Students and folks looking for work may want to check out:
Also relevant/see:
Introducing the 2025 Wonder Media Calendar for tweens, teens, and their families/households. Designed by Sue Ellen Christian and her students in her Global Media Literacy class (in the fall 2024 semester at Western Michigan University), the calendar’s purpose is to help people create a new year filled with skills and smart decisions about their media use. This calendar is part of the ongoing Wonder Media Library.com project that includes videos, lesson plans, games, songs and more. The website is funded by a generous grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, in partnership with Western Michigan University and the Library of Michigan.
Where to start with AI agents: An introduction for COOs — from fortune.com by Ganesh Ayyar
Picture your enterprise as a living ecosystem, where surging market demand instantly informs staffing decisions, where a new vendor’s onboarding optimizes your emissions metrics, where rising customer engagement reveals product opportunities. Now imagine if your systems could see these connections too! This is the promise of AI agents — an intelligent network that thinks, learns, and works across your entire enterprise.
Today, organizations operate in artificial silos. Tomorrow, they could be fluid and responsive. The transformation has already begun. The question is: will your company lead it?
The journey to agent-enabled operations starts with clarity on business objectives. Leaders should begin by mapping their business’s critical processes. The most pressing opportunities often lie where cross-functional handoffs create friction or where high-value activities are slowed by system fragmentation. These pain points become the natural starting points for your agent deployment strategy.
Create podcasts in minutes — from elevenlabs.io by Eleven Labs
Now anyone can be a podcast producer
Top AI tools for business — from theneuron.ai
This week in AI: 3D from images, video tools, and more — from heatherbcooper.substack.com by Heather Cooper
From 3D worlds to consistent characters, explore this week’s AI trends
Another busy AI news week, so I organized it into categories:
Want to speak Italian? Microsoft AI can make it sound like you do. — this is a gifted article from The Washington Post;
A new AI-powered interpreter is expected to simulate speakers’ voices in different languages during Microsoft Teams meetings.
Artificial intelligence has already proved that it can sound like a human, impersonate individuals and even produce recordings of someone speaking different languages. Now, a new feature from Microsoft will allow video meeting attendees to hear speakers “talk” in a different language with help from AI.
What Is Agentic AI? — from blogs.nvidia.com by Erik Pounds
Agentic AI uses sophisticated reasoning and iterative planning to autonomously solve complex, multi-step problems.
The next frontier of artificial intelligence is agentic AI, which uses sophisticated reasoning and iterative planning to autonomously solve complex, multi-step problems. And it’s set to enhance productivity and operations across industries.
Agentic AI systems ingest vast amounts of data from multiple sources to independently analyze challenges, develop strategies and execute tasks like supply chain optimization, cybersecurity vulnerability analysis and helping doctors with time-consuming tasks.
For Teens Online, Conspiracy Theories Are Commonplace. Media Literacy Is Not. — from edsurge.com by Nadia Tamez-Robledo
If you’re a teen, you could be exposed to conspiracy theories and a host of other pieces of misinformation as frequently as every day while scrolling through your social media feeds.
That’s according to a new study by the News Literacy Project, which also found that teens struggle with identifying false information online. This comes at a time when media literacy education isn’t available to most students, the report finds, and their ability to distinguish between objective and biased information sources is weak. The findings are based on responses from more than 1,000 teens ages 13 to 18.
“News literacy is fundamental to preparing students to become active, critically thinking members of our civic life — which should be one of the primary goals of a public education,” Kim Bowman, News Literacy Project senior research manager and author of the report, said in an email interview. “If we don’t teach young people the skills they need to evaluate information, they will be left at a civic and personal disadvantage their entire lives. News literacy instruction is as important as core subjects like reading and math.”
To help teach your students about news and media literacy, I highly recommend my sister Sue Ellen Christian’s work out at Wonder Media.
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There you will find numerous resources for libraries, schools, families and individuals. Suggestions of books, articles, other websites, and online materials to assist you in growing your media literacy and news media literacy are also included there.
