help for the public.
“To hire a lawyer, people either need considerable money or have an income low enough to qualify for the limited legal aid available. The problem is that the majority of people in the middle class don’t fit into either of those categories, making access to legal services incredibly difficult,” says IAALS Director of Special Projects Michael Houlberg. “Even if every lawyer took on pro bono clients, it wouldn’t come close to addressing the need. And IAALS’ research shows that people who need legal help are open to receiving it from qualified and authorized providers who are not lawyers.”
We have a massive opportunity to transform law and legal services to better serve society. We MUST AUTOMATE the majority of what lawyers do today so that we can expand access to the law and justice for EVERYONE in the future.
From DSC: I put the following comment on Dan’s posting:
I couldn’t agree more Dan. Millions of people could benefit from the considered, careful research of — and eventual application of — technologies to significantly improve/impact access to justice (#A2J).
According to a recent report from Goldman Sachs, a bank, 44% of legal tasks could be performed by AI, more than in any occupation surveyed except for clerical and administrative support. Lawyers spend an awful lot of time scrutinising tedious documents—the sort of thing that AI has already demonstrated it can do well. Lawyers use AI for a variety of tasks, including due diligence, research and data analytics. These applications have largely relied on “extractive” AI, which, as the name suggests, extracts information from a text, answering specific questions about its contents.
Ultimately this will be good news for clients. “People who go to lawyers don’t want lawyers: they want resolutions to their problems or the avoidance of problems altogether,” explains Mr Susskind. If AI can provide those outcomes then people will use AI. Many people already use software to do their taxes rather than rely on professionals; “Very few of them are complaining about the lack of social interaction with their tax advisers.”
From DSC: Dr. Nino makes several solid points in this article. The article won’t let me copy/paste some excerpts for you, but I would encourage you to look at it.
I would add a few things:
The huge advantage of online-based learning is that a significant amount of learning-related data is automatically captured and doesn’t need to be manually entered (if such manually entered data ever does get entered…which most of it doesn’t).
Learners have much more control over the pacing within the digital realm — i.e., which media they want to use as well as stopping/fast-forwarding/rewinding certain kinds of media.
Most people are now required to be lifelong learners — where convenience and time-savings become very important factors in continuing one’s education
And finally, as AI and other technologies continue to make their way forward, it will be hard to beat online-based and/or hybrid-based learning.
AI21 Labs concludes largest Turing Test experiment to date — from ai21.com As part of an ongoing social and educational research project, AI21 Labs is thrilled to share the initial results of what has now become the largest Turing Test in history by scale. .
