Adobe Brings Conversational AI to Trillions of PDFs with the New AI Assistant in Reader and Acrobat — from news.adobe.com; via AI Secret

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SAN JOSE, Calif. – [On 2/20/23], Adobe (Nasdaq:ADBE) introduced AI Assistant in beta, a new generative AI-powered conversational engine in Reader and Acrobat.

Simply open Reader or Acrobat and start working with the new capabilities, including:

  • AI Assistant: AI Assistant recommends questions based on a PDF’s content and answers questions about what’s in the document – all through an intuitive conversational interface.
  • Generative summary: Get a quick understanding of the content inside long documents with short overviews in easy-to-read formats.
  • Intelligent citations: Adobe’s custom attribution engine and proprietary AI generate citations so customers can easily verify the source of AI Assistant’s answers.
  • Easy navigation:
  • Formatted output:
  • Respect for customer data:  
  • Beyond PDF: Customers can use AI Assistant with all kinds of document formats (Word, PowerPoint, meeting transcripts, etc.)

Along these lines, also see:


5 ways Sora AI will change the creator economy and how to take advantage of that — from techthatmatters.beehiiv.com by Harsh Makadia

Essential skills to thrive with Sora AI
The realm of video editing isn’t about cutting and splicing.

A Video Editor should learn a diverse set of skills to earn money, such as:

  • Prompt Writing
  • Software Mastery
  • Problem-solving skills
  • Collaboration and communication skills
  • Creative storytelling and visual aesthetics

Invest in those skills that give you a competitive edge.


The text file that runs the internet — from theverge.com by David Pierce
For decades, robots.txt governed the behavior of web crawlers. But as unscrupulous AI companies seek out more and more data, the basic social contract of the web is falling apart. 


 

AI-related tools and tips dominate ’60 in 60′ Techshow session — from abajournal.com by Danielle Braff

Four days of seminars, lectures and demonstrations at the 39th annual ABA Techshow boiled down to Saturday morning’s grand finale, where panelists rounded up their favorite tech tips and apps. The underlying theme: artificial intelligence.

“It’s an amazing tool, but it’s kind of scary, so watch out,” said Cynthia Thomas, the Techshow co-chair, and owner of PLMC & Associates, talking about the new tool from OpenAI, Sora, which takes text and turns it into video.

Other panelists during the traditional Techshow closer, “60 sites, 60 tips and gadgets and gizmos,” highlighted a wide of AI-enabled or augmented tools to help users perform a large range of tasks, including quickly sift through user reviews for products, generate content, or keep up-to-date on the latest AI tools. For those looking for a non-AI tips and tools, they also suggested several devices, websites, tips and apps that have helped them with their practice and with life in general.


ABA Techshow 2024: Ethics in the Age of Legal Technology — from bnnbreaking.com by Rafia Tasleem

ABA Techshow 2024 stressed the importance of ethics in legal technology adoption. Ethics lawyer Stuart I. Teicher warned of the potential data breaches and urged attorneys to be proactive in understanding and supervising new tools. Education and oversight are key to maintaining data protection and integrity.


Startup Alley Competition Proves It Continues To Be All About AI — from abovethelaw.com by Joe Patrice

Though it might be more accurate to call TECHSHOW an industry showcase because with each passing year it seems that more and more of the show involves other tech companies looking to scoop up enterprising new companies. A tone that’s set by the conference’s opening event: the annual Startup Alley pitch competition.

This year, 15 companies presented. If you were taking a shot every time someone mentioned “AI” then my condolences because you are now dead. If you included “machine learning” or “large language model” then you’ve died, come back as a zombie, and been killed again.


Here Are the Winners of ABA Techshow’s 8th Annual Startup Alley Pitch Competition — from lawnext.com by Bob Ambrogi

Here were the companies that won the top three spots:

  1. AltFee, a product that helps law firms replace the billable hour with fixed-fee pricing.
  2. Skribe.ai, an alternative to traditional court reporting that promises “a better way to take testimony.”
  3. Paxton AI, an AI legal assistant.

