UK

What an incredible photo of the Milky Way, the Perseid Meteor Shower, and Stonehenge [Josh Dury ca

On 08/16/2024, in art, creativity, digital photography, photography, UK, by Daniel Christian

Bisected by the Milky Way, a Stellar Image Captures the Perseid Meteor Shower Raining Down on Stonehenge — from thisiscolossal.com by Josh Dury

Gemini makes your mobile device a powerful AI assistant — from blog.google
Gemini Live is available today to Advanced subscribers, along with conversational overlay on Android and even more connected apps.

Rolling out today: Gemini Live <– Google swoops in before OpenAI can get their Voice Mode out there
Gemini Live is a mobile conversational experience that lets you have free-flowing conversations with Gemini. Want to brainstorm potential jobs that are well-suited to your skillset or degree? Go Live with Gemini and ask about them. You can even interrupt mid-response to dive deeper on a particular point, or pause a conversation and come back to it later. It’s like having a sidekick in your pocket who you can chat with about new ideas or practice with for an important conversation.

Gemini Live is also available hands-free: You can keep talking with the Gemini app in the background or when your phone is locked, so you can carry on your conversation on the go, just like you might on a regular phone call. Gemini Live begins rolling out today in English to our Gemini Advanced subscribers on Android phones, and in the coming weeks will expand to iOS and more languages.

To make speaking to Gemini feel even more natural, we’re introducing 10 new voices to choose from, so you can pick the tone and style that works best for you.

.

We’re introducing Gemini Live, a more natural way to interact with Gemini. You can now have a free-flowing conversation, and even interrupt or change topics just like you might on a regular phone call. Available to Gemini Advanced subscribers. #MadeByGoogle pic.twitter.com/eNjlNKubsv

— Google (@Google) August 13, 2024

Per the Rundown AI:

Why it matters: Real-time voice is slowly shifting AI from a tool we text/prompt with, to an intelligence that we collaborate, learn, consult, and grow with. As the world’s anticipation for OpenAI’s unreleased products grows, Google has swooped in to steal the spotlight as the first to lead widespread advanced AI voice rollouts.

Beyond Social Media: Schmidt Predicts AI’s Earth-Shaking Impact— from wallstreetpit.com
The next wave of AI is coming, and if Schmidt is correct, it will reshape our world in ways we are only beginning to imagine.

In a recent Q&A session at Stanford, Eric Schmidt, former CEO and Chairman of search giant Google, offered a compelling vision of the near future in artificial intelligence. His predictions, both exciting and sobering, paint a picture of a world on the brink of a technological revolution that could dwarf the impact of social media.

Schmidt highlighted three key advancements that he believes will converge to create this transformative wave: very large context windows, agents, and text-to-action capabilities. These developments, according to Schmidt, are not just incremental improvements but game-changers that could reshape our interaction with technology and the world at large.

.

Eric Schmidt says in the next year, AI models will unite three key pillars: very large context windows, agents and text-to-action, and no-one understands what the impact will be but it will involve everyone having a fleet of AI agents at their command pic.twitter.com/roYSfZGQ5J

— Tsarathustra (@tsarnick) August 13, 2024

The rise of multimodal AI agents— from 11onze.cat
Technology companies are investing large amounts of money in creating new multimodal artificial intelligence models and algorithms that can learn, reason and make decisions autonomously after collecting and analysing data.

The future of multimodal agents
In practical terms, a multimodal AI agent can, for example, analyse a text while processing an image, spoken language, or an audio clip to give a more complete and accurate response, both through voice and text. This opens up new possibilities in various fields: from education and healthcare to e-commerce and customer service.

AI Change Management: 41 Tactics to Use (August 2024)— from flexos.work by Daan van Rossum
Future-proof companies are investing in driving AI adoption, but many don’t know where to start. The experts recommend these 41 tips for AI change management.

As Matt Kropp told me in our interview, BCG has a 10-20-70 rule for AI at work:

10% is the LLM or algorithm
20% is the software layer around it (like ChatGPT)
70% is the human factor

This 70% is exactly why change management is key in driving AI adoption.

But where do you start?

As I coach leaders at companies like Apple, Toyota, Amazon, L’Oréal, and Gartner in our Lead with AI program, I know that’s the question on everyone’s minds.

I don’t believe in gatekeeping this information, so here are 41 principles and tactics I share with our community members looking for winning AI change management principles.

Claude is so good

Prompt:
——–
I am using a video generator
Please give me a map of all the different types of shots and things I can enter for my prompt.

