“Aravaipa” by Photographer Andrea Koesters — from booooooom.com



Researchers Uncover Hundreds of New Marine Species in the Underwater Mountain Ecosystems of the Pacific Ocean — from thisiscolossal.com by Grace Ebert and Co.


 

AI for the physical world — from superhuman.ai by Zain Kahn

Excerpt: (emphasis DSC)

A new company called Archetype is trying to tackle that problem: It wants to make AI useful for more than just interacting with and understanding the digital realm. The startup just unveiled Newton — “the first foundation model that understands the physical world.”

What’s it for?
A warehouse or factory might have 100 different sensors that have to be analyzed separately to figure out whether the entire system is working as intended. Newton can understand and interpret all of the sensors at the same time, giving a better overview of how everything’s working together. Another benefit: You can ask Newton questions in plain English without needing much technical expertise.

How does it work?

  • Newton collects data from radar, motion sensors, and chemical and environmental trackers
  • It uses an LLM to combine each of those data streams into a cohesive package
  • It translates that data into text, visualizations, or code so it’s easy to understand

Apple’s $25-50 million Shutterstock deal highlights fierce competition for AI training data — from venturebeat.com by Michael Nuñez; via Tom Barrett’s Prompcraft e-newsletter

Apple has entered into a significant agreement with stock photography provider Shutterstock to license millions of images for training its artificial intelligence models. According to a Reuters report, the deal is estimated to be worth between $25 million and $50 million, placing Apple among several tech giants racing to secure vast troves of data to power their AI systems.


 

 
 


How Early Adopters of Gen AI Are Gaining Efficiencies — from knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu by Prasanna (Sonny) Tambe and Scott A. Snyder; via Ray Schroeder on LinkedIn
Enterprises are seeing gains from generative AI in productivity and strategic planning, according to speakers at a recent Wharton conference.

Its unique strengths in translation, summation, and content generation are especially useful in processing unstructured data. Some 80% of all new data in enterprises is unstructured, he noted, citing research firm Gartner. Very little of that unstructured data that resides in places like emails “is used effectively at the point of decision making,” he noted. “[With gen AI], we have a real opportunity” to garner new insights from all the information that resides in emails, team communication platforms like Slack, and agile project management tools like Jira, he said.


6 YouTube Channels to Stay Up to Date with AI — from heaigirl.substack.com by Diana Dovgopol
Here are some cool AI YouTube channels.

Here are 6 YouTube channels I watch to stay up to date with AI. This list will be useful whether you’re a casual AI enthusiast or an experienced programmer.

1. Matt Wolfe: AI for non-coders
This is a fast-growing YouTube channel focused on artificial intelligence for non-coders. On this channel, you’ll find videos about ChatGPT, Midjourney, and any AI tool that it’s gaining popularity.


Top AI mobile apps, Stable Video 3D, & my AI film workflow — from by Heather Cooper
Plus 1-Click 3D animation and other cool AI tools

#3 Photomath
Photomath is a comprehensive math help app that provides step-by-step explanations for a wide range of math problems, from elementary to college level. Photomath is only available as a mobile app. (link)

Features:

  • Get step-by-step solutions with multiple methods to choose from
  • Scan any math problem, including word problems, using the app’s camera
  • Access custom visual aids and extra “how” and “why” tips for deeper understanding

Google researchers unveil ‘VLOGGER’, an AI that can bring still photos to life — from venturebeat.com by Michael Nuñez

Google researchers have developed a new artificial intelligence system that can generate lifelike videos of people speaking, gesturing and moving — from just a single still photo. The technology, called VLOGGER, relies on advanced machine learning models to synthesize startlingly realistic footage, opening up a range of potential applications while also raising concerns around deepfakes and misinformation.



What We Risk By Automating Tasks We Loathe — from marcwatkins.substack.com by Marc Watkins

I’m fascinated by the potential of these tools to augment and enhance our work and creativity. There’s no denying the impressive capabilities we’re already seeing with text generation, image creation, coding assistance, and more. Used thoughtfully, AI can be a powerful productivity multiplier.

At the same time, I have significant concerns about the broader implications of this accelerating technology, especially for education and society at large. We’re traversing new ground at a breakneck pace, and it’s crucial that we don’t blindly embrace AI without considering the potential risks.

My worry is that by automating away too many tasks, even seemingly rote ones like creating slide decks, we risk losing something vital—humanity at the heart of knowledge work.


Nvidia Introduce AI Nurses — from wireprompt.substack.com | Weekkly AI Report from WirePrompt

Nvidia has announced a partnership with Hippocratic AI to introduce AI “agents” aimed at replacing nurses in hospitals. These AI “nurses” come at a significantly low cost compared to human nurses and are purportedly intended to address staffing issues by handling “low-risk,” patient-facing tasks via video calls. However, concerns are raised regarding the ethical implications and effectiveness of replacing human nurses with AI, particularly given the complex nature of medical care.