AI-governed robots can easily be hacked — from theaivalley.com by Barsee
PLUS: Sam Altman’s new company “World” introduced…
In a groundbreaking study, researchers from Penn Engineering showed how AI-powered robots can be manipulated to ignore safety protocols, allowing them to perform harmful actions despite normally rejecting dangerous task requests.
What did they find ?
Why does it matter?
This research highlights the importance of spotting weaknesses in AI systems to improve their safety, allowing us to test and train them to prevent potential harm.
From DSC:
Great! Just what we wanted to hear. But does it surprise anyone? Even so…we move forward at warp speeds.
From DSC:
So, given the above item, does the next item make you a bit nervous as well? I saw someone on Twitter/X exclaim, “What could go wrong?” I can’t say I didn’t feel the same way.
Introducing computer use, a new Claude 3.5 Sonnet, and Claude 3.5 Haiku — from anthropic.com
We’re also introducing a groundbreaking new capability in public beta: computer use. Available today on the API, developers can direct Claude to use computers the way people do—by looking at a screen, moving a cursor, clicking buttons, and typing text. Claude 3.5 Sonnet is the first frontier AI model to offer computer use in public beta. At this stage, it is still experimental—at times cumbersome and error-prone. We’re releasing computer use early for feedback from developers, and expect the capability to improve rapidly over time.
Per The Rundown AI:
The Rundown: Anthropic just introduced a new capability called ‘computer use’, alongside upgraded versions of its AI models, which enables Claude to interact with computers by viewing screens, typing, moving cursors, and executing commands.
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Why it matters: While many hoped for Opus 3.5, Anthropic’s Sonnet and Haiku upgrades pack a serious punch. Plus, with the new computer use embedded right into its foundation models, Anthropic just sent a warning shot to tons of automation startups—even if the capabilities aren’t earth-shattering… yet.
Also related/see:
Introducing Act-One — from runwayml.com
A new way to generate expressive character performances using simple video inputs.
What makes Act-One special? It can capture the soul of an actor’s performance using nothing but a simple video recording. No fancy motion capture equipment, no complex face rigging, no army of animators required. Just point a camera at someone acting, and watch as their exact expressions, micro-movements, and emotional nuances get transferred to an AI-generated character.
Think about what this means for creators: you could shoot an entire movie with multiple characters using just one actor and a basic camera setup. The same performance can drive characters with completely different proportions and looks, while maintaining the authentic emotional delivery of the original performance. We’re witnessing the democratization of animation tools that used to require millions in budget and years of specialized training.
Also related/see:
Introducing, Act-One. A new way to generate expressive character performances inside Gen-3 Alpha using a single driving video and character image. No motion capture or rigging required.
Learn more about Act-One below.
(1/7) pic.twitter.com/p1Q8lR8K7G
— Runway (@runwayml) October 22, 2024
Google to buy nuclear power for AI datacentres in ‘world first’ deal — from theguardian.com
Tech company orders six or seven small nuclear reactors from California’s Kairos Power
Google has signed a “world first” deal to buy energy from a fleet of mini nuclear reactors to generate the power needed for the rise in use of artificial intelligence.
The US tech corporation has ordered six or seven small nuclear reactors (SMRs) from California’s Kairos Power, with the first due to be completed by 2030 and the remainder by 2035.
Related:
ChatGPT Topped 3 Billion Visits in September — from similarweb.com
After the extreme peak and summer slump of 2023, ChatGPT has been setting new traffic highs since May
ChatGPT has been topping its web traffic records for months now, with September 2024 traffic up 112% year-over-year (YoY) to 3.1 billion visits, according to Similarweb estimates. That’s a change from last year, when traffic to the site went through a boom-and-bust cycle.
Crazy “AI Army” — from aisecret.us
Also from aisecret.us, see World’s First Nuclear Power Deal For AI Data Centers
Google has made a historic agreement to buy energy from a group of small nuclear reactors (SMRs) from Kairos Power in California. This is the first nuclear power deal specifically for AI data centers in the world.