Output
——– pic.twitter.com/JSEo3qwg7v

— Riley Brown (@rileybrown_ai) June 29, 2024

The race to deploy GenAI in the legal sector — from sifted.eu by Kai Nicol-Schwarz
LegalFly’s €15m Series A is the latest in a string of raises for European GenAI legaltech startups

Speak to any lawyer and you’ll soon discover that the job is a far cry from the fevered excitement of a courtroom drama. Behind the scenes, there’s an endless amount of laborious and typically manual tasks like drafting, reviewing and negotiating contracts and other legal documents that have to be done manually daily.

It was this realisation that led four product managers at dating app giant Tinder, frustrated by what they saw as a lack of AI adoption at the company, to jump ship and found Belgium-based LegalFly last year. The startup is building a generative AI copilot for lawyers which eventually, it says, will be able to automate entire workflows in the legal profession.

“We were looking at what GenAI was good at, which is synthesising data and generating content,” says founder and CEO Ruben Miessen. “What industry works like that? Law, and it does it all in a very manual way.”

“The legal industry is a global behemoth that’s seen minimal innovation since the advent of Microsoft Word in the 90s,” says Carina Namih, partner at Plural. “GenAI — especially with a human in the loop to keep accuracy high — is ideally suited to drafting, editing and negotiating legal documents.”

Legal Technology Company Relativity Announces OpenAI ChatGPT Integration — from lawfuel.com

CHICAGO– July 18 – Relativity, a global legal technology company, today announced it is integrating with OpenAI’s ChatGPT Enterprise Compliance API. The integration adds ChatGPT Enterprise as a Collect in RelativityOne data source, allowing users to seamlessly collect and process human-to-AI conversational data.

“The future around human and AI interaction is changing rapidly, calling for innovative legal data management solutions to include novel data sources, such as conversations with AI agents,” said Chris Brown, Chief Product Officer at Relativity. “In answering that call, we are committed to equipping our community with the tools they need to traverse the evolving future of human-to-AI conversational data and putting users in control of this new data landscape.”

How AI will change education [Woodbury], Introducing Eureka Labs [Karpathy] + numerous other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 07/18/2024, in adjunct faculty, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, career development, change, changing business models, colleges, community colleges, computer science, digital learning, education, education technology, emerging technologies, Europe, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, heutagogy, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, lifelong learning, Open AI, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, programming, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, tools, UK, United States, universities, vendors, writing, by Daniel Christian

Introducing Eureka Labs — “We are building a new kind of school that is AI native.” — by Andrej Karpathy, Previously Director of AI @ Tesla, founding team @ OpenAI

However, with recent progress in generative AI, this learning experience feels tractable. The teacher still designs the course materials, but they are supported, leveraged and scaled with an AI Teaching Assistant who is optimized to help guide the students through them. This Teacher + AI symbiosis could run an entire curriculum of courses on a common platform. If we are successful, it will be easy for anyone to learn anything, expanding education in both reach (a large number of people learning something) and extent (any one person learning a large amount of subjects, beyond what may be possible today unassisted).

?? Excited to share that I am starting an AI+Education company called Eureka Labs.
The announcement:

—
We are Eureka Labs and we are building a new kind of school that is AI native.

How can we approach an ideal experience for learning something new? For example, in the case… pic.twitter.com/RHPkqdjB8R

— Andrej Karpathy (@karpathy) July 16, 2024

After Tesla and OpenAI, Andrej Karpathy’s startup aims to apply AI assistants to education — from techcrunch.com by Rebecca Bellan

Andrej Karpathy, former head of AI at Tesla and researcher at OpenAI, is launching Eureka Labs, an “AI native” education platform. In tech speak, that usually means built from the ground up with AI at its core. And while Eureka Labs’ AI ambitions are lofty, the company is starting with a more traditional approach to teaching.

San Francisco-based Eureka Labs, which Karpathy registered as an LLC in Delaware on June 21, aims to leverage recent progress in generative AI to create AI teaching assistants that can guide students through course materials.

What does it mean for students to be AI-ready? — from timeshighereducation.com by David Joyner
Not everyone wants to be a computer scientist, a software engineer or a machine learning developer. We owe it to our students to prepare them with a full range of AI skills for the world they will graduate into, writes David Joyner

We owe it to our students to prepare them for this full range of AI skills, not merely the end points. The best way to fulfil this responsibility is to acknowledge and examine this new category of tools. More and more tools that students use daily – word processors, email, presentation software, development environments and more – have AI-based features. Practising with these tools is a valuable exercise for students, so we should not prohibit that behaviour. But at the same time, we do not have to just shrug our shoulders and accept however much AI assistance students feel like using.