16 Changes to the Way Enterprises Are Building and Buying Generative AI — from a16z.com by Sarah Wang and Shangda Xu

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  • Resourcing: budgets are growing dramatically and here to stay
  • Models: enterprises are trending toward a multi-model, open source world
  • Use cases: more migrating to production
  • Size of total opportunity: massive and growing quickly

 
 

Enter the New Era of Mobile AI With Samsung Galaxy S24 Series — from news.samsung.com

Galaxy AI introduces meaningful intelligence aimed at enhancing every part of life, especially the phone’s most fundamental role: communication. When you need to defy language barriers, Galaxy S24 makes it easier than ever. Chat with another student or colleague from abroad. Book a reservation while on vacation in another country. It’s all possible with Live Translate,2 two-way, real-time voice and text translations of phone calls within the native app. No third-party apps are required, and on-device AI keeps conversations completely private.

With Interpreter, live conversations can be instantly translated on a split-screen view so people standing opposite each other can read a text transcription of what the other person has said. It even works without cellular data or Wi-Fi.


Galaxy S24 — from theneurondaily.com by Noah Edelman & Pete Huang

Samsung just announced the first truly AI-powered smartphone: the Galaxy S24.


For us AI power users, the features aren’t exactly new, but it’s the first time we’ve seen them packaged up into a smartphone (Siri doesn’t count, sorry).


Samsung’s Galaxy S24 line arrives with camera improvements and generative AI tricks — from techcrunch.com by Brian Heater
Starting at $800, the new flagships offer brighter screens and a slew of new photo-editing tools

 

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

***

 

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
 
 

The 2023 Ocean Photographer of the Year Contest Highlights the Stunning Sights Above and Below the Surface — from thisiscolossal.com

Michael Haluwana, illuminated by the Arctic sun, a polar bear walks across a glacier that is adorned by a waterfall, Arctic


It’s Not Kansas Anymore: It’s Cinematic Thinking — from campustechnology.com by Mary Grush and Gardner Campbell
A Q&A with Gardner Campbell

Blogs are like a screenplay to a mental movie the student has made. It’s a kind of narrative, but in a way that’s more associative, the way film can be.

Grush: What about your recorded online class sessions? Do they present another path to cinematic thinking?

Campbell: Yes! A couple years ago I started describing what I did with online learning as making movies on location. That referred to the way that I really wanted each of our class meetings to be: a kind of experience, not just for students to be here as I’m lecturing, though I may be doing that, but an experience that’s similar to a live television show. Or almost like a live recording session. Of course, we’re making something that is recorded on video, and you can go back and look at it to get the flow of the experience of our time together: the way in which that story exists through time.


 

 
 

Adobe revealed 4 new AI heavy hitters — from aivalley.com

  1. Project Stardust
  2. Project Primrose
  3. Project Poseable
  4. Project Dub Dub Dub


Adobe is working on generative AI video manipulation — from theverge.com by Umar Shakir
The company revealed Project Fast Fill, a new way to remove people, add objects, and replace colors in videos using generative AI and text-prompt interactions.

Adobe is showing off a new generative fill feature, Project Fast Fill, that can easily add or remove objects in videos with the power of AI. It’s one of several new, wild, experimental AI features announced today at the company’s MAX conference. Project Fast Fill has the ability to swap in clothing accessories on people in motion or remove tourists from the background of a landscape pan.



 

Canva’s new AI tools automate boring, labor-intensive design tasks — from theverge.com by Jess Weatherbed
Magic Studio features like Magic Switch automatically convert your designs into blogs, social media posts, emails, and more to save time on manually editing documents.


Canva launches Magic Studio, partners with Runway ML for video — from bensbites.beehiiv.com by Ben Tossell

Here are the highlights of launched features under the new Magic Studio:

  • Magic Design – Turn ideas into designs instantly with AI-generated templates.
  • Magic Switch – Transform content into different formats and languages with one click.
  • Magic Grab – Make images editable like Canva templates for easy editing.
  • Magic Expand – Use AI to expand images beyond the original frame.
  • Magic Morph – Transform text and shapes with creative effects and prompts.
  • Magic Edit – Make complex image edits using simple text prompts.
  • Magic Media – Generate professional photos, videos and artworks from text prompts.
  • Magic Animate – Add animated transitions and motion to designs instantly.
  • Magic Write – Generate draft text and summaries powered by AI.



Adobe Firefly

Meet Adobe Firefly -- Adobe is going hard with the use of AI. This is a key product along those lines.