New updates to help creators build community, drive business, & express creativity on YouTube — from support.google.com
Hey creators!
Made on YouTube 2024 is here and we’ve announced a lot of updates that aim to give everyone the opportunity to build engaging communities, drive sustainable businesses, and express creativity on our platform.
Below is a roundup with key info – feel free to upvote the announcements that you’re most excited about and subscribe to this post to get updates on these features! We’re looking forward to another year of innovating with our global community it’s a future full of opportunities, and it’s all Made on YouTube!
New autonomous agents scale your team like never before — from blogs.microsoft.com
Today, we’re announcing new agentic capabilities that will accelerate these gains and bring AI-first business process to every organization.
10 Daily AI Use Cases for Business Leaders— from flexos.work by Daan van Rossum
While AI is becoming more powerful by the day, business leaders still wonder why and where to apply today. I take you through 10 critical use cases where AI should take over your work or partner with you.
Multi-Modal AI: Video Creation Simplified — from heatherbcooper.substack.com by Heather Cooper
Emerging Multi-Modal AI Video Creation Platforms
The rise of multi-modal AI platforms has revolutionized content creation, allowing users to research, write, and generate images in one app. Now, a new wave of platforms is extending these capabilities to video creation and editing.
Multi-modal video platforms combine various AI tools for tasks like writing, transcription, text-to-voice conversion, image-to-video generation, and lip-syncing. These platforms leverage open-source models like FLUX and LivePortrait, along with APIs from services such as ElevenLabs, Luma AI, and Gen-3.
AI Medical Imagery Model Offers Fast, Cost-Efficient Expert Analysis — from developer.nvidia.com/
About this Project
The Digital Writing Lab is a key component of the Australian national Teaching Digital Writing project, which runs from 2022-2025.
This stage of the broader project involves academic and secondary English teacher collaboration to explore how teachers are conceptualising the teaching of digital writing and what further supports they may need.
Previous stages of the project included archival research reviewing materials related to digital writing in Australia’s National Textbook Collection, and a national survey of secondary English teachers. You can find out more about the whole project via the project blog.
Who runs the project?
Project Lead Lucinda McKnight is an Associate Professor and Australian Research Council (ARC) DECRA Fellow researching how English teachers can connect the teaching of writing to contemporary media and students’ lifeworlds.
She is working with Leon Furze, who holds the doctoral scholarship attached to this project, and Chris Zomer, the project Research Fellow. The project is located in the Research for Educational Impact (REDI) centre at Deakin University, Melbourne.
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Introducing Gen-3 Alpha: Runway’s new base model for video generation.
Gen-3 Alpha can create highly detailed videos with complex scene changes, a wide range of cinematic choices, and detailed art directions.https://t.co/YQNE3eqoWf
(1/10) pic.twitter.com/VjEG2ocLZ8
— Runway (@runwayml) June 17, 2024
A new chapter of creativity begins.
Introducing GEN-3 Alpha – The first of a series of new models built by creatives for creatives. Video generated with @runwayml‘s new Text-2-Video model.
Coming soon. pic.twitter.com/oNONabxdNl
— Nicolas Neubert (@iamneubert) June 17, 2024
Google just announced their work on Video-to-audio, absolutely wild.
Here are 11 crazy examples
1. drums pic.twitter.com/sTNfymJIeN
— Linus ??? Ekenstam (@LinusEkenstam) June 17, 2024
Kuaishou Unveils Kling: A Text-to-Video Model To Challenge OpenAI’s Sora — from maginative.com by Chris McKay
Generating audio for video — from deepmind.google
LinkedIn leans on AI to do the work of job hunting — from techcrunch.com by Ingrid Lunden
Learning personalisation. LinkedIn continues to be bullish on its video-based learning platform, and it appears to have found a strong current among users who need to skill up in AI. Cohen said that traffic for AI-related courses — which include modules on technical skills as well as non-technical ones such as basic introductions to generative AI — has increased by 160% over last year.