Teachers say AI usage has surged since the school year started — from eschoolnews.com by Laura Ascione
Half of teachers report an increase in the use of AI and continue to seek professional learning

Fifty percent of educators reported an increase in AI usage, by both students and teachers, over the 2023–24 school year, according to The 2024 Educator AI Report: Perceptions, Practices, and Potential, from Imagine Learning, a digital curriculum solutions provider.

The report offers insight into how teachers’ perceptions of AI use in the classroom have evolved since the start of the 2023–24 school year.

OPINION: What teachers call AI cheating, leaders in the workforce might call progress — from hechingerreport.org by C. Edward Waston and Jose Antonio Bowen
Authors of a new guide explore what AI literacy might look like in a new era

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

But this very ease has teachers wondering how we can keep our students motivated to do the hard work when there are so many new shortcuts. Learning goals, curriculums, courses and the way we grade assignments will all need to be reevaluated.

The new realities of work also must be considered. A shift in employers’ job postings rewards those with AI skills. Many companies report already adopting generative AI tools or anticipate incorporating them into their workflow in the near future.

A core tension has emerged: Many teachers want to keep AI out of our classrooms, but also know that future workplaces may demand AI literacy.

What we call cheating, business could see as efficiency and progress.

It is increasingly likely that using AI will emerge as an essential skill for students, regardless of their career ambitions, and that action is required of educational institutions as a result.

Teaching Writing With AI Without Replacing Thinking: 4 Tips — from by Erik Ofgang
AI has a lot of potential for writing students, but we can’t let it replace the thinking parts of writing, says writing professor Steve Graham

Reconciling these two goals — having AI help students learn to write more efficiently without hijacking the cognitive benefits of writing — should be a key goal of educators. Finding the ideal balance will require more work from both researchers and classroom educators, but Graham shares some initial tips for doing this currently.

Why I ban AI use for writing assignments — from timeshighereducation.com by James Stacey Taylor
Students may see handwriting essays in class as a needlessly time-consuming approach to assignments, but I want them to learn how to engage with arguments, develop their own views and convey them effectively, writes James Stacey Taylor

Could they use AI to generate objections to the arguments they read? Of course. AI does a good job of summarising objections to Singer’s view. But I don’t want students to parrot others’ objections. I want them to think of objections themselves.

Could AI be useful for them in organising their exegesis of others’ views and their criticisms of them? Yes. But, again, part of what I want my students to learn is precisely what this outsources to the AI: how to organise their thoughts and communicate them effectively.

How AI Will Change Education — from digitalnative.tech by Rex Woodbury
Predicting Innovation in Education, from Personalized Learning to the Downfall of College

This week explores how AI will bleed into education, looking at three segments of education worth watching, then examining which business models will prevail.

Personalized Learning and Tutoring
Teacher Tools
Alternatives to College
Final Thoughts: Business Models and Why Education Matters

New Guidance from TeachAI and CSTA Emphasizes Computer Science Education More Important than Ever in an Age of AI — from csteachers.org by CSTA
The guidance features new survey data and insights from teachers and experts in computer science (CS) and AI, informing the future of CS education.

SEATTLE, WA – July 16, 2024 – Today, TeachAI, led by Code.org, ETS, the International Society of Technology in Education (ISTE), Khan Academy, and the World Economic Forum, launches a new initiative in partnership with the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) to support and empower educators as they grapple with the growing opportunities and risks of AI in computer science (CS) education.
…

The briefs draw on early research and insights from CSTA members, organizations in the TeachAI advisory committee, and expert focus groups to address common misconceptions about AI and offer a balanced perspective on critical issues in CS education, including:

Why is it Still Important for Students to Learn to Program?
How Are Computer Science Educators Teaching With and About AI?
How Can Students Become Critical Consumers and Responsible Creators of AI?

“AI will be a vital tool in overcoming the access to justice challenge.” [Susskind] + other legaltech-related items

On 07/09/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Access to Justice (A2J), Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, career development, change, law schools, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, tools, UK, United States, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Rethinking Legal Ops Skills: Generalists Versus Specialists — from abovethelaw.com by Silvie Tucker and Brandi Pack
This ongoing conversation highlights the changing demands on legal ops practitioners.

A thought-provoking discussion is unfolding in the legal operations community regarding one intriguing question: Should legal operations professionals strive to be generalists or specialists?

The conversation is timely as the marketplace consolidates and companies grapple with the best way to fill valuable and limited headcount allotments. It also highlights the evolving landscape of legal operations and the changing demands on its practitioners.
…
The Evolution of Legal Ops
Over the past decade, the field of legal operations has undergone significant transformation. Initially strictly focused on streamlining processes and reducing costs, the role has expanded to include various responsibilities driven by technological advancements and heightened industry expectations. Key areas of expansion include:

He added: “I have for long been of the view – for decades – that AI will be a vital tool in overcoming the access to justice challenge. Existing and emerging technologies are now very promising.”

