Radar trends to watch: May 2022 — from oreilly.com
Developments in Web3, Security, Biology, and More
Excerpt:
April was the month for large language models. There was one announcement after another; most new models were larger than the previous ones, several claimed to be significantly more energy efficient.
The amazing opportunities of AI in the future of the educational metaverse — from forbes.com by Rem Darbinyan
Excerpt:
Looking ahead, let’s go over several potential AI-backed applications of the metaverse that can empower the education industry in many ways.
Multilingual Learning Opportunities
Language differences may be a real challenge for students from different cultures as they may not be able to understand and keep up with the materials and assignments. Artificial intelligence, VR and AR technologies can enhance multilingual accessibility for learners no matter where they are in the world. Speech-to-text, text-to-speech and machine translation technologies enrich the learning process and create more immersive learning environments.
…
AI can process multiple languages simultaneously and provide real-time translations, enabling learners to engage with the materials in the language of their choice. With the ability to instantly transcribe speech across multiple languages, artificial intelligence removes any language barriers for students, enabling them to be potentially involved, learn and communicate in any language.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Education Market size exceeded USD 1 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 40% between 2021 and 2027. (source)
Along the lines of innovation within our educational learning ecosystems, see:
3 Questions for Coursera’s Betty Vandenbosch & U-M’s Lauren Atkins Budde on XR — from insidehighered.com by Joshua Kiim
How might extended reality shape the future of learning?
Excerpts (emphasis DSC):
[Lauren Atkins Budde] “Being able to embed quality, effective extended reality experiences into online courses is exponentially a game-changer. One of the persistent constraints of online learning, especially at scale, is how do learners get hands-on practice? How do they experience specific contexts and situations? How do they learn things that are best experienced? XR provides that opportunity for actively doing different kinds of tasks, in various environments, in ways that would otherwise not be possible. It will open up Lauren Atkins Buddeboth how we teach online and also what we teach online.”
…
These courses are really exciting and cover a broad range of disciplines, which is particularly important. To choose the right subjects, we did an extensive review of insights from industry partners, learners and market research on in-demand and emerging future-of-work skills and then paired that with content opportunities where immersive learning is really a value-add and creates what our learning experience designers call “embodied learning.”
Addendum on 5/1/22:
Can the Metaverse Improve Learning? New Research Finds Some Promise — from edsurge.com by Jeffrey R. Young
“The findings support a deeper understanding of how creating unique educational experiences that feel real (i.e., create a high level of presence) through immersive technology can influence learning through different affective and cognitive processes including enjoyment and interest,” Mayer and his colleagues write.
The AR Roundup: March 2022 — from linkedin.com by Tom Emrich
Excerpt:
Every month I round up what you may have missed in Augmented Reality including the latest stats, funding news and launch announcements and more. Here is what happened in augmented reality between March 1-31, 2022.
“The metaverse is no longer a single virtual world or even a cluster of virtual worlds. It’s the entire system of virtual and augmented worlds,” Chalmers tells me over Zoom. “Where the old metaverse was like a platform on the internet, the new metaverse is more like the internet as a whole, just the immersive internet.”
~ David Chalmers, Philosopher and Author of Reality+
Announcing the 2022 AI Index Report — from hai.stanford.edu by Stanford University
Excerpt/description:
Welcome to the Fifth Edition of the AI Index
The AI Index is an independent initiative at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI), led by the AI Index Steering Committee, an interdisciplinary group of experts from across academia and industry. The annual report tracks, collates, distills, and visualizes data relating to artificial intelligence, enabling decision-makers to take meaningful action to advance AI responsibly and ethically with humans in mind.
The 2022 AI Index report measures and evaluates the rapid rate of AI advancement from research and development to technical performance and ethics, the economy and education, AI policy and governance, and more. The latest edition includes data from a broad set of academic, private, and non-profit organizations as well as more self-collected data and original analysis than any previous editions.
Also relevant/see:
Nvidia believes Instant NeRF could generate virtual worlds, capture video conferences in 3D, and reconstruct scenes for 3D maps.
