vision/possibilities

a big deal: @elonmusk, Y. Bengio, S. Russell, ??@tegmark?, V. Kraknova, P. Maes, ?@Grady_Booch, ?@AndrewYang?, ?@tristanharris? & over 1,000 others, including me, have called for a temporary pause on training systems exceeding GPT-4 https://t.co/PJ5YFu0xm9

— Gary Marcus (@GaryMarcus) March 29, 2023

The above Tweet links to:

P ause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter — from futureoflife.org
We call on all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4.

Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak and dozens of top scientists concerned about the technology moving too fast have signed an open letter asking companies to pull back on artificial intelligence. @trevorlault reports on the new A.I. plea. pic.twitter.com/Vu9QlKfV8C

— Good Morning America (@GMA) March 30, 2023

However, the letter has since received heavy backlash, as there seems to be no verification in signing it. Yann LeCun from Meta denied signing the letter and completely disagreed with the premise. (source)

Nope.
I did not sign this letter.
I disagree with its premise. https://t.co/DoXwIZDcOx

— Yann LeCun (@ylecun) March 29, 2023

In Sudden Alarm, Tech Doyens Call for a Pause on ChatGPT — from wired.com by Will Knight (behind paywall)
Tech luminaries, renowned scientists, and Elon Musk warn of an “out-of-control race” to develop and deploy ever-more-powerful AI systems.

1/The call for a 6 month moratorium on making AI progress beyond GPT-4 is a terrible idea.

I'm seeing many new applications in education, healthcare, food, … that'll help many people. Improving GPT-4 will help. Lets balance the huge value AI is creating vs. realistic risks.

— Andrew Ng (@AndrewYNg) March 29, 2023

Also relevant/see:

“Godfather of artificial intelligence” weighs in on the past and potential of AI — from cbsnews.com
Sketching the Field of AI Tools for Local Newsrooms — from medium.com by Dalia Hashim
Adobe Firefly, Bing Image Creator, Canva’s AI, ChatGPT Plugins, Google Workspace AI, Microsoft Loop, Runway Gen2 – Volume 03 — from heatherbcooper.substack.com by Heather Cooper
Another week of everything, everywhere, all at once in AI news – and get my free AI Visual toolkit!
It takes a few dollars and 8 minutes to create a deepfake. And that’s only the start — from npr.org by Shannon Bond; with thanks to Mr. Robert Gibson on LinkedIn for this resource
We’ve just gone from a simple teacher-learner model to a new world of AI teachers – a new pedAIgogy — from donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com by Donald Clark

ChatGPT is about to revolutionize the economy. We need to decide what that looks like. — from technologyreview.com by David Rotman
New large language models will transform many jobs. Whether they will lead to widespread prosperity or not is up to us.
Is GPT-4 Worth the Subscription? Here’s What You Should Know — from wired.com Reece Rogers
The new algorithm is exclusive to ChatGPT Plus, OpenAI’s subscriber-only service. We signed up and put it to the test.
Superhuman: What can AI do in 30 minutes? — from oneusefulthing.substack.com Ethan Mollick
AI multiplies your efforts. I found out by how much…

From DSC:
While I continue to try and review/pulse-check the K12 learning ecosystem, it struck me that we need new, DIRECT communication channels between educators, support staff, administrators, and legislators — and possibly others.

That is:

How can teachers, support staff, and administrators talk directly to legislators?
How can legislators communicate with teachers, support staff, and administrators?
Should we require relevant legislators (i.e., those individuals sponsoring bills or major changes to our k12 learning ecosystem) to go through training on how students learn?
What communication vehicles are present? Can they be anonymous?
Should there be an idea 1-800 hotline or an idea “mailbox” (digital and/or analog based)?

And what about the students themselves and/or their parents/guardians? Should they be involved as well?