You can be sure that LinkedIn is pushing its search algorithms to tap into the interest, but it’s also boosting its content with AI in another way.
For Premium subscribers, it is piloting what it describes as “expert advice, powered by AI.” Tapping into expertise from well-known instructors such as Alicia Reece, Anil Gupta, Dr. Gemma Leigh Roberts and Lisa Gates, LinkedIn says its AI-powered coaches will deliver responses personalized to users, as a “starting point.”
These will, in turn, also appear as personalized coaches that a user can tap while watching a LinkedIn Learning course.
Also related to this, see:
Unlocking New Possibilities for the Future of Work with AI — from news.linkedin.com
Personalized learning for everyone: Whether you’re looking to change or not, the skills required in the workplace are expected to change by 68% by 2030.
Expert advice, powered by AI: We’re beginning to pilot the ability to get personalized practical advice instantly from industry leading business leaders and coaches on LinkedIn Learning, all powered by AI. The responses you’ll receive are trained by experts and represent a blend of insights that are personalized to each learner’s unique needs. While human professional coaches remain invaluable, these tools provide a great starting point.
Personalized coaching, powered by AI, when watching a LinkedIn course: As learners —including all Premium subscribers — watch our new courses, they can now simply ask for summaries of content, clarify certain topics, or get examples and other real-time insights, e.g. “Can you simplify this concept?” or “How does this apply to me?”
Roblox’s Road to 4D Generative AI — from corp.roblox.com by Morgan McGuire, Chief Scientist
AI RESOURCES AND TEACHING (Kent State University) — from aiadvisoryboards.wordpress.com
AI Resources and Teaching | Kent State University offers valuable resources for educators interested in incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) into their teaching practices. The university recognizes that the rapid emergence of AI tools presents both challenges and opportunities in higher education.
The AI Resources and Teaching page provides educators with information and guidance on various AI tools and their responsible use within and beyond the classroom. The page covers different areas of AI application, including language generation, visuals, videos, music, information extraction, quantitative analysis, and AI syllabus language examples.
A Cautionary AI Tale: Why IBM’s Dazzling Watson Supercomputer Made a Lousy Tutor — from the74million.org by Greg Toppo
With a new race underway to create the next teaching chatbot, IBM’s abandoned 5-year, $100M ed push offers lessons about AI’s promise and its limits.
For all its jaw-dropping power, Watson the computer overlord was a weak teacher. It couldn’t engage or motivate kids, inspire them to reach new heights or even keep them focused on the material — all qualities of the best mentors.
It’s a finding with some resonance to our current moment of AI-inspired doomscrolling about the future of humanity in a world of ascendant machines. “There are some things AI is actually very good for,” Nitta said, “but it’s not great as a replacement for humans.”
His five-year journey to essentially a dead-end could also prove instructive as ChatGPT and other programs like it fuel a renewed, multimillion-dollar experiment to, in essence, prove him wrong.
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To be sure, AI can do sophisticated things such as generating quizzes from a class reading and editing student writing. But the idea that a machine or a chatbot can actually teach as a human can, he said, represents “a profound misunderstanding of what AI is actually capable of.”
Nitta, who still holds deep respect for the Watson lab, admits, “We missed something important. At the heart of education, at the heart of any learning, is engagement. And that’s kind of the Holy Grail.”
From DSC:
This is why the vision that I’ve been tracking and working on has always said that HUMAN BEINGS will be necessary — they are key to realizing this vision. Along these lines, here’s a relevant quote:
Another crucial component of a new learning theory for the age of AI would be the cultivation of “blended intelligence.” This concept recognizes that the future of learning and work will involve the seamless integration of human and machine capabilities, and that learners must develop the skills and strategies needed to effectively collaborate with AI systems. Rather than viewing AI as a threat to human intelligence, a blended intelligence approach seeks to harness the complementary strengths of humans and machines, creating a symbiotic relationship that enhances the potential of both.
Per Alexander “Sasha” Sidorkin, Head of the National Institute on AI in Society at California State University Sacramento.
