(Excerpt from the 12/4/24 edition)

Robot “Jailbreaks”
In the year or so since large language models hit the big time, researchers have demonstrated numerous ways of tricking them into producing problematic outputs including hateful jokes, malicious code, phishing emails, and the personal information of users. It turns out that misbehavior can take place in the physical world, too: LLM-powered robots can easily be hacked so that they behave in potentially dangerous ways.

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania were able to persuade a simulated self-driving car to ignore stop signs and even drive off a bridge, get a wheeled robot to find the best place to detonate a bomb, and force a four-legged robot to spy on people and enter restricted areas.

“We view our attack not just as an attack on robots,” says George Pappas, head of a research lab at the University of Pennsylvania who helped unleash the rebellious robots. “Any time you connect LLMs and foundation models to the physical world, you actually can convert harmful text into harmful actions.”

The robot “jailbreaks” highlight a broader risk that is likely to grow as AI models become increasingly used as a way for humans to interact with physical systems, or to enable AI agents autonomously on computers, say the researchers involved.


Virtual lab powered by ‘AI scientists’ super-charges biomedical research — from nature.com by Helena Kudiabor
Could human-AI collaborations be the future of interdisciplinary studies?

In an effort to automate scientific discovery using artificial intelligence (AI), researchers have created a virtual laboratory that combines several ‘AI scientists’ — large language models with defined scientific roles — that can collaborate to achieve goals set by human researchers.

The system, described in a preprint posted on bioRxiv last month1, was able to design antibody fragments called nanobodies that can bind to the virus that causes COVID-19, proposing nearly 100 of these structures in a fraction of the time it would take an all-human research group.


Can AI agents accelerate AI implementation for CIOs? — from intelligentcio.com by Arun Shankar

By embracing an agent-first approach, every CIO can redefine their business operations. AI agents are now the number one choice for CIOs as they come pre-built and can generate responses that are consistent with a company’s brand using trusted business data, explains Thierry Nicault at Salesforce Middle.


AI Turns Photos Into 3D Real World — from theaivalley.com by Barsee

Here’s what you need to know:

  • The system generates full 3D environments that expand beyond what’s visible in the original image, allowing users to explore new perspectives.
  • Users can freely navigate and view the generated space with standard keyboard and mouse controls, similar to browsing a website.
  • It includes real-time camera effects like depth-of-field and dolly zoom, as well as interactive lighting and animation sliders to tweak scenes.
  • The system works with both photos and AI-generated images, enabling creators to integrate it with text-to-image tools or even famous works of art.

Why it matters:
This technology opens up exciting possibilities for industries like gaming, film, and virtual experiences. Soon, creating fully immersive worlds could be as simple as generating a static image.

Also related, see:

From World Labs

Today we’re sharing our first step towards spatial intelligence: an AI system that generates 3D worlds from a single image. This lets you step into any image and explore it in 3D.

Most GenAI tools make 2D content like images or videos. Generating in 3D instead improves control and consistency. This will change how we make movies, games, simulators, and other digital manifestations of our physical world.

In this post you’ll explore our generated worlds, rendered live in your browser. You’ll also experience different camera effects, 3D effects, and dive into classic paintings. Finally, you’ll see how creators are already building with our models.


 

 

Skill-Based Training: Embrace the Benefits; Stay Wary of the Hype — from learningguild.com by Paige Yousey

1. Direct job relevance
One of the biggest draws of skill-based training is its direct relevance to employees’ daily roles. By focusing on teaching job-specific skills, this approach helps workers feel immediately empowered to apply what they learn, leading to a quick payoff for both the individual and the organization. Yet, while this tight focus is a major benefit, it’s important to consider some potential drawbacks that could arise from an overly narrow approach.

Be wary of:

  • Overly Narrow Focus: Highly specialized training might leave employees with little room to apply their skills to broader challenges, limiting versatility and growth potential.
  • Risk of Obsolescence: Skills can quickly become outdated, especially in fast-evolving industries. L&D leaders should aim for regular updates to maintain relevance.
  • Neglect of Soft Skills: While technical skills are crucial, ignoring soft skills like communication and problem-solving may lead to a lack of balanced competency.