Richard Susskind

In A First for Law Practice Management Platforms, Clio Rolls Out An Integrated E-Filing Service in Texas — from lawnext.com by Bob Ambrogi

Last October, during its annual Clio Cloud Conference, the law practice management company Clio announced its plan to roll out an e-filing service, called Clio File, during 2024, starting with Texas, which would make it the first law practice management platform with built-in e-filing. Today, it delivered on that promise, launching Clio File for e-filing in Texas courts.

“Lawyers can now seamlessly submit court documents directly from our flagship practice management product, Clio Manage, streamlining their workflows and simplifying the filing process,” said Chris Stock, vice president of legal content and migrations at Clio. “This is an exciting step in expanding the capabilities of our platform, providing a comprehensive solution for legal documents, from drafting to court filing.”

Just-Launched Quench Uses Gen AI to Bring Greater Speed and Accuracy to Medico-Legal Records Review — from lawnext.com by Bob Ambrogi

A cardiologist with a background in medical technology, computer science and artificial intelligence has launched a product for legal professionals and physician expert witnesses that targets the tedious task of reviewing and analyzing thousands of pages of medical records.

The product, Quench SmartChart, uses generative AI to streamline the medico-legal review process, enabling users to quickly extract, summarize and create chronologies from large, disorganized PDFs of medical records.

The product also includes a natural language chat feature, AskQuench, that lets users interact with and interrogate records to surface essential insights.

Using OpenAI to cut costs of court battles + reducing drafting times in 1/2 in the UK

On 06/17/2024, in Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, productivity / tips and tricks, trends, UK, United States, by Daniel Christian

Brazil hires OpenAI to cut costs of court battles — from reuters.com by Marcela Ayres and Bernardo Caram

BRASILIA, June 10 (Reuters) – Brazil’s government is hiring OpenAI to expedite the screening and analysis of thousands of lawsuits using artificial intelligence (AI), trying to avoid costly court losses that have weighed on the federal budget.

The AI service will flag to government the need to act on lawsuits before final decisions, mapping trends and potential action areas for the solicitor general’s office (AGU).

Gen AI Cut Lawyers’ Drafting Time in Half, UK’s Ashurst Says — from news.bloomberglaw.com by Isabel Gottlieb

The firm’s findings included:

Using generative AI tools, lawyers saved 45% of the time they said it would otherwise have taken them to write a first draft of a legal brief—about 2.5 hours saved per briefing draft, the firm said in a release. They also saved 80% of the time it would have taken them to draft UK corporate filings “requiring review and extraction of information from articles of association”; and 59% of the time it would have taken them to draft reports about industries and sectors using company filings.
Output produced by generative AI was at least as accurate, or legally correct, as a human lawyer’s first draft in 67% of cases. Human output had higher average scores for accuracy, and the AI content had greater variations than human-created content in how accurate it was.
The panel was unable to identify half of the AI-created output as coming from AI, but it made no mistakes on identifying human-created content.

AI candidates for office?! + other AI-related items

On 06/17/2024, in legislatures / government / legal, political science, society, UK, Uncategorized, by Daniel Christian

AI candidate running for Parliament in the U.K. says AI can humanize politics — from nbcnews.com by Angela Yang and Daniele Hamamdjian; via The Rundown AI
Voters can talk to AI Steve, whose name will be on the ballot for the U.K.’s general election next month, to ask policy questions or raise concerns.

Commentary from The Rundown AI:

The Rundown: An AI-powered candidate named ‘AI Steve’ is running for U.K. Parliament in next month’s general election — creating polarizing questions around AI’s use in government affairs.

The details:

AI Steve is represented by businessman Steve Endacott and will appear as an independent candidate in the upcoming election.
Voters can interact with AI Steve online to ask policy questions and raise concerns or suggestions, which the AI will incorporate based on feedback.
If elected, Endacott will serve as AI Steve’s human proxy in Parliament, attending meetings and casting votes based on the AI’s constituent-driven platform.

Why it matters: The idea of an AI running for office might sound like a joke, but the tech behind it could actually help make our politicians more independent and (ironically) autonomous. AI-assisted governance is likely coming someday, but it’s probably still a bit too early to be taken seriously.

