Essential AI tools for better work — from wondertools.substack.com by Jeremy Caplan My favorite tactics for making the most of AI — a podcast conversation
AI tools I consistently rely on (areas covered mentioned below)
Research and analysis
Communication efficiency
Multimedia creation
AI tactics that work surprisingly well
1. Reverse interviews Instead of just querying AI, have it interview you. Get the AI to interview you, rather than interviewing it. Give it a little context and what you’re focusing on and what you’re interested in, and then you ask it to interview you to elicit your own insights.”
This approach helps extract knowledge from yourself, not just from the AI. Sometimes we need that guide to pull ideas out of ourselves.
Isla Fulford, a researcher at OpenAI, had a hunch that Deep Research would be a hit even before it was released.
Fulford had helped build the artificial intelligence agent, which autonomously explores the web, deciding for itself what links to click, what to read, and what to collate into an in-depth report. OpenAI first made Deep Research available internally; whenever it went down, Fulford says, she was inundated with queries from colleagues eager to have it back. “The number of people who were DMing me made us pretty excited,” says Fulford.
Since going live to the public on February 2, Deep Research has proven to be a hit with many users outside the company too.
Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) will open a quantum computing research lab in Boston which is expected to start operations later this year.
The Nvidia Accelerated Quantum Research Center, or NVAQC, will integrate leading quantum hardware with AI supercomputers, enabling what is known as accelerated quantum supercomputing, said the company in a March 18 press release.
Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang also made this announcement on Thursday at the company’s first-ever Quantum Day at its annual GTC event.
PARIS, March 21 (Reuters) – Pasqal, a fast-growing French quantum computer start-up company, announced on Friday a partnership with chip giant Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab whereby Pasqal’s customers would gain access to more tools to develop quantum applications.
Pasqal said it would connect its quantum computing units and cloud platform onto NVIDIA’s open-source platform called CUDA-Q.
Today, we’re launching new speech-to-text and text-to-speech audio models in the API—making it possible to build more powerful, customizable, and intelligent voice agents that offer real value. Our latest speech-to-text models set a new state-of-the-art benchmark, outperforming existing solutions in accuracy and reliability—especially in challenging scenarios involving accents, noisy environments, and varying speech speeds. These improvements increase transcription reliability, making the models especially well-suited for use cases like customer call centers, meeting note transcription, and more.
From DSC: Look out Google, Amazon, and others! Nvidia is putting the pedal to the metal in terms of being innovative and visionary! They are leaving the likes of Apple in the dust.
The top talent out there is likely to go to Nvidia for a while. Engineers, programmers/software architects, network architects, product designers, data specialists, AI researchers, developers of robotics and autonomous vehicles, R&D specialists, computer vision specialists, natural language processing experts, and many more types of positions will be flocking to Nvidia to work for a company that has already changed the world and will likely continue to do so for years to come.
NVIDIA just shook the AI and Robotic world at NVIDIA GTC 2025.
CEO Jensen Huang announced jaw-dropping breakthroughs.
Here are the top 11 key highlights you can’t afford to miss: (wait till you see no 3) pic.twitter.com/domejuVdw5
For enterprises, NVIDIA unveiled DGX Spark and DGX Station—Jensen’s vision of AI-era computing, bringing NVIDIA’s powerful Blackwell chip directly to your desk.
Nvidia Bets Big on Synthetic Data — from wired.com by Lauren Goode Nvidia has acquired synthetic data startup Gretel to bolster the AI training data used by the chip maker’s customers and developers.
Nvidia, xAI to Join BlackRock and Microsoft’s $30 Billion AI Infrastructure Fund — from investopedia.com by Aaron McDade Nvidia and xAI are joining BlackRock and Microsoft in an AI infrastructure group seeking $30 billion in funding. The group was first announced in September as BlackRock and Microsoft sought to fund new data centers to power AI products.
AI Super Bowl. Hi everyone. This week, 20,000 engineers, scientists, industry executives, and yours truly descended upon San Jose, Calif. for Nvidia’s annual GTC developers’ conference, which has been dubbed the “Super Bowl of AI.”
AI in K12: Today’s Breakthroughs and Tomorrow’s Possibilities (webinar) How AI is Transforming Classrooms Today and What’s Next
Audio-Based Learning 4.0— from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr. Philippa Hardman A new & powerful way to leverage AI for learning?