2. Enhanced job performance…
3. Addresses skill gaps…

…and several more areas to consider


Another item from Paige Yousey

5 Key EdTech Innovations to Watch — from learningguild.com by Paige Yousey

AI-driven course design

Strengths

  • Content creation and updates: AI streamlines the creation of training materials by identifying resource gaps and generating tailored content, while also refreshing existing materials based on industry trends and employee feedback to maintain relevance.
  • Data-driven insights: Use AI tools to provide valuable analytics to inform course development and instructional strategies, helping learner designers identify effective practices and improve overall learning outcomes.
  • Efficiency: Automating repetitive tasks, such as learner assessments and administrative duties, enables L&D professionals to concentrate on developing impactful training programs and fostering learner engagement.

Concerns

  • Limited understanding of context: AI may struggle to understand the specific educational context or the unique needs of diverse learner populations, potentially hindering effectiveness.
  • Oversimplification of learning: AI may reduce complex educational concepts to simple metrics or algorithms, oversimplifying the learning process and neglecting deeper cognitive development.
  • Resistance to change: Learning leaders may face resistance from staff who are skeptical about integrating AI into their training practices.

Also from the Learning Guild, see:

Use Twine to Easily Create Engaging, Immersive Scenario-Based Learning — from learningguild.com by Bill Brandon

Scenario-based learning immerses learners in realistic scenarios that mimic real-world challenges they might face in their roles. These learning experiences are highly relevant and relatable. SBL is active learning. Instead of passively consuming information, learners actively engage with the content by making decisions and solving problems within the scenario. This approach enhances critical thinking and decision-making skills.

SBL can be more effective when storytelling techniques create a narrative that guides learners through the scenario to maintain engagement and make the learning memorable. Learners receive immediate feedback on their decisions and learn from their mistakes. Reflection can deepen their understanding. Branching scenarios add simulated complex decision-making processes and show the outcome of various actions through interactive scenarios where learner choices lead to different outcomes.

Embrace the Future: Why L&D Leaders Should Prioritize AI Digital Literacy — from learningguild.com by Dr. Erica McCaig

The role of L&D leaders in AI digital literacy
For L&D leaders, developing AI digital literacy within an organization requires a well-structured curriculum and development plan that equips employees with the knowledge, skills, and ethical grounding needed to thrive in an AI-augmented workplace. This curriculum should encompass a range of competencies that enhance technical understanding and foster a mindset ready for innovation and responsible use of AI. Key areas to focus on include:

  • Understanding AI Fundamentals: …
  • Proficiency with AI Tools: …
  • Ethical Considerations: …
  • Cultivating Critical Thinking: …
 

A Code-Red Leadership Crisis: A Wake-Up Call for Talent Development — from learningguild.com by Dr. Arika Pierce Williams

This company’s experience offers three crucial lessons for other organizational leaders who may be contemplating cutting or reducing talent development investments in their 2025 budgets to focus on “growth.”

  1. Leadership development isn’t a luxury – it’s a strategic imperative…
  2. Succession planning must be an ongoing process, not a reactive measure…
  3. The cost of developing leaders is far less than the cost of not having them when you need them most…

Also from The Learning Guild, see:

5 Key EdTech Innovations to Watch — from learningguild.com by Paige Yousey

  1. AI-driven course design
  2. Hyper-personalized content curation
  3. Immersive scenario-based training
  4. Smart chatbots
  5. Wearable devices
 

Researchers develop VR training to tackle racial disparity — from inavateonthenet.net

Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have developed a VR training system for physicians, aimed at tackling racial and class health disparities.

“Ultimately, this virtual reality training system could become a viable tool for practicing communication with diverse patients across different types of health care professions. “There’s no reason why nurses couldn’t also use this across different health care contexts — not just for Black maternal health, but chronic pain, diabetes or some of these other health issues in which we know that there are disparities based on markers of difference such as race or class”.

Two additional VR training modules are under development, aimed at promoting self-reflection by helping medical students to identify their own biases and learn how to mitigate them. The third module will focus on students practicing intercultural communication skills through interactions with a virtual patient, an approach that is seen by the researchers as more cost-effective than recruiting people for role playing with medical students.

 

From DSC:
I’ve often thought that VR could be used to help us walk in someone else’s shoes….to experience things as THEY experience things.