Also related, see:

Steve for PM? Meet the AI candidate standing for election as an MP in the UK — from yahoo.com by Anna Desmarais

Meet VIC, Wyoming’s First AI Candidate Running For Cheyenne Mayor — from cowboystatedaily.com
Meet VIC, an artificial intelligence-powered candidate for Cheyenne Mayor that is Wyoming’s first AI-powered political hopeful. The man behind VIC, Victor Miller, says if elected VIC will make all decisions related to the office.

From The Deep View:

The details: Hearing aids have employed machine learning algorithms for decades. But these algorithms historically have not been powerful enough to tackle the ‘cocktail party’ problem; they weren’t able to isolate a single voice in a loud, crowded room.

Dr. DeLiang Wang has been working on the problem for decades and has published numerous studies in recent years that explore the application of deep learning within hearing aids.

Last year, Google partnered up with a number of organizations to design personalized, AI-powered hearing aids.

Why it matters: Wang’s work has found that deep learning algorithms, running in real-time, could separate speech from background noises, “significantly” improving intelligibility in hearing-impaired people.
The tech is beginning to become publicly available, with brands like Phonak and Starkey leveraging deep learning and AI to enhance their hearing aids.

Canva is used by over 130M users.

But most people still don’t know its full potential.

Here’re 13 Canva features you should not miss:

— Poonam Soni (@CodeByPoonam) June 12, 2024

AI literacy emerges as a global imperative
AI readiness initiatives drive emerging skill adoption across regions
The digital skills gap persists in a rapidly evolving job market
Cybersecurity skills remain crucial amid talent shortages and evolving threats
Micro-credentials are a rapid pathway for learners to prepare for in-demand jobs
The global gender gap in online learning continues to narrow, but regional disparities persist
Different regions prioritize different skills, but the majority focus on emerging or foundational capabilities

You can use the Global Skills Report 2024 to:

Identify critical skills for your students to strengthen employability
Align curriculum to drive institutional advantage nationally
Track emerging skill trends like GenAI and cybersecurity
Understand entry-level and digital role skill trends across six regions

“Frameless” art museum in London where art truly comes to life + some beautiful painted landscapes

On 05/17/2024, in A/V -- audio/visual, art, creativity, multimedia, UK, United States, by Daniel Christian

“Frameless” art museum in London where art truly comes to life pic.twitter.com/O4bP2NUE1K

— Historic Vids (@historyinmemes) May 17, 2024

Landscapes Radiate Light and Drama in Erin Hanson’s Vibrant Oil Paintings — from thisiscolossal.com by Kate Mothes and Erin Hanson

The Digital Transformation Journey: Lessons For Lawyers Embracing AI — from abovethelaw.com by Olga V. Mack
The journey from the days of leather-bound law books to the digital age — and now toward an AI-driven future — offers valuable lessons for embracing change.

No One Will Miss The ‘Good Old Days’
I have yet to meet a lawyer nostalgic for the days of manually updating law reports or sifting through stacks of books for a single precedent. The convenience, speed, and breadth of digital research tools have made the practice of law more efficient and effective. As we move further into the AI era, the enhancements in predictive analytics, document automation, and legal research will make the “good old days” of even the early digital age seem quaint. The efficiencies and capabilities AI brings to the table are likely to become just as indispensable as online databases are today.

The Way We ‘Law’ Will Change For The Better
The ultimate goal of integrating AI into legal practice isn’t just to replace old methods with new ones; it’s to enhance our ability to serve justice, increase access to legal services, and improve the quality of our work. AI promises to automate mundane tasks, predict legal outcomes with greater accuracy, and unearth insights from vast data. These advancements will free us to focus more on the nuanced, human aspects of law — strategy, empathy, and ethical judgment.

AI to Help Double Legal Tech Market Over Five Years, Gartner Says — from news.bloomberglaw.com by Isabel Gottlieb (behind a paywall)

Tech to take up a bigger share of in-house legal spend
Generative AI boom has much longer to run

The legal tech market will expand to $50 billion by 2027, driven by the generative artificial intelligence boom, according to an analysis by market research firm Gartner Inc.

That growth, up from about $23 billion in 2022, will be driven by continued law firm spending on AI legal tech, as well as in-house departments allocating more of their overall budgets to technology, said Chris Audet, chief of research in Gartner’s legal, risk and compliance leaders practice. The market size prediction, released publicly on Thursday, comes from a late-2023 analysis for Gartner clients, and the 2022 market size comes from …

Legal Tech Market To See Huge Lift Off Thanks to GenAI — from digit.fyi by Elizabeth Greenberg

The global legal technology market has grown significantly in recent years and generative AI (GenAI) will accelerate this growth, meaning the market will reach $50 billion in value by 2027, according to Gartner.