Class action firms ask US federal courts to encourage virtual testimony — from reuters.com by Nate Raymond

Summary:

  • Lawyers at Hagens Berman are leading charge to change rules
  • Proposal asks judiciary to ‘effectuate a long overdue modernization’ of rules

 

Text to video via OpenAI’s Sora. (I had taken this screenshot on the 15th, but am posting it now.)

We’re teaching AI to understand and simulate the physical world in motion, with the goal of training models that help people solve problems that require real-world interaction.

Introducing Sora, our text-to-video model. Sora can generate videos up to a minute long while maintaining visual quality and adherence to the user’s prompt.

Along these lines, also see:

Pika; via Superhuman AI



An Ivy League school just announced its first AI degree — from qz.com by Michelle Cheng; via Barbara Anna Zielonka on LinkedIn
It’s a sign of the times. At the same time, AI talent is scarce

At the University of Pennsylvania, undergraduate students in its school of engineering will soon be able to study for a bachelor of science degree in artificial intelligence.

What can one do with an AI degree? The University of Pennsylvania says students will be able to apply the skills they learn in school to build responsible AI tools, develop materials for emerging chips and hardware, and create AI-driven breakthroughs in healthcare through new antibiotics, among other things.



Google Pumps $27 Million Into AI Training After Microsoft Pledge—Here’s What To Know — from forbes.com by Robert Hart

Google on Monday announced plans to help train people in Europe with skills in artificial intelligence, the latest tech giant to invest in preparing workers and economies amid the disruption brought on by technologies they are racing to develop.


The Exhausting Pace of AI: Google’s Ultra Leap — from marcwatkins.substack.com by Marc Watkins

The acceleration of AI deployments has gotten so absurdly out of hand that a draft post I started a week ago about a new development is now out of date.

The Pace is Out of Control
A mere week since Ultra 1.0’s announcement, Google has now introduced us to Ultra 1.5, a model they are clearly positioning to be the leader in the field. Here is the full technical report for Gemini Ultra 1.5, and what it can do is stunning.

 

 

 


Maryville Announces $21 Million Investment in AI and New Technologies Amidst Record Growth — from maryville.edu; via Arthur “Art” Fredrich on LinkedIn

[St. Louis, MO, February 14, 2024] – In a bold move that counters the conventions of more traditional schools, Maryville University has unveiled a substantial $21 million multi-year investment in artificial intelligence (AI) and cutting-edge technologies. This groundbreaking initiative is set to transform the higher education experience to be powered by the latest technology to support student success and a five-star experience for thousands of students both on-campus and online.

 

 
 

From DSC:
This would be huge for all of our learning ecosystems, as the learning agents could remember where a particular student or employee is at in terms of their learning curve for a particular topic.


Say What? Chat With RTX Brings Custom Chatbot to NVIDIA RTX AI PCs — from blogs.nvidia.com
Tech demo gives anyone with an RTX GPU the power of a personalized GPT chatbot.



 

Scammers trick company employee using video call filled with deepfakes of execs, steal $25 million — from techspot.com by Rob Thubron; via AI Valley
The victim was the only real person on the video conference call

The scammers used digitally recreated versions of an international company’s Chief Financial Officer and other employees to order $25 million in money transfers during a video conference call containing just one real person.

The victim, an employee at the Hong Kong branch of an unnamed multinational firm, was duped into taking part in a video conference call in which they were the only real person – the rest of the group were fake representations of real people, writes SCMP.

As we’ve seen in previous incidents where deepfakes were used to recreate someone without their permission, the scammers utilized publicly available video and audio footage to create these digital versions.


Letter from the YouTube CEO: 4 Big bets for 2024 — from blog.youtube by Neal Mohan, CEO, YouTube; via Ben’s Bites

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#1: AI will empower human creativity.

#2: Creators should be recognized as next-generation studios.

#3: YouTube’s next frontier is the living room and subscriptions.

#4: Protecting the creator economy is foundational.

Viewers globally now watch more than 1 billion hours on average of YouTube content on their TVs every day.


Bard becomes Gemini: Try Ultra 1.0 and a new mobile app today — from blog.google by Sissie Hsiao; via Rundown AI
Bard is now known as Gemini, and we’re rolling out a mobile app and Gemini Advanced with Ultra 1.0.