 

Which AI should I use? Superpowers and the State of Play — from by Ethan Mollick
And then there were three

For over a year, GPT-4 was the dominant AI model, clearly much smarter than any of the other LLM systems available. That situation has changed in the last month, there are now three GPT-4 class models, all powering their own chatbots: GPT-4 (accessible through ChatGPT Plus or Microsoft’s CoPilot), Anthropic’s Claude 3 Opus, and Google’s Gemini Advanced1.

Where we stand
We are in a brief period in the AI era where there are now multiple leading models, but none has yet definitively beaten the GPT-4 benchmark set over a year ago. While this may represent a plateau in AI abilities, I believe this is likely to change in the coming months as, at some point, models like GPT-5 and Gemini 2.0 will be released. In the meantime, you should be using a GPT-4 class model and using it often enough to learn what it does well. You can’t go wrong with any of them, pick a favorite and use it…

From DSC:
Here’s a powerful quote from Ethan:

In fact, in my new book I postulate that you haven’t really experienced AI until you have had three sleepless nights of existential anxiety, after which you can start to be productive again.


Using AI for Immersive Educational Experiences — from automatedteach.com by Graham Clay
Realistic video brings course content to life but requires AI literacy.

For us, I think the biggest promise of AI tools like Sora — that can create video with ease — is that they lower the cost of immersive educational experiences. This increases the availability of these experiences, expanding their reach to student populations who wouldn’t otherwise have them, whether due to time, distance, or expense.

Consider the profound impact on a history class, where students are transported to California during the gold rush through hyperrealistic video sequences. This vivifies the historical content and cultivates a deeper connection with the material.

In fact, OpenAI has already demonstrated the promise of this sort of use case, with a very simple prompt producing impressive results…


The Empathy Illusion: How AI Agents Could Manipulate Students — from marcwatkins.substack.com by Marc Watkins

Take this scenario. A student misses a class and, within twenty minutes, receives a series of texts and even a voicemail from a very concerned and empathic-sounding voice wanting to know what’s going on. Of course, the text is entirely generated, and the voice is synthetic as well, but the student likely doesn’t know this. To them, communication isn’t something as easy to miss or brush off as an email. It sounds like someone who cares is talking to them.

But let’s say that isn’t enough. By that evening, the student still hadn’t logged into their email or checked the LMS. The AI’s strategic reasoning is communicating with the predictive AI and analyzing the pattern of behavior against students who succeed or fail vs. students who are ill. The AI tracks the student’s movements on campus, monitors their social media usage, and deduces the student isn’t ill and is blowing off class.

The AI agent resumes communication with the student. But this time, the strategic AI adopts a different persona, not the kind and empathetic persona used for the initial contact, but a stern, matter-of-fact one. The student’s phone buzzes with alerts that talk about scholarships being lost, teachers being notified, etc. The AI anticipates the excuses the student will use and presents evidence tracking the student’s behavior to show they are not sick.


Not so much focused on learning ecosystems, but still worth mentioning:

The top 100 Gen AI Consumer Apps — from a16z.com / andreessen horowitz by Olivia Moore


 

 

From DSC:
I recently ran into the following item:


UK university opens VR classroom — from inavateonthenet.net

Students at the University of Nottingham will be learning through a dedicated VR classroom, enabling remote viewing and teaching for students and lecturers.

Based in the university’s Engineering Science and Learning Centre (ELSC), this classroom, believed to be the first in the UK to use a dedicated VR classroom, using 40 VR headsets, 35 of which are tethered overhead to individual PCs, with five available as traditional, desk-based systems with display screens.


I admit that I was excited to see this article and I congratulate the University of Nottingham on their vision here. I hope that they can introduce more use cases and applications to provide evidence of VR’s headway.

As I look at virtual reality…

  • On the plus side, I’ve spoken with people who love to use their VR-based headsets for fun workouts/exercises. I’ve witnessed the sweat, so I know that’s true. And I believe there is value in having the ability to walk through museums that one can’t afford to get to. And I’m sure that the gamers have found some incredibly entertaining competitions out there. The experience of being immersed can be highly engaging. So there are some niche use cases for sure.
  • But on the negative side, the technologies surrounding VR haven’t progressed as much as I thought they would have by now. For example, I’m disappointed Apple’s taken so long to put a product out there, and I don’t want to invest $3500 in their new product. From the reviews and items on social media that I’ve seen, the reception is lukewarm. At the most basic level, I’m not sure people want to wear a headset for more than a few minutes.