“GenAI has huge potential for bringing more automation to the legal space,” said Chris Audet, chief of research in the Gartner for legal, risk & compliance leaders practice.

“Rapid GenAI developments, and the widespread availability of consumer tools such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard, will quickly increase the number of established legal technology use cases, in turn creating growing market conditions for an increasing number of legal-focused tools.”

“New technologies can fundamentally change the way legal organizations do business, and GenAI has enormous potential to do this,” an analyst at Gartner said.

Revolutionizing Legal Tech in 48 Hours — from law.stanford.edu by Monica Schreiber
At CodeX Hackathon, SLS Students Help Create Award-Winning AI Tools to Help Veterans and Streamline M&A

Disabled veterans seeking to file claims with the Veterans Administration are faced with multiple hurdles and reams of paperwork. Many vets resort to paying third-party companies thousands of dollars to help them with the process.

What if there were a way to streamline the claims process—to condense burdensome information gathering and data inputting into a linear, simplified set of tasks guided by a chatbot? How long would it take to roll out a tool that could accomplish that?

The answer: about 48 hours—at least for an interdisciplinary team of students from Stanford University’s schools of Law, Business, and Computer Science collaborating feverishly during Codex’s Large Language Model (LLM) Hackathon held recently on campus.

What If Your Law Firm Had A Blank Page For Legal Tech? — from artificiallawyer.com

f law firms had a blank page for legal technology and innovation, what would they do?

While organisations across all sectors are getting to grips with the opportunities and risks posed by genAI, forward-thinking law firm leaders are considering what it means for their businesses – today, tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow.

But some firms remain constrained by yesterday, due to legacy processes, ways of working and mindsets. To create the conditions for change, firms need to adopt a ‘blank page’ approach and review all areas of their businesses by asking: if we were starting afresh, how would we design the organisation to future-proof it to achieve transformative growth with genAI at the core?

From DSC:
This sentence reminds me of the power of culture:

But some firms remain constrained by yesterday, due to legacy processes, ways of working and mindsets.

Fresh Voices on Legal Tech with Sarah Glassmeyer — from legaltalknetwork.com by Dennis Kennedy, Tom Mighell, and Sarah Glassmeyer

What if, instead of tech competence being this scary, overwhelming thing, we showed lawyers how to engage with technology in a more lighthearted, even playful, way? The reality is—tech competency doesn’t have an endpoint, but the process of continuous learning shouldn’t be dull and confusing. Sarah Glassmeyer joins Dennis and Tom to talk about her perspectives on technology education for attorneys, the latest trends in the legal tech world and new AI developments, and growing your knowledge of technology by building on small skills, one at a time.
.

How Legal Technology Can Add Value to an M&A Practice — from lexology.com

Following is a primer on some of the A.I.-driven legal technologies, from contract review and automated due-diligence solutions to deal collaboration and closing-management tools, that can drive productivity and efficiency during the four phases of an M&A transaction, as well as enhance market insight and client service.

Making your campus neurodivergent friendly — from timeshighereducation.com
How to create a university where neurodivergent staff and students feel welcome and thrive in the classroom, in the lab and throughout campus

Neurodivergent students and staff think about, interact with and see the world differently from their neurotypical peers and colleagues. Universities that adopt inclusive practices to welcome people with ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia and other disabilities to campus also foster their distinct strengths and talents in the classroom, labs, boardrooms and social spaces. This collection of resources offers advice for teachers, researchers, PhD supervisors and administrators for supporting neurodiversity in higher education.

Some Colleges Will Soon Charge $100,000 a Year. How Did This Happen? — from nytimes.com by Ron Lieber; via Ryan Craig
Some Vanderbilt students will have $100,000 in total expenses for the 2024-25 school year. The school doesn’t really want to talk about it.

It was only a matter of time before a college would have the nerve to quote its cost of attendance at nearly $100,000 a year. This spring, we’re catching our first glimpse of it.

One letter to a newly admitted Vanderbilt University engineering student showed an all-in price — room, board, personal expenses, a high-octane laptop — of $98,426. A student making three trips home to Los Angeles or London from the Nashville campus during the year could hit six figures.

This eye-popping sum is an anomaly. Only a tiny fraction of college-going students will pay anything close to this anytime soon, and about 35 percent of Vanderbilt students — those who get neither need-based nor merit aid — pay the full list price.

But a few dozen other colleges and universities that reject the vast majority of applicants will probably arrive at this threshold within a few years. Their willingness to cross it raises two questions for anyone shopping for college: How did this happen, and can it possibly be worth it?

‘Running Out of Road’ for FAFSA Completion — from insidehighered.com by Liam Knox
The number of students who filled out the federal aid form is down nearly 30 percent. The ramifications for access and enrollment could be devastating.