A Spotify model of personalised higher education — from timeshighereducation.com by Michael Rosemann and Martin Betts
With technology offering greater potential for a personalised approach to higher education, Michael Rosemann and Martin Betts look at what universities can learn from the ubiquitous music platform Spotify

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

Selection, or the P(upil)-route as educationalist Dan Buckley calls it, means personalisation driven by the learner. This is the fastest-moving form of personalised learning. Not only do students benefit from true omnichannel education – choosing between face to face and online – they also independently navigate the internet’s resources and online databases in search of the knowledge that will help them to achieve their learning targets.
…
Automation, or the A-route, is the new enabler of personalised learning. As with personalised medicine, finance or entertainment, education is starting to use digital technologies to unlock new models of tailored engagement. While for most universities, AI-driven, personalised education is not an option as the required capabilities are missing and significant investments would be necessary, there is a range of alternative forms of automated personalised learning. For this, we look to providers outside the sector for inspiration.

Here are Spotify-inspired ideas that universities ambitious enough to provide personalised learning could explore.

From DSC:
Rosemann & Betts use the term “omnichannel education” — I like that term. Very nice.

Major announcements from a key vendor in the AI space — NVIDIA

On 03/21/2023, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, art, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, creativity, design, emerging technologies, engineering, entrepreneurship, Facebook / Meta Platforms, future, game-changing environment, generational differences, Holographic comms, human-computer interaction (HCI), immersion, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, languages and translation, media/film, Metaverse, multimedia, Natural Language Processing (NLP), new business models, NVIDIA, online media, pace of change, personalized/customized learning, platforms, society, technology (general), tools, United States, user experience (UX), vendors, Virtual courts and law firms, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, visualizing information, web-based collaboration, Web3, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Explore Breakthroughs in AI, Accelerated Computing, and Beyond at GTC — from nvidia.com
The Conference for the Era of AI and the Metaverse

Addendums on 3/22/23:

Generative AI for Enterprises — from nvidia.com
Custom-built for a new era of innovation and automation.

Excerpt:

Impacting virtually every industry, generative AI unlocks a new frontier of opportunities—for knowledge and creative workers—to solve today’s most important challenges. NVIDIA is powering generative AI through an impressive suite of cloud services, pre-trained foundation models, as well as cutting-edge frameworks, optimized inference engines, and APIs to bring intelligence to your enterprise applications.

NVIDIA AI Foundations is a set of cloud services that advance enterprise-level generative AI and enable customization across use cases in areas such as text (NVIDIA NeMo™), visual content (NVIDIA Picasso), and biology (NVIDIA BioNeMo™). Unleash the full potential with NeMo, Picasso, and BioNeMo cloud services, powered by NVIDIA DGX™ Cloud—the AI supercomputer.

On the K-12 side of things:

6 Ways to Use ChatGPT to Save Time — from edutopia.org by Todd Finley
Teachers can use the artificial intelligence tool to effectively automate some routine tasks.

Excerpt:

In the paragraphs that follow, I’ve divided these tasks into the following categories: planning instruction, handouts and materials, differentiation, correspondence, assessment, and writing instruction and feedback. Welcome to the revolution.

Lesson plans: Ask ChatGPT to write a lesson plan on, say, Westward Expansion. The tool composes assessments, activities, scaffolding, and objectives. Want that in the form of problem-based learning or revised for a flipped classroom? ChatGPT can adjust the lesson plan according to your instructions.

I’m a high school math and science teacher who uses ChatGPT, and it’s made my job much easier — from businessinsider-com.cdn.ampproject.org by Aaron Mok; with thanks to Robert Gibson on LinkedIn for this resource

Excerpt:

Shannon Ahern, a high school math and science teacher, was afraid that ChatGPT would take her job.
But her mind changed after she started using the AI for class prep, which saved her hours of time.
Here’s how Ahern is using ChatGPT to make her job easier, as told to Insider’s Aaron Mok.