At the end of all of this my reflection is that the research paints a pretty exciting picture – audio-based learning isn’t just effective, it’s got some unique superpowers when it comes to boosting comprehension, ramping up engagement, and delivering feedback that really connects with learners.
While audio has been massively under-used as a mode of learning, especially compared to video and text, we’re at an interesting turning point where AI tools are making it easier than ever to tap into audio’s potential as a pedagogical tool.
What’s super interesting is how the solid research backing audio’s effectiveness is and how well this is converging with these new AI capabilities.
From DSC: I’ve noticed that I don’t learn as well via audio-only based events. It can help if visuals are also provided, but I have to watch the cognitive loads. My processing can start to get overloaded — to the point that I have to close my eyes and just listen sometimes. But there are people I know who love to listen to audiobooks and prefer to learn that way. They can devour content and process/remember it all. Audio is a nice change of pace at times, but I prefer visuals and reading often times. It needs to be absolutely quiet if I’m tackling some new information/learning.
In Conversation With… Ashton Cousineau — from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr. Philippa Hardman A new video series exploring how L&D professionals are working with AI on the ground
In Conversation With… Ashton Cousineau by Dr Philippa Hardman
A new video series exploring how L&D professionals are working with AI on the ground
AI-Infused Learning Design – A structured approach to AI-enhanced assignments using a three-step model for AI integration.
Mathematical Dance and Creativity in STEAM – Using AI-powered motion capture to translate dance movements into mathematical models.
AI-Generated Instructional Videos – How adaptive AI-powered video learning enhances problem-solving and knowledge retention.
Immersive Language Learning with XR & AI – A new framework for integrating AI-driven conversational agents with Extended Reality (XR) for task-based language learning.
Decision-Making in Learning Design – A scoping review on how instructional designers navigate complex instructional choices and make data-driven decisions.
Interactive E-Books and Engagement – Examining the impact of interactive digital books on student motivation, comprehension, and cognitive engagement.
Elevating Practitioner Voices in Instructional Design – A new initiative to amplify instructional designers’ contributions to research and innovation.
Here’s a quick teaser of key developments in the world of AI & learning this month:
DeepSeek R-1, OpenAI’s Deep Seek & Perplexity’s ‘Deep Research’ are the latest additions to a growing number of “reasoning models” with interesting implications for evidence-based learning design & development.
The U.S. Education Dept release an AI Toolkit and a fresh policy roadmap enabling the adoption of AI use in schools.
Anthropic Release “Agentic Claude”, another AI agent that clicks, scrolls, and can even successfully complete e-learning courses…
Oxford University Announce the AIEOU Hub, a research-backed research lab to support research and implementation on AI in education.
“AI Agents Everywhere”: A Forbes peek at how agentic AI will handle the “boring bits” of classroom life.
[Bias klaxon!] Epiphany AI: My own research leads to the creation of a specialised, “pedagogy first” AI co-pilot for instructional design marking the continued growth of specialised AI tools designed for specific industries and workflows.
Through my work with leading educational institutions at Kaltura, I’ve seen firsthand how AI agents are rapidly becoming indispensable. These agents alleviate the mounting burdens on educators and provide new generations of tech-savvy students with accessible, personalized learning, giving teachers the support they need to give their students the personalized attention and engagement they deserve.
This HQ includes all of my AI guides, organized by tool/platform. This list is updated each time a new one is released, and outdated guides are removed/replaced over time.
Artificial intelligence is poised to fundamentally change the job of teaching. AI-powered tools can shave hours off the amount of time teachers spend grading, lesson-planning, and creating materials. AI can also enrich the lessons they deliver in the classroom and help them meet the varied needs of all students. And it can even help bolster teachers’ own professional growth and development.
Despite all the promise of AI, though, experts still urge caution as the technology continues to evolve. Ethical questions and practical concerns are bubbling to the surface, and not all teachers feel prepared to effectively and safely use AI.
In this special report, see how early-adopter teachers are using AI tools to transform their daily work, tackle some of the roadblocks to expanded use of the technology, and understand what’s on the horizon for the teaching profession in the age of artificial intelligence.