Since we launched Bard last year, people all over the world have used it to collaborate with AI in a completely new way — to prepare for job interviews, debug code, brainstorm new business ideas or, as we announced last week, create captivating images.

Our mission with Bard has always been to give you direct access to our AI models, and Gemini represents our most capable family of models. To reflect this, Bard will now simply be known as Gemini.


A new way to discover places with generative AI in Maps — from blog.google by Miriam Daniel; via AI Valley
Here’s a look at how we’re bringing generative AI to Maps — rolling out this week to select Local Guides in the U.S.

Today, we’re introducing a new way to discover places with generative AI to help you do just that — no matter how specific, niche or broad your needs might be. Simply say what you’re looking for and our large-language models (LLMs) will analyze Maps’ detailed information about more than 250 million places and trusted insights from our community of over 300 million contributors to quickly make suggestions for where to go.

Starting in the U.S., this early access experiment launches this week to select Local Guides, who are some of the most active and passionate members of the Maps community. Their insights and valuable feedback will help us shape this feature so we can bring it to everyone over time.


Google Prepares for a Future Where Search Isn’t King — from wired.com by Lauren Goode
CEO Sundar Pichai tells WIRED that Google’s new, more powerful Gemini chatbot is an experiment in offering users a way to get things done without a search engine. It’s also a direct shot at ChatGPT.


 

 

Augment teaching with AI – this teacher has it sussed… — from donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com by Donald Clark

Emphasis (emphasis DSC):

You’re a teacher who wants to integrate AI into your teaching. What do you do? I often get asked how should I start with AI in my school or University. This, I think, is one answer.

Continuity with teaching
One school has got this exactly right in my opinion. Meredith Joy Morris has implemented ChatGPT into the teaching process. The teacher does their thing and the chatbot picks up where the teacher stops, augmenting and scaling the teaching and learning process, passing the baton to the learners who carry on. This gives the learner a more personalised experience, encouraging independent learning by using the undoubted engagement that 1:1 dialogue provides.

There’s no way any teacher can provide this carry on support with even a handful of students, never mind a class of 30 or a course with 100. Teaching here is ‘extended’ and ‘scaled’ by AI. The feedback from the students was extremely positive.


Reflections on Teaching in the AI Age — from by Jeffrey Watson

The transition which AI forces me to make is no longer to evaluate writings, but to evaluate writers. I am accustomed to grading essays impersonally with an objective rubric, treating the text as distinct from the author and commenting only on the features of the text. I need to transition to evaluating students a bit more holistically, as philosophers – to follow along with them in the early stages of the writing process, to ask them to present their ideas orally in conversation or in front of their peers, to push them to develop the intellectual virtues that they will need if they are not going to be mastered by the algorithms seeking to manipulate them. That’s the sort of development I’ve meant to encourage all along, not paragraph construction and citation formatting. If my grading practices incentivize outsourcing to a machine intelligence, I need to change my grading practices.


4 AI Imperatives for Higher Education in 2024 — from campustechnology.com by Rhea Kelly

[Bryan Alexander] There’s a crying need for faculty and staff professional development about generative AI. The topic is complicated and fast moving. Already the people I know who are seriously offering such support are massively overscheduled. Digital materials are popular. Books are lagging but will gradually surface. I hope we see more academics lead more professional development offerings.

For an academic institution to take emerging AI seriously it might have to set up a new body. Present organizational nodes are not necessarily a good fit.


A Technologist Spent Years Building an AI Chatbot Tutor. He Decided It Can’t Be Done. — from edsurge.com by Jeffrey R. Young
Is there a better metaphor than ‘tutor’ for what generative AI can do to help students and teachers?

When Satya Nitta worked at IBM, he and a team of colleagues took on a bold assignment: Use the latest in artificial intelligence to build a new kind of personal digital tutor.

This was before ChatGPT existed, and fewer people were talking about the wonders of AI. But Nitta was working with what was perhaps the highest-profile AI system at the time, IBM’s Watson. That AI tool had pulled off some big wins, including beating humans on the Jeopardy quiz show in 2011.

Nitta says he was optimistic that Watson could power a generalized tutor, but he knew the task would be extremely difficult. “I remember telling IBM top brass that this is going to be a 25-year journey,” he recently told EdSurge.