And that’s probably an optimistic estimate, said Bill DeBaun, NCAN’s senior director of data and strategic initiatives; if the pace of completion doesn’t pick up, the decline could be closer to 700,000 students. That could translate to up to a 4 percent drop in college-goers come fall, DeBaun said, which would be the largest enrollment drop since the COVID-19 pandemic—and one that’s likely to be made up primarily of low-income and first-generation students.

Study: Nearly 40 Percent of Students Started, Never Finished College — from insidehighered.com by Kathryn Palmer
Federal researchers followed the post-secondary outcomes of 23,000 students for 12 years.

Only 60 percent of students who enrolled in college earned a degree or credential within eight years of graduating high school.

That’s one of the biggest takeaways from a new report the National Center for Education Statistics released Monday that analyzed the enrollment, completion and financial aid outcomes of students.

The researchers tracked the postsecondary educational outcomes of roughly 23,000 students beginning in 2009 when they were freshman in high school through 2021, when the cohort was eight years out from graduating high school.

Race to the Finish | The rise of faster bachelor’s degrees raises the question: What is college for? — from chronicle.com by Kelly Field; from Jeff Selingo

Taken together, the two recent decisions illustrate a blurring of the lines between the two- and four-year sectors that is taking place not just in Idaho, but nationwide, as colleges struggle to overcome enrollment declines and skepticism about the value of a bachelor’s degree.

“It’s pretty clear that higher education is in a funk,” said Robert M. Zemsky, a University of Pennsylvania professor, who has been advocating for three-year programs for more than 15 years. “There’s a sense that we have to do something to make the product better, more relevant, and less costly to students.”

Excerpt from Next — from/by Jeff Selingo

Bottom line: While critics of a shorter degree see it as a lesser replacement for the four-year baccalaureate degree, advocates see it as another option for students who might not be interested in college at a time when enrollment is falling.

“We need to use this opportunity to redesign and do things better,” Carrell said. “That means that we all need to stay curious. We need to be a learning enterprise…and learn from the evidence we produce.”

Job-Ready on Day One — from the-job.beehiiv.com by Paul Fain

The U.S. faces a serious shortage of workers in the skilled trades—fields like HVAC, plumbing, electrical, solar, and construction. And those labor gaps are likely to widen as the federal government spends billions on infrastructure projects.

Employers in these industries are desperate for hires, says Doug Donovan, the founder and CEO of Interplay Learning. Yet the “challenge is not employer demand for workers,” he says, “but rather ensuring that learners learn about skilled trades careers and pursue them.”

The Austin-based Interplay offers online and VR training for workers in the skilled trades. The company was founded in 2016 with a focus on upskilling the hands-on worker. Even before the pandemic exacerbated labor shortages, Donovan says companies in these trades needed to hire workers who didn’t have all the skills required for jobs.

Interplay’s online courses and 3D, interactive simulations get close to what a learner is going to see on the job, says Donovan. “We aren’t trying to replace hands-on, instructor-led training,” he says. “We are trying to deliver tools that enhance that hands-on time or make it more efficient.”

The University Student’s Guide To Ethical AI Use — from studocu.com; with thanks to Jervise Penton at 6XD Media Group for this resource

This comprehensive guide offers:

Up-to-date statistics on the current state of AI in universities, how institutions and students are currently using artificial intelligence
An overview of popular AI tools used in universities and its limitations as a study tool
Tips on how to ethically use AI and how to maximize its capabilities for students
Current existing punishment and penalties for cheating using AI
A checklist of questions to ask yourself, before, during, and after an assignment to ensure ethical use

Some of the key facts you might find interesting are:

The total value of AI being used in education was estimated to reach $53.68 billion by the end of 2032.
68% of students say using AI has impacted their academic performance positively.
Educators using AI tools say the technology helps speed up their grading process by as much as 75%.

School Librarian Day – April 4, 2024

On 04/04/2024, in Africa, Asia, Canada, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, education, higher education, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, library / librarians, UK, United States, universities, youth, by Daniel Christian

School Librarian Day – April 4, 2024 — from nationaltoday.com

How Much Do Voice Actors Make? [elevenlabs.io] + other items re: creating multimedia

On 03/28/2024, in animation, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Augmented Reality (AR), career development, digital audio, digital storytelling, drama/theater, multimedia, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, tools, UK, United States, vendors, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

How Much Do Voice Actors Make? — from elevenlabs.io
Learn how much voice actors can expect to make and how to create passive income streams with ElevenLabs.

If you’re considering a career in the voice acting industry, you may be wondering how much do voice actors make?