– assessment
– funding
– deportations
– opposition to trans students
– mental health
– AI/AGI world
– a struggle to engage students
– too many hats
– war risks
– resource redistribution and civil conflict
There’s a half-billion-dollar federal program that is supposed to help students with disabilities get into the workforce when they leave high school, but most parents — and even some school officials — don’t know it exists. As a result, hundreds of thousands of students who could be getting help go without it. New Jersey had the nation’s lowest proportion — roughly 2 percent — of eligible students receiving these services in 2023.
More than a decade ago, Congress recognized the need to help young people with disabilities get jobs, and earmarked funding for pre-employment transition services to help students explore and train for careers and send them on a pathway to independence after high school. Yet, today, fewer than 40 percent of people with disabilities ages 16 to 64 are employed, even though experts say most are capable of working.
Both vocational rehabilitation agencies and schools are required by law to provide certain transition services and supports to improve post-school outcomes of students with disabilities.
The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) amends the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and requires vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies to set aside at least 15% of their federal funds to provide pre-employment transition services (Pre-ETS) to students with disabilities who are eligible or potentially eligible for VR services. The intent of pre-employment transition services is to:
improve the transition of students with disabilities from school to postsecondary education or to an employment outcome, increase opportunities for students with disabilities to practice and improve workplace readiness skills, through work-based learning experiences in a competitive, integrated work setting and increase opportunities for students with disabilities to explore post-secondary training options, leading to more industry recognized credentials, and meaningful post-secondary employment.
I’m a supporter of evolving classroom spaces—of redesigning the layout of the room as the needs and interests of students develop. The easiest way to accommodate students, I’ve found, is to use the furniture itself to set up a functional, spacious, and logical classroom. There are several benefits to this approach. It provides children with safe, low-stakes environmental changes; fosters flexibility; and creates opportunities for spatial adaptation and problem-solving. Additionally, rearranging the room throughout the school year enables teachers to address potential catalysts for challenging behaviors and social conflicts that may arise, while sparking curiosity in an otherwise-familiar space.
While instructional videos were prepared out of necessity in the past, I’ve rediscovered their utility as a quick, flexible, and personal way to enhance classroom teaching. Instructional videos can be created through free screencasting software such as Screencastify, ScreenRec, Loom, or OBS Studio. Screencasting would be ideal for the direct presentation of information, like a slide deck of notes. Phone cameras make practical recording devices for live content beyond the computer screen, like a science demo. A teacher could invest in a phone stand and ring light at a nominal cost to assist in this type of recording.
However, not all teacher videos are created equal, and I’ve discovered four benefits and strategies that help make these teaching tools more effective.
6 Strategies for Building a Sustainable STEM Ecosystem — from edutopia.org by Rich Schiccatano Upper elementary teachers can use these ideas to create meaningful, interdisciplinary STEM opportunities that encourage experimentation.
With that out of the way, I prefer Claude.ai for writing. For larger projects like a book, create a Claude Project to keep all context in one place.
Copy [the following] prompts into a document
Use them in sequence as you write
Adjust the word counts and specifics as needed
Keep your responses for reference
Use the same prompt template for similar sections to maintain consistency
Each prompt builds on the previous one, creating a systematic approach to helping you write your book.
Using NotebookLM to Boost College Reading Comprehension— from michellekassorla.substack.com by Michelle Kassorla and Eugenia Novokshanova This semester, we are using NotebookLM to help our students comprehend and engage with scholarly texts
We were looking hard for a new tool when Google released NotebookLM. Not only does Google allow unfettered use of this amazing tool, it is also a much better tool for the work we require in our courses. So, this semester, we have scrapped our “old” tools and added NotebookLM as the primary tool for our English Composition II courses (and we hope, fervently, that Google won’t decide to severely limit its free tier before this semester ends!)
If you know next-to-nothing about NotebookLM, that’s OK. What follows is the specific lesson we present to our students. We hope this will help you understand all you need to know about NotebookLM, and how to successfully integrate the tool into your own teaching this semester.
AFTER two years of working closely with leadership in multiple institutions, and delivering countless workshops, I’ve seen one thing repeatedly: the biggest challenge isn’t the technology itself, but how we lead through it. Here is some of my best advice to help you navigate generative AI with clarity and confidence:
Break your own AI policies before you implement them. …
Fund your failures. …
Resist the pilot program. …
Host Anti-Tech Tech Talks …
…+ several more tips
While generative AI in higher education obviously involves new technology, it’s much more about adopting a curious and human-centric approach in your institution and communities. It’s about empowering learners in new, human-oriented and innovative ways. It is, in a nutshell, about people adapting to new ways of doing things.