On the higher education side of things:

Using AI to make teaching easier & more impactful — from oneusefulthing.substack.com by Ethan Mollick
Here are five strategies and prompts that work for GPT-3.5 & GPT-4

Excerpt:

But one thing that is not changing is the best way for people to learn. We have made large advances in recent years in understanding pedagogy – the science of learning. We know some of the most effective techniques for making sure material sticks and that it can be retrieved and used when needed most.

Unfortunately, many of these advanced pedagogical techniques are time-consuming to prepare, and many instructors are often overworked and do not have the resources and time to add them to their teaching repertoire. But AI can help. In the rush to deliver AI benefits directly to students, the role of teachers is often overlooked.

Teaching: What You Need to Know About ChatGPT — from chronicle.com by Beth McMurtrie

Excerpt:

Digital literacy is more important than ever. Artificial-intelligence tools, and generative AI in particular, raise a host of ethical, political, economic, and social questions. Plus, this tech is soon going to be everywhere, including students’ future professions. (The technology behind ChatGPT, in fact, just got an upgrade this week.) Colleges need to figure out how to graduate digitally savvy students in all disciplines.

“The integration of technology into our lives is so pervasive that the restriction of education about AI to the computer scientists and the computer engineers makes no more sense than the restriction of taking English classes by English majors,” said Weber.

ChatGPT could be an effective and affordable tutor [Trumbore]

On 03/18/2023, in digital learning, education, education technology, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, personalized/customized learning, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, vendors, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

ChatGPT could be an effective and affordable tutor — from theconversation-com.cdn.ampproject.org by Anne Trumbore

Excerpt:

Yet the history and research of intelligent tutors show that using the right design to harness the power of chatbots like ChatGPT can make deeper, individualized learning available to almost anyone. For example, if people use ChatGPT to ask students questions that prompt them to revise or explain their work, students will have better learning gains. Since ChatGPT has access to far more knowledge than Aristotle ever did, it has great potential for providing tutoring to students to help them learn more than they would otherwise.

??Well this is something else.

GPT-4 passes basically every exam. And doesn’t just pass…
The Bar Exam: 90%
LSAT: 88%
GRE Quantitative: 80%, Verbal: 99%
Every AP, the SAT… pic.twitter.com/zQW3k6uM6Z

— Ethan Mollick (@emollick) March 14, 2023

Description of video:

Sal Khan walks through Khan Academy’s GPT-4 integration (not generally available yet). Folks can join the waitlist at Khanacademy.org. To learn more about Khanmigo, visit: khanacademy.org/khan-labs

We believe that AI has the potential to transform learning in a positive way, but we are also keenly aware of the risks. To test the possibilities, we’re inviting our district partners to opt in to Khan Labs, a new space for testing learning technology. We want to ensure that our work always puts the needs of students and teachers first, and we are focused on ensuring that the benefits of AI are shared equally across society. In addition to teachers and students, we’re inviting the general public to join a waitlist to test Khanmigo. Teachers, students and donors will be our partners on this learning journey, helping us test AI to see if we can harness it as a learning tool for all.

GPT-4 has arrived. It will blow ChatGPT out of the water. — from washingtonpost.com by Drew Harwell and Nitasha Tiku
The long-awaited tool, which can describe images in words, marks a huge leap forward for AI power — and another major shift for ethical norms

Introducing Our Virtual Volunteer Tool for People who are Blind or Have Low Vision, Powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4 — from bemyeyes.com
We are thrilled to announce Be My Eyes Virtual Volunteer™, the first-ever digital visual assistant powered by OpenAI’s new GPT-4 language model.

For example, [GPT-4] passes a simulated bar exam with a score around the top 10% of test takers; in contrast, GPT-3.5’s score was around the bottom 10%.

Source

Here are some incredible things people are already doing with GPT-4

It’s been less than 3.5 hours

? A thread

— Linus (???) (@LinusEkenstam) March 14, 2023

Had my wife close her eyes and describe rooms in her dream home.