Teachers stan AI in education–but need more support — from eschoolnews.com by Laura Ascione

What are the advantages of AI in education?
Canva’s study found 78 percent of teachers are interested in using AI education tools, but their experience with the technology remains limited, with 93 percent indicating they know “a little” or “nothing” about it – though this lack of experience hasn’t stopped teachers quickly discovering and considering its benefits:

  • 60 percent of teachers agree it has given them ideas to boost student productivity
  • 59 percent of teachers agree it has cultivated more ways for their students to be creative
  • 56 percent of teachers agree it has made their lives easier

When looking at the ways teachers are already using generative artificial intelligence, the most common uses were:

  • Creating teaching materials (43 percent)
  • Collaborative creativity/co-creation (39 percent)
  • Translating text (36 percent)
  • Brainstorming and generating ideas (35 percent)

The next grand challenge for AI — from ted.com by Jim Fan


The State of Washington Embraces AI for Public Schools — from synthedia.substack.com by Bret Kinsella; via Tom Barrett
Educational institutions may be warming up to generative AI

Washington state issued new guidelines for K-12 public schools last week based on the principle of “embracing a human-centered approach to AI,” which also embraces the use of AI in the education process. The state’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, Chris Reykdal, commented in a letter accompanying the new guidelines:


New education features to help teachers save time and support students — from by Shantanu Sinha

Giving educators time back to invest in themselves and their students
Boost productivity and creativity with Duet AI: Educators can get fresh ideas and save time using generative AI across Workspace apps. With Duet AI, they can get help drafting lesson plans in Docs, creating images in Slides, building project plans in Sheets and more — all with control over their data.

 

Unlocking productivity and personalizing learning with AI — from educationblog.microsoft.com by Microsoft Education Team

Today, we’re announcing the next wave of AI innovations from Microsoft Education that will help unlock productivity and personalize learning. This includes expanded Copilot for Microsoft 365 availability and Loop coming to education. We’re also sharing news about AI built for education such as Reading Coach and features designed to free up time for educators and personalize learning. As part of our continued work to build AI literacy, we’ve launched our latest course for educators and a new learning path on Microsoft Learn. And earlier this week we outlined Microsoft’s position and themes for policymakers to consider around advancing youth online safety and wellness.

With the latest AI technology, we have an opportunity to provide learners with personalized, engaging, and transformative reading experiences. Reading Coach, a Learning Accelerator now powered by generative AI, does just that. You can sign up for a preview of Reading Coach today and try it for yourself at coach.microsoft.com.


Recap: Winter AI Institute for Teachers — from umcetl.substack.com

Last week, CETL partnered with the Department of Writing and Rhetoric to offer a second iteration of the AI Institute for Teachers to an audience of UM instructors from across disciplines. Nearly 60 faculty from 26 different departments and schools attended the three-day event. In a wide variety of interactive sessions designed by Institute leader Marc Watkins, participants examined the impact of generative AI on teaching and learning, working in small groups to consider how to approach AI in their own disciplines.

If you’re not a UM faculty member or couldn’t attend the sessions, we have good news! All the materials from the Institute are publicly available at the following links:

And we’ve written a short recap of the Institute here.


Learn with AI from U Maine

Learn with AI — from the University of Maine

Rather than try to ban this technology from classrooms outright, the Learning With AI project asks if this moment offers an opportunity to introduce students to the ethical and economic questions wreaked by these new tools, as well as to experiment with progressive forms of pedagogy that can exploit them.

 

OpenAI announces first partnership with a university — from cnbc.com by Hayden Field

Key Points:

  • OpenAI on Thursday announced its first partnership with a higher education institution.
  • Starting in February, Arizona State University will have full access to ChatGPT Enterprise and plans to use it for coursework, tutoring, research and more.
  • The partnership has been in the works for at least six months.
  • ASU plans to build a personalized AI tutor for students, allow students to create AI avatars for study help and broaden the university’s prompt engineering course.