Maria Anderson responded to Clay’s posting with this idea:
Here’s an idea: […] the teacher can use the [most advanced] AI tool to generate a complete solution to “the problem” — whatever that is — and demonstrate how to do that in class. Give all the students access to the document with the results.
And then grade the students on a comprehensive followup activity / presentation of executing that solution (no notes, no more than 10 words on a slide). So the students all have access to the same deep AI result, but have to show they comprehend and can iterate on that result.
In this age of distrust, misinformation, and skepticism, you may wonder how to demonstrate your sources within a Google Document. Did you type it yourself, copy and paste it from a browser-based source, copy and paste it from an unknown source, or did it come from generative AI?
You may not think this is an important clarification, but if writing is a critical part of your livelihood or life, you will definitely want to demonstrate your sources.
That’s where the new Grammarly feature comes in.
The new feature is called Authorship, and according to Grammarly, “Grammarly Authorship is a set of features that helps users demonstrate their sources of text in a Google doc. When you activate Authorship within Google Docs, it proactively tracks the writing process as you write.”
AI Agents Are Coming to Higher Education — from govtech.com AI agents are customizable tools with more decision-making power than chatbots. They have the potential to automate more tasks, and some schools have implemented them for administrative and educational purposes.
Custom GPTs are on the rise in education. Google’s version, Gemini Gems, includes a premade version called Learning Coach, and Microsoft announced last week a new agent addition to Copilot featuring use cases at educational institutions.
Generative Artificial Intelligence and Education: A Brief Ethical Reflection on Autonomy— from er.educause.edu by Vicki Strunk and James Willis Given the widespread impacts of generative AI, looking at this technology through the lens of autonomy can help equip students for the workplaces of the present and of the future, while ensuring academic integrity for both students and instructors.
The principle of autonomy stresses that we should be free agents who can govern ourselves and who are able to make our own choices. This principle applies to AI in higher education because it raises serious questions about how, when, and whether AI should be used in varying contexts. Although we have only begun asking questions related to autonomy and many more remain to be asked, we hope that this serves as a starting place to consider the uses of AI in higher education.
Top AI Tools of 2024 — from ai-supremacy.com by Michael Spencer (behind a paywall) Which AI tools stood out for me in 2024? My list.
Memorable AI Tools of 2024
Catergories included:
Useful
Popular
Captures the zeighest of AI product innovation
Fun to try
Personally satisfying
NotebookLM
Perplexity
Claude
…
New “best” AI tool? Really? — from theneurondaily.com by Noah and Grant
PLUS: A free workaround to the “best” new AI…
What is Google’s Deep Research tool, and is it really “the best” AI research tool out there? … Here’s how it works: Think of Deep Research as a research team that can simultaneously analyze 50+ websites, compile findings, and create comprehensive reports—complete with citations.
Unlike asking ChatGPT to research for you, Deep Research shows you its research plan before executing, letting you edit the approach to get exactly what you need.
…
It’s currently free for the first month (though it’ll eventually be $20/month) when bundled with Gemini Advanced. Then again, Perplexity is always free…just saying.
We couldn’t just take J-Cal’s word for it, so we rounded up some other takes:
Our take: We then compared Perplexity, ChatGPT Search, and Deep Research (which we’re calling DR, or “The Docta” for short) on robot capabilities from CES revealed:
An excerpt from today’s Morning Edition from Bloomberg
Global banks will cut as many as 200,000 jobs in the next three to five years—a net 3% of the workforce—as AI takes on more tasks, according to a Bloomberg Intelligence survey. Back, middle office and operations are most at risk. A reminder that Citi said last year that AI is likely to replace more jobs in banking than in any other sector. JPMorgan had a more optimistic view (from an employee perspective, at any rate), saying its AI rollout has augmented, not replaced, jobs so far.
Introducing the 2025 Wonder Media Calendar for tweens, teens, and their families/households.Designed by Sue Ellen Christian and her students in her Global Media Literacy class (in the fall 2024 semester at Western Michigan University), the calendar’s purpose is to help people create a new year filled with skills and smart decisions about their media use. This calendar is part of the ongoing Wonder Media Library.comproject that includes videos, lesson plans, games, songs and more. The website is funded by a generous grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, in partnership with Western Michigan University and the Library of Michigan.