So overall, I’d like to see more use cases and less nausea.


Addendum on 2/27/24:

Leyard ‘wall of wonder’ wows visitors at Molecular Biology Lab — from inavateonthenet.net

 

The Ready Player One Test: Systems for Personalized Learning — from gettingsmart.com by Dagan Bernstein

Key Points

  • The single narrative education system is no longer working.
  • Its main limitation is its inability to honor young people as the dynamic individuals that they are.
  • New models of teaching and learning need to be designed to center on the student, not the teacher.

When the opportunity arises to implement learning that uses immersive technology ask yourself if the learning you are designing passes the Ready Player One Test: 

  • Does it allow learners to immerse themselves in environments that would be too expensive or dangerous to experience otherwise?
  • Can the learning be personalized by the student?
  • Is it regenerative?
  • Does it allow for learning to happen non-linearly, at any time and place?
 

Holograms Are Coming To California State Parks — from vrscout.com by Kyle Melnick

Holograms Are Coming To California State Parks


AR Technology Is Invading The Kitchen — from vrscout.com by Kyle Melnick

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Could this immersive AR experience revolutionize the culinary arts?

Earlier this month, the popular culinary livestreaming network Kittch announced that it is partnering with American technology company Qualcomm to create hands-free cooking experiences accessible via AR glasses.


Apple Vision Pro, Higher Education and the Next 10 Years — from insidehighered.com by Joshua Kim
How this technology will play out in our world over the next decade.

 

AI Aids In Connecting Learning and Performance Ecosystems — from learningguild.com by Markus Bernhardt and Teresa Rose

Excerpt:

The ways in which employees access information, surface answers to questions, and find the right subject matter experts is shifting and drastically improving. With this, so is access to and potential efficiency of formal learning and training.

The question is, how do these elements fuse together in the reimagined ecosystem? What will performance support, formal learning and training, or upskilling and reskilling look like when we combine the best of digital and asynchronous tools, as well as synchronous and in-person endeavors.

Power Performance with Microlearning’s Purpose and Potential — from learningguild.com by Robyn Defelice

Excerpt:

Because we are dealing in performance-based microlearning, each campaign and product will have its own purpose and potential (P&P).

The P&P are not derived from the organization’s definition but by the goals of the campaign itself.

Performance Pathways (Purpose) and Use Cases (Potential) provide opportunity to think through the alignment to a campaign goal while preparing for the design of the microlearning products.

Augmented Reality: Your Next Step Into Immersive Learning — from learningguild.com by Bill Brandon

Excerpt:

I asked Debbie Richard for her thoughts on the uses of AR and immersive learning. Debbie is the founder and president of Creative Interactive Ideas, where she helps talent development professionals thrive and flourish in their careers.

Debbie offered this reply:

“Developing an augmented reality experience is a great way for instructional designers to get started with immersive learning. There are a number of AR development applications that require little to no programming skills. All the learner will need to access the experience is a smart device.

Some great examples of using augmented reality in immersive learning are:

    • Performance support…
    • Language support…
    • Visualizations…
 

Explore Breakthroughs in AI, Accelerated Computing, and Beyond at NVIDIA's GTC -- keynote was held on March 21 2023

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.

 

For those majoring in Engineering

 

 

 

David Hockney exhibition to launch Lightroom immersive arts space— from inavateonthenet.net

Excerpt:

A David Hockney exhibition will mark the launch of Lightroom, a four-storey-high space in London that uses wraparound projection and audio to immerse visitors.

 

Using Virtual Reality for Career Training — from techlearning.com by Erik Ofgang
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Indiana have had success using virtual reality simulations to teach students about career opportunities.

a Woman with a virtual reality set on occupies one half of the screen. The other shows virtual tools that she is controlling.

Excerpts:

Virtual reality can help boost CTE programs and teach students about potential careers in fields they may know nothing about, says Lana Taylor from the Indiana Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

One of those other resources has been a partnership with Transfer VR to provide students access to headsets to participate in career simulations that can give them a tactile sense of what working in certain careers might be like.