A voice actor’s salary is based on many factors, from talent to type of voice work, and the ability to market yourself. Voice actors can experience massive earning potential, and a voice actor salary can range from tens of thousands of dollars to six figures a year.

In this article, we’ll explore how to make your voice talent work for you, whether you’re an entry-level voice actor or an experienced voice actor, the kind of voice actor’s salary you can expect, and what the highest-paid voice actors earn.

Also from elevenlabs.io see:

How Do Video Game AI Sound Effects Work?
Learn how AI tools are transforming the world of video game sound effect generation.

Have you ever wondered how video games create those immersive and dynamic sound effects that react to your every move? From the satisfying crunch of footsteps on different surfaces to the realistic reverberations of gunshots in various environments, game audio has come a long way.

Now, AI is revolutionizing the way video game audio is produced and experienced. AI algorithms and machine learning techniques are being leveraged to power real-time sound effect generation, creating more realistic, adaptive, and efficient sound effects that respond to player actions and in-game events in real-time. For example, ElevenLabs’ upcoming AI Sound Effects feature will allow video game developers to describe a sound and then generate it with AI.

What Are the Best AI Video Game Tools?
Looking to enhance your video generation process with AI tools? You’ve come to the right place. Learn all about the top tools and their specific use cases.

From generating realistic assets and environments to crafting compelling narratives and lifelike characters, AI is revolutionizing the way video games are designed and developed.

In this article, we will explore the different types of AI video game tools available and highlight some of the best tools in each category. We’ll delve into the key features and benefits of these tools, helping you understand how they can streamline your game development process and enhance the overall quality of your game.

Whether you’re an indie developer or part of a large studio, understanding the AI landscape and selecting the right tools for your project is crucial. We’ll provide insights into what to look for when choosing an AI video game tool, ensuring that you make an informed decision that aligns with your project’s requirements and budget.

Tools and Apps to Bring Augmented Reality into Your Classroom — from techlearning.com by Steve Baule and Dillon Martinez
These digital tools and platforms can support the use of augmented reality in the classroom, making a more dynamic and engaging learning experience

AR allows virtual 3D models, animations, and contextual information to be overlaid on the real world through mobile devices or AR headsets. The Franklin Institute provides a good overview of what constitutes AR, as does UK’s Talk Business and Tech & Learning. This immersive technology provides unique opportunities for interactive, experiential learning across numerous subjects.

For example, in a science class, students could use an AR app to visualize the 3D structure of a molecule they are studying and interact with it by rotating, resizing, or even building it atom-by-atom. For history lessons, AR can transport students to ancient archaeological sites projected on their desks, where they can explore 3D reconstructions of ruins and artifacts. Google’s Expeditions tool can allow students to take a virtual walkthrough South Africa and learn about its geography or visit the Seven New Wonders of the World.

London's Frameless is the ultimate immersive art experience. With 42 masterpieces in 4 different galleries, it's the largest permanent multi-sensory experience in the UK.pic.twitter.com/13OPRCLH2E

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) March 27, 2024

Conditions that trigger behaviour change — from peoplealchemy.com by Paul Matthews; via Learning Now TV

“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Learning Transfer’s ultimate outcome is behaviour change, so we must understand the conditions that trigger a behaviour to start.
…
According to Fogg, three specific elements must converge at the same moment for a specific behaviour to occur. Given that learning transfer is only successful when the learner starts behaving in the desired new ways, Fogg’s work is critical to understanding how to generate these new behaviours. The Fogg Behavioural Model [*1] states that B=MAP. That is, a specific behaviour will occur if at the same moment there is sufficient motivation, sufficient ability and sufficient prompt. If the behaviour does not occur, at least one of these three elements is missing or below the threshold required.

The prompt is, in effect, a call to action to do a specific behaviour. The prompt must be ‘loud’ enough for the target person to perceive it and be consciously aware of it. Once aware of a prompt, the target immediately, and largely unconsciously, assesses their ability to carry out the requested behaviour: how difficult would this be, how long will it take, who can help me, and so on. They base this on their perception of the difficulty of the requested behaviour, and their ability, as they see it, to achieve that behaviour.

Learning Ecosystems

What an incredible photo of the Milky Way, the Perseid Meteor Shower, and Stonehenge [Josh Dury ca

Using OpenAI to cut costs of court battles + reducing drafting times in 1/2 in the UK

AI candidates for office?! + other AI-related items

“Frameless” art museum in London where art truly comes to life + some beautiful painted landscapes

A $100,000 per year degree + other items re: the higher education learning ecosystem

Conditions that trigger behaviour change [Matthews]

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