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.
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.
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:
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.
Risks on the Horizon: ASL Levels The two key risks Dario is concerned about are:
a) cyber, bio, radiological, nuclear (CBRN)
b) model autonomy
These risks are captured in Anthropic’s framework for understanding AI Safety Levels (ASL):
1. ASL-1: Narrow-task AI like Deep Blue (no autonomy, minimal risk).
2. ASL-2: Current systems like ChatGPT/Claude, which lack autonomy and don’t pose significant risks beyond information already accessible via search engines.
3. ASL-3: Agents arriving soon (potentially next year) that can meaningfully assist non-state actors in dangerous activities like cyber or CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear) attacks. Security and filtering are critical at this stage to prevent misuse.
4. ASL-4: AI smart enough to evade detection, deceive testers, and assist state actors with dangerous projects. AI will be strong enough that you would want to use the model to do anything dangerous. Mechanistic interpretability becomes crucial for verifying AI behavior.
5. ASL-5: AGI surpassing human intelligence in all domains, posing unprecedented challenges.
Anthropic’s if/then framework ensures proactive responses: if a model demonstrates danger, the team clamps down hard, enforcing strict controls.
Should You Still Learn to Code in an A.I. World? — from nytimes.com by Coding boot camps once looked like the golden ticket to an economically secure future. But as that promise fades, what should you do? Keep learning, until further notice.
Compared with five years ago, the number of active job postings for software developers has dropped 56 percent, according to data compiled by CompTIA. For inexperienced developers, the plunge is an even worse 67 percent.
“I would say this is the worst environment for entry-level jobs in tech, period, that I’ve seen in 25 years,” said Venky Ganesan, a partner at the venture capital firm Menlo Ventures.
For years, the career advice from everyone who mattered — the Apple chief executive Tim Cook, your mother — was “learn to code.” It felt like an immutable equation: Coding skills + hard work = job.
There’s a new coding startup in town, and it just MIGHT have everybody else shaking in their boots (we’ll qualify that in a sec, don’t worry).
It’s called Lovable, the “world’s first AI fullstack engineer.”
… Lovable does all of that by itself. Tell it what you want to build in plain English, and it creates everything you need. Want users to be able to log in? One click. Need to store data? One click. Want to accept payments? You get the idea.
Early users are backing up these claims. One person even launched a startup that made Product Hunt’s top 10 using just Lovable.
As for us, we made a Wordle clone in 2 minutes with one prompt. Only edit needed? More words in the dictionary. It’s like, really easy y’all.
From DSC: I have to admit I’m a bit suspicious here, as the “conversation practice” product seems a bit too scripted at times, but I post it because the idea of using AI to practice soft skills development makes a great deal of sense:
This is mind-blowing!
NVIDIA has introduced Edify 3D, a 3D AI generator that lets us create high-quality 3D scenes using just a simple prompt. And all the assets are fully editable!
…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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
The TLDR here is that, as useful as popular AI tools are for learners, as things stand they only enable us to take the very first steps on what is a long and complex journey of learning.
AI tools like ChatGPT 4o, Claude 3.5 & NotebookLM can help to give us access to information but (for now at least) the real work of learning remains in our – the humans’ – hands.
To which Anna Mills had a solid comment:
It might make a lot of sense to regulate generated audio to require some kind of watermark and/or metadata. Instructors who teach online and assign voice recordings, we need to recognize that these are now very easy and free to auto-generate. In some cases we are assigning this to discourage students from using AI to just autogenerate text responses, but audio is not immune.
The Adobe Firefly Video Model (beta) expands Adobe’s family of creative generative AI models and is the first publicly available video model designed to be safe for commercial use
Enhancements to Firefly models include 4x faster image generation and new capabilities integrated into Photoshop, Illustrator, Adobe Express and now Premiere Pro
Firefly has been used to generate 13 billion images since March 2023 and is seeing rapid adoption by leading brands and enterprises
Add sound to your video via text — Project Super Sonic:
New Dream Weaver — from aisecret.us Explore Adobe’s New Firefly Video Generative Model
Cybercriminals exploit voice cloning to impersonate individuals, including celebrities and authority figures, to commit fraud. They create urgency and trust to solicit money through deceptive means, often utilizing social media platforms for audio samples.