Some announcements from NVIDIA today:
Nvidia unveils server CPU to challenge Intel and AMD in the data center — from protocol.com by Max A. Cherney
Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang announced the company’s next-generation GPU architecture and a new CPU Tuesday.
The new Grace processor is designed for AI, high-performance computing and hyperscale data center applications.
Nvidia launched a mapping product for the autonomous vehicle industry — from techcrunch.com by Rebecca Bellan
Nvidia has launched a new mapping platform that will provide the autonomous vehicle industry with ground truth mapping coverage of over 300,000 miles of roadway in North America, Europe and Asia by 2024, founder and CEO Jensen Huang said at the company’s GTC event on Tuesday.
NVIDIA Launches AI Computing Platform for Medical Devices — from hitconsultant.net by Jasmine Pennic
Nvidia Unveils AI Chips and Software, Plus Tools for Creating Virtual Worlds — by Eric Savitz and Conor Smith
Excerpt:
Nvidia is doubling down on artificial-intelligence technology that CEO Jensen Huang predicts will revolutionize every industry.
In the keynote speech for the annual Nvidia GTC conference—the acronym once stood for GPU Technology Conference, a reference to the company’s roots in graphics processing chips—Huang focused specifically on expanding the company’s portfolio of AI-focused chips and software applications.
Nvidia CEO lays out plans after Arm deal fell through, reveals new Hopper GPU — from marketwatch.com by Jeremy C. Owens
Roadmap seems little changed after chip maker ditched $40 billion acquisition of designer Arm, with new GPUs and first server CPU still on track as EV makers sign on for autonomous-driving tech
Addendum 3/26/22:
Nvidia’s Clara Holoscan MGX means to bring high-powered AI to the doctor’s office — from techcrunch.com
Addendum 3/28/22:
Nvidia’s $1 trillion ambitions draw cheers as software becomes a bigger piece of the pie — from marketwatch.com
DC: I need to understand this better. Are we saying NVIDIA servers — and the like — can/will replace the App Stores out there for gaming-related apps?
https://t.co/8mKvtENIoN— Daniel Christian (he/him/his) (@dchristian5) January 13, 2022
Addendum on 1/17/22:
Nvidia expands its GeForce Now game streaming ecosystem — from techcrunch.com by Frederic Lardinois
Excerpt:
At CES, Nvidia today put a strong emphasis on its GeForce Now game streaming service, its competitor to the likes of Google’s Stadia (that’s still around, right?), Amazon’s Luna and Microsoft’s increasingly popular Xbox Cloud Gaming service. All of these use a different business model, with GeForce Now making it easy for players to bring games they bought elsewhere to the service, with Nvidia offering a restricted free tier and then charging a membership fee for access to its servers, starting…
Nvidia launches the $249 GeForce RTX 3050 — from techcrunch.com by Frederic Lardinois
Excerpt:
You can now add another set of Nvidia-based graphics cards to the graphics cards you probably won’t be able to buy anytime soon, as the company today launched the GeForce RTX 3050 for desktops. Starting at $249, the budget-friendly card — assuming Nvidia and its partners can produce enough to keep prices from escalating — will feature 8GB of GDDR6 memory and promises to be able to run the latest games at over 60 frames in a 1440p resolution with ray-tracing enabled. Like its more powerful …
Nvidia expands its Omniverse — from techcrunch.com by Frederic Lardinois
Excerpt:
Omniverse is Nvidia’s platform for allowing creators, designers and engineers to collaboratively build virtual worlds. Until now, Omniverse and the various Nvidia tools that support it were in beta, but at CES today, the company took off the beta label and made Omniverse generally available to creators. The company says Omniverse has already been downloaded by almost 100,000 creators and with today’s update, it is bringing a number of new features to the platform, too.
Nvidia embraces the metaverse with new software, marketplace deals — from reuters.com by Stephen Nellis
Excerpt:
Jan 3 (Reuters) – Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) on Tuesday said that it would give away software for free to artists and other creators building virtual worlds for the metaverse and that it has made technology deals with several marketplaces where artists sell the three-dimensional content they create.