A new collaboration with OpenAI charts the future of AI in higher education — from news.asu.edu

The collaboration between ASU and OpenAI brings the advanced capabilities of ChatGPT Enterprise into higher education, setting a new precedent for how universities enhance learning, creativity and student outcomes.

“ASU recognizes that augmented and artificial intelligence systems are here to stay, and we are optimistic about their ability to become incredible tools that help students to learn, learn more quickly and understand subjects more thoroughly,” ASU President Michael M. Crow said. “Our collaboration with OpenAI reflects our philosophy and our commitment to participating directly to the responsible evolution of AI learning technologies.”


AI <> Academia — from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr. Philippa Hardman
What might emerge from ASU’s pioneering partnership with OpenAI?

Phil’s Wish List #2: Smart Curriculum Development
ChatGPT assists in creating and updating course curricula, based on both student data and emerging domain and pedagogical research on the topic.

Output: using AI it will be possible to review course content and make data-informed automate recommendations based on latest pedagogical and domain-specific research

Potential Impact: increased dynamism and relevance in course content and reduced administrative lift for academics.


A full list of AI ideas from AI for Education dot org

A full list of AI ideas from AI-for-Education.org

You can filter by category, by ‘What does it do?’, by AI tool or search for keywords.


Navigating the new normal: Adapting in the age of AI and hybrid work models — from chieflearningofficer.com by Dr. Kylie Ensrud

Unlike traditional leadership, adaptable leadership is not bound by rigid rules and protocols. Instead, it thrives on flexibility. Adaptable leaders are willing to experiment, make course corrections, and pivot when necessary. Adaptable leadership is about flexibility, resilience and a willingness to embrace change. It embodies several key principles that redefine the role of leaders in organizations:

  1. Embracing uncertainty

Adaptable leaders understand that uncertainty is the new norm. They do not shy away from ambiguity but instead, see it as an opportunity for growth and innovation. They encourage a culture of experimentation and learning from failure.

  1. Empowering teams

Instead of dictating every move, adaptable leaders empower their teams to take ownership of their work. They foster an environment of trust and collaboration, enabling individuals to contribute their unique perspectives and skills.

  1. Continuous learning

Adaptable leaders are lifelong learners. They are constantly seeking new knowledge, stay informed about industry trends and encourage their teams to do the same. They understand that knowledge is a dynamic asset that must be constantly updated.


Major AI in Education Related Developments this week — from stefanbauschard.substack.com by Stefan Bauschard
ASU integrates with ChatGPT, K-12 AI integrations, Agents & the Rabbit, Uruguay, Meta and AGI, Rethinking curriculum

“The greatest risk is leaving school curriculum unchanged when the entire world is changing.”
Hadi Partovi, founder Code.org, Angel investor in Facebook, DropBox, AirBnb, Uber

Tutorbots in college. On a more limited scale, Georgia State University, Morgan State University, and the University of Central Florida are piloting a project using chatbots to support students in foundational math and English courses.


Pioneering AI-Driven Instructional Design in Small College Settings — from campustechnology.com by Gopu Kiron
For institutions that lack the budget or staff expertise to utilize instructional design principles in online course development, generative AI may offer a way forward.

Unfortunately, smaller colleges — arguably the institutions whose students are likely to benefit the most from ID enhancements — frequently find themselves excluded from authentically engaging in the ID arena due to tight budgets, limited faculty online course design expertise, and the lack of ID-specific staff roles. Despite this, recent developments in generative AI may offer these institutions a low-cost, tactical avenue to compete with more established players.


Google’s new AI solves math olympiad problems — from bensbites.beehiiv.com

There’s a new AI from Google DeepMind called AlphaGeometry that totally nails solving super hard geometry problems. We’re talking problems so tough only math geniuses who compete in the International Mathematical Olympiad can figure them out.


 

8 Ed Tech Tools to Try in 2024 — from cultofpedagogy.com by Jennifer Gonzalez, along with several others

But probably the most noticeable difference is that there’s a running theme of AI throughout the guide. First, there’s a nine-page spread devoted entirely to artificial intelligence — digging into how it works, what teachers are concerned about, some really good places to go to learn more, and 12 tools whose primary function is leveraging the power of AI. In addition to that, we went through the rest of the guide and put a little AI icon on every single tool that uses AI in some way, so you can see whether the tools you already know and love have started to take advantage of what artificial intelligence has to offer.