Addendums on 10/11/23:


Adobe Releases New AI Models Aimed at Improved Graphic Design — from bloomberg.com
New version of Firefly is bigger than initial tool, Adobe says Illustrator, Express programs each get own generative tools


 



AI Meets Med School— from insidehighered.com by Lauren Coffey
Adding to academia’s AI embrace, two institutions in the University of Texas system are jointly offering a medical degree paired with a master’s in artificial intelligence.

Doctor AI

The University of Texas at San Antonio has launched a dual-degree program combining medical school with a master’s in artificial intelligence.

Several universities across the nation have begun integrating AI into medical practice. Medical schools at the University of Florida, the University of Illinois, the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Stanford and Harvard Universities all offer variations of a certificate in AI in medicine that is largely geared toward existing professionals.

“I think schools are looking at, ‘How do we integrate and teach the uses of AI?’” Dr. Whelan said. “And in general, when there is an innovation, you want to integrate it into the curriculum at the right pace.”

Speaking of emerging technologies and med school, also see:


Though not necessarily edu-related, this was interesting to me and hopefully will be to some profs and/or students out there:


How to stop AI deepfakes from sinking society — and science — from nature.com by Nicola Jones; via The Neuron
Deceptive videos and images created using generative AI could sway elections, crash stock markets and ruin reputations. Researchers are developing methods to limit their harm.





Exploring the Impact of AI in Education with PowerSchool’s CEO & Chief Product Officer — from michaelbhorn.substack.com by Michael B. Horn

With just under 10 acquisitions in the last 5 years, PowerSchool has been active in transforming itself from a student information systems company to an integrated education company that works across the day and lifecycle of K–12 students and educators. What’s more, the company turned heads in June with its announcement that it was partnering with Microsoft to integrate AI into its PowerSchool Performance Matters and PowerSchool LearningNav products to empower educators in delivering transformative personalized-learning pathways for students.


AI Learning Design Workshop: The Trickiness of AI Bootcamps and the Digital Divide — from eliterate.usby Michael Feldstein

As readers of this series know, I’ve developed a six-session design/build workshop series for learning design teams to create an AI Learning Design Assistant (ALDA). In my last post in this series, I provided an elaborate ChatGPT prompt that can be used as a rapid prototype that everyone can try out and experiment with.1 In this post, I’d like to focus on how to address the challenges of AI literacy effectively and equitably.


Global AI Legislation Tracker— from iapp.org; via Tom Barrett

Countries worldwide are designing and implementing AI governance legislation commensurate to the velocity and variety of proliferating AI-powered technologies. Legislative efforts include the development of comprehensive legislation, focused legislation for specific use cases, and voluntary guidelines and standards.

This tracker identifies legislative policy and related developments in a subset of jurisdictions. It is not globally comprehensive, nor does it include all AI initiatives within each jurisdiction, given the rapid and widespread policymaking in this space. This tracker offers brief commentary on the wider AI context in specific jurisdictions, and lists index rankings provided by Tortoise Media, the first index to benchmark nations on their levels of investment, innovation and implementation of AI.


Diving Deep into AI: Navigating the L&D Landscape — from learningguild.com by Markus Bernhardt

The prospect of AI-powered, tailored, on-demand learning and performance support is exhilarating: It starts with traditional digital learning made into fully adaptive learning experiences, which would adjust to strengths and weaknesses for each individual learner. The possibilities extend all the way through to simulations and augmented reality, an environment to put into practice knowledge and skills, whether as individuals or working in a team simulation. The possibilities are immense.



Learning Lab | ChatGPT in Higher Education: Exploring Use Cases and Designing Prompts — from events.educause.edu; via Robert Gibson on LinkedIn

Part 1: October 16 | 3:00–4:30 p.m. ET
Part 2: October 19 | 3:00–4:30 p.m. ET
Part 3: October 26 | 3:00–4:30 p.m. ET
Part 4: October 30 | 3:00–4:30 p.m. ET


Mapping AI’s Role in Education: Pioneering the Path to the Future — from marketscale.com by Michael B. Horn, Jacob Klein, and Laurence Holt

Welcome to The Future of Education with Michael B. Horn. In this insightful episode, Michael gains perspective on mapping AI’s role in education from Jacob Klein, a Product Consultant at Oko Labs, and Laurence Holt, an Entrepreneur In Residence at the XQ Institute. Together, they peer into the burgeoning world of AI in education, analyzing its potential, risks, and roadmap for integrating it seamlessly into learning environments.


Ten Wild Ways People Are Using ChatGPT’s New Vision Feature — from newsweek.com by Meghan Roos; via Superhuman

Below are 10 creative ways ChatGPT users are making use of this new vision feature.


 
© 2024 | Daniel Christian