In 3 minutes, I made these on Midjourney (h/t @nickfloats)

She was speechless.

She’s now a huge fan of AI and “gets it”

This is the way. pic.twitter.com/sjf3CQYtwa

— Kallaway (@kanekallaway) March 6, 2023

Exploring generative AI and the implications for universities — from universityworldnews.com

Excerpt:

This is part of a weekly University World News special report series on ‘AI and higher education’. The focus is on how universities are engaging with ChatGPT and other generative artificial intelligence tools. The articles from academics and our journalists around the world are exploring developments and university work in AI that have implications for higher education institutions and systems, students and staff, and teaching, learning and research.

Teaching: A University-Wide Language for Learning — from chronicle.com by Beckie Supiano

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Last week, as I was interviewing Shaun Vecera about a new initiative he directs at the University of Iowa, he made a comment that stopped me in my tracks. The initiative, Learning at Iowa, is meant to create a common vocabulary, based on cognitive science, to support learning across the university. It focuses on “the three M’s for effective learning”: mind-set, metacognition, and memory.

“Not because those are the wrong ways of talking about that. But when you talk about learning, I think you can easily see how these skills transfer across not just courses, but also transfer from the university into a career.”

From DSC:
This reminds me of what I was trying to get at here — i.e., let’s provide folks with more information on learning how to learn.

Lets provide folks with more information on learning how to learn

Also relevant/see:

Changing your teaching takes more than a recipe — — from chronicle.com by Beckie Supiano
Professors have been urged to adopt more effective practices. Why are their results so mixed?

Excerpts:

When the researchers asked their interview subjects how they first learned about peer instruction, many more cited informal discussions with colleagues than cited more formal channels like workshops. Even fewer pointed to a book or an article.

So even when there’s a really well-developed recipe, professors aren’t necessarily reading it.
…
In higher ed, teaching is often seen as something anyone who knows the content can automatically do. But the evidence suggests instead that teaching is an intellectual exercise that adds to subject-matter expertise.

This teaching-specific math knowledge, the researchers note, could be acquired in teacher preparation or professional development, however, it’s usually created on the job.

“Now, I’m much more apt to help them develop a deeper understanding of how people learn from a neuroscientific and cognitive-psychology perspective, and have them develop a model for how students learn.”

Erika Offerdahl, associate vp and director of the Transformational Change Initiative at WSU

From DSC:
I love this part too:

There’s a role here, too, for education researchers. Not every evidence-based teaching practice has been broken into its critical components in the literature,

Fostering sustainable learning ecosystems [Blessinger]

On 03/13/2023, in 21st century, Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, change, collaboration, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, culture, curriculum, education, education technology, Europe, formal learning, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, Google, higher education, ideas, informal learning, instructional design, K-12 related, leadership, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, legislatures / government / legal, lifelong learning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, platforms, policy, society, strategy, technology (general), tools, training / L&D, UK, United States, vision/possibilities, youth, by Daniel Christian

Fostering sustainable learning ecosystems — from linkedin.com by Patrick Blessinger

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Learning ecosystems
As today’s global knowledge society becomes increasingly interconnected and begins to morph into a global learning society, it is likely that formal, nonformal, and informal learning will become increasingly interconnected. For instance, there has been an explosion of new self-directed e-learning platforms such as Khan Academy, Open Courseware, and YouTube, among others, that help educate billions of people around the world.

A learning ecosystem includes all the elements that contribute to a learner’s overall learning experience. The components of a learning ecosystem are numerous, including people, technology platforms, knowledge bases, culture, governance, strategy, and other internal and external elements that have an impact on learning. Therefore, moving forward, it is crucial to integrate learning across formal, nonformal, and informal learning processes and activities in a more strategic way.

5 Ideas To Incorporate AI In Your eLearning Course — from elearningindustry.com by Christopher Pappas

Summary:

Artificial Intelligence is now taking the world of learning by storm. Here are 5 ways you can successfully incorporate AI in online learning.