Speaking of teaching, also see:

 


From voice synthesis to fertility tracking, here are some actually helpful AI products at CES — from techcrunch.com by Devin Coldewey

But a few applications of machine learning stood out as genuinely helpful or surprising — here are a few examples of AI that might actually do some good.

The whole idea that AI might not be a total red flag occurred to me when I chatted with Whispp at a press event. This small team is working on voicing the voiceless, meaning people who have trouble speaking normally due to a condition or illness.

Whispp gives a voice to people who can’t speak


CES 2024: Everything revealed so far, from Nvidia and Sony to the weirdest reveals and helpful AI — from techcrunch.com by Christine Hall

Kicking off the first day were some bigger announcements from companies, including Nvidia, LG, Sony and Samsung. Those livestreams have ended, but you can watch most of their archives and catch up right here. And with the event still ongoing, and the show floor open, here’s how you can follow along with our team’s coverage.

Or, to dive into each day’s updates directly, you can follow these links:

 

 

My Honest Review of AI Art Tools I Used In 2023 — from theaigirl.substack.com by Diana Dovgopol
Here’s what I think of every AI art tool I used in 2023.

Today, I want to give my honest review of every AI art tool I used and why I love/hate some of them. I’ll highlight the best features they have and how the impact they had on me as an AI artist.

Midjourney v4: The first AI art tool I loved
While Lensa had its moment and offered users the chance to turn their selfies into stylized AI art effortlessly, Midjourney v4 meant a world of new possibilities. You could create anything you wanted with a prompt!


Speaking of art and creativity, here are two other items to check out!

An Italian Basilica, Mountain, and the Moon Magically Align in an Extraordinary Photo — from thisiscolossal.com by Grace Ebert and Valerio Minato

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Video, Images and Sounds – Good Tools #14 — from goodtools.substack.com by Robin Good

Specifically in this issue:

  • Free Image Libraries
  • Image Search Engines
  • Free Illustrations
  • Free Icons
  • Free Stock Video Footage
  • Free Music for Video and Podcasts
 

CES 2024: Unveiling The Future Of Legal Through Consumer Innovations — from abovethelaw.com by Stephen Embry
The ripple effects on the legal industry are real.

The Emerging Role of Smart TVs
Boothe and Comiskey claim that our TVs will become even smarter and better connected to the web and the internet. Our TVs will become an intelligent center for a variety of applications powered through our smartphone. TVs will be able to direct things like appliances and security cameras. Perhaps even more importantly, our TVs can become e-commerce centers, allowing us to speak with them and conduct business.

This increased TV capability means that the TV could become a more dominant mode of working and computing for lawyers. As TVs become more integrated with the internet and capable of functioning as communication hubs, they could potentially replace traditional computing devices in legal settings. With features like voice control and pattern recognition, TVs could serve as efficient tools for such things as document preparation and client meetings.

From DSC:
Now imagine the power of voice-enabled chatbots and the like. We could be videoconferencing (or holograming) with clients, and be able to access information at the same time. Language translation — like that in the Timekettle product — will be built in.

I also wonder how this type of functionality will play out in lifelong learning from our living rooms.

Learning from the Living AI-Based Class Room

 


Also, some other legaltech-related items:


Are Tomorrow’s Lawyers Prepared for Legal’s Tech Future? 4 Recent Trends Shaping Legal Education | Legaltech News — from law.com (behind paywall)

Legal Tech Predictions for 2024: Embracing a New Era of Innovation — from jdsupra.com

As we step into 2024, the legal industry continues to be reshaped by technological advancements. This year promises to bring new developments that could revolutionize how legal professionals work and interact with clients. Here are key predictions for legal tech in 2024:

Miss the Legaltech Week 2023 Year-in-Review Show? Here’s the Recording — from lawnext.com by Bob Ambrogi

Last Friday was Legaltech Week’s year-end show, in which our panel of journalists and bloggers picked the year’s top stories in legal tech and innovation.

So what were the top stories? Well, if you missed it, no worries. Here’s the video:

 
 
© 2024 | Daniel Christian