“Not all kids are meant to go to college, not all kids want to do it,” Taylor says. “So it’s important to give them some exposure to different careers and workforce paths that maybe they hadn’t thought of before.” 


AI interviews in VR prepare students for real jobseeking — from inavateonthenet.net

 

Top 5 Developments in Web 3.0 We Will See in the Next Five Years — from intelligenthq.com

Excerpt:

Today, websites have turned highly engaging, and the internet is full of exciting experiences. Yet, web 3.0 is coming with noteworthy trends and things to look out for.

Here are the top 5 developments in web 3.0 expected in the coming five years.
.

 

European telco giants collaborate on 5G-powered holographic videocalls — from inavateonthenet.net

Excerpt:

Some of Europe’s biggest telecoms operators have joined forces for a pilot project that aims to make holographic calls as simple and straightforward as a phone call.

Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefónica and Vodafone are working with holographic presence company Matsuko to develop an easy-to-use platform for immersive 3D experiences that could transform communications and the virtual events market

Advances in connectivity, thanks to 5G and edge computing technology, allow smooth and natural movement of holograms and make the possibility of easy-to-access holographic calls a reality.
.

Top XR Vendors Majoring in Education for 2022 — from xrtoday.com

Excerpt:

Few things are more important than delivering the right education to individuals around the globe. Whether enlightening a new generation of young students, or empowering professionals in a complex business environment, learning is the key to building a better future.

In recent years, we’ve discovered just how powerful technology can be in delivering information to those who need it most. The cloud has paved the way for a new era of collaborative remote learning, while AI tools and automated systems are assisting educators in their tasks. XR has the potential to be one of the most disruptive new technologies in the educational space.

With Extended Reality technology, training professionals can deliver incredible experiences to students all over the globe, without the risks or resource requirements of traditional education. Today, we’re looking at just some of the major vendors leading the way to a future of immersive learning.

 

Dive Into AI, Avatars and the Metaverse With NVIDIA at SIGGRAPH — from blogs.nvidia.com

Excerpt:

Innovative technologies in AI, virtual worlds and digital humans are shaping the future of design and content creation across every industry. Experience the latest advances from NVIDIA in all these areas at SIGGRAPH, the world’s largest gathering of computer graphics experts, [which ran from Aug. 8-11].

At SIGGRAPH, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang Illuminates Three Forces Sparking Graphics Revolution — from blogs.nvidia.com by Rick Merritt
NVIDIA unveils new products and research to transform industries with AI, the metaverse and digital humans.

NVIDIA AI Makes Performance Capture Possible With Any Camera — from blogs.nvidia.com by Isha Salian
Derivative, Notch, Pixotope and others use NVIDIA Vid2Vid Cameo and 3D body-pose estimation tools to drive performances in real time.

How to Start a Career in AI — from blogs.nvidia.com by Brian Caulfield
Four most important steps to starting a career in AI, seven big questions answered.

As Far as the AI Can See: ILM Uses Omniverse DeepSearch to Create the Perfect Sky — from blogs.nvidia.com by Richard Kerris
Omniverse AI-enabled search tool lets legendary studio sift through massive database of 3D scenes.

Future of Creativity on Display ‘In the NVIDIA Studio’ During SIGGRAPH Special Address — from blogs.nvidia.com by Gerardo Degaldo
Major NVIDIA Omniverse updates power 3D virtual worlds, digital twins and avatars, reliably boosted by August NVIDIA Studio Driver; #MadeInMachinima contest winner revealed.

What Is Direct and Indirect Lighting? — from blogs.nvidia.com by JJ Kim
In computer graphics, the right balance between direct and indirect lighting elevates the photorealism of a scene.

NVIDIA Studio Laptops Offer Students AI, Creative Capabilities That Are Best in… Class — from blogs.nvidia.com by Gerardo Degaldo
Designed for creativity and speed, Studio laptops are the ultimate creative tool for aspiring 3D artists, video editors, designers and photographers.

Design in the Age of Digital Twins: A Conversation With Graphics Pioneer Donald Greenberg — from blogs.nvidia.com by Rick Merritt
From his Cornell office, home to a career of 54 years and counting, he shares with SIGGRAPH attendees his latest works in progress.

 
© 2024 | Daniel Christian