Let’s say you’re training sales reps on handling different customer personalities. You can use this technology to diversify your branching scenarios so that trainees can also speak and not only type. This way, not only will the training become more realistic, but you’ll also be able to assess and work on additional elements, such as tone of voice, volume, speech tempo, etc.

What would higher ed (or even K-12) look like if you could completely scrap it and start over? [Carty]

On 03/11/2023, in business side of he, colleges, community colleges, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Design Thinking, higher education, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, liberal arts, reinvent, United States, universities, vision/possibilities, vocational / trades, writing, by Daniel Christian

Transfers From Community College Continue to Fall — from insidehighered.com by Sara Weissman
Despite the decline in transfers, a new report also says six-year college completion rates among transfer students improved.

Excerpt:

Transfers between community colleges and four-year institutions continued to drop last fall, an ongoing trend since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. But the report also contains some good news, including that six-year college completion rates among transfer students improved, despite the disruptive nature of the pandemic.
…
“Upward transfer has continued to decline pretty steadily at this point in every year since the pandemic,” Shapiro said during a media briefing Wednesday. “This suggests that baccalaureate attainment is beginning to appear increasingly out of reach for community college students,” particularly for students enrolled in urban and suburban community colleges, which saw steeper declines in transfers to universities than community colleges in towns or rural areas.

Industry insight: Blockchaining to track current and potential employees’ skills [Boyd]

On 03/06/2023, in Blockchain, career development, global / globalization, learner profiles, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, platforms, skills, society, training / L&D, vision/possibilities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Industry insight: Blockchaining to track current and potential employees’ skills — from chieflearningofficer.com by Tanya Boyd

Excerpts:

A learner who is aware of their unique strengths and development needs, as well as their preferred approach for gaining new skills, is often able to find the learning opportunities that they need more effectively and efficiently.

A global language for skills
While we might be tempted to focus within, looking for ways to address our own company’s talent challenges in isolation, this common concern invites a more global solution. We would all be better off if we could build a global language for skills. It’s at least one step toward achieving global processes for evaluating and developing them.
…
The top three challenges with skills and skill-based practices, as cited by McKinsey’s 2021 state of hiring survey, are: the ability to validate skills, sourcing job seekers with the right skills and scaling this approach.

Having a validated “chain” of skills for an employee helps not only in the selection process, but also as L&D departments seek to personalize learning. Blockchain creates a more valid approach to personalizing learning based on each employee’s competencies and skills gathered across their career, rather than just the skills they are demonstrating in their current organization and role.

Introducing Q-Chat, the world’s first AI tutor built with OpenAI’s ChatGPT [Bayer]

On 03/06/2023, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assessment, digital learning, education, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, game-changing environment, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interactivity, K-12 related, languages and translation, learner profiles, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, more voice more choice more control, participation, personalized/customized learning, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, story, storytelling, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, tools, vendors, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

Introducing Q-Chat, the world’s first AI tutor built with OpenAI’s ChatGPT — from quizlet.com by Lex Bayer

Excerpt:

Modeled on research demonstrating that the most effective form of learning is one-on-one tutoring1, Q-Chat offers students the experience of interacting with a personal AI tutor in an effective and conversational way. Whether they’re learning French vocabulary or Roman History, Q-Chat engages students with adaptive questions based on relevant study materials delivered through a fun chat experience. Pulling from Quizlet’s massive educational content library and using the question-based Socratic method to promote active learning, Q-Chat has the ability to test a student’s knowledge of educational content, ask in-depth questions to get at underlying concepts, test reading comprehension, help students learn a language and encourage students on healthy learning habits.

Learning Ecosystems

A Spotify model of personalised higher education [Rosemann & Betts]

Reflections on “Teaching: A University-Wide Language for Learning” [Supiano]

Industry insight: Blockchaining to track current and potential employees’ skills [Boyd]

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