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“When A.I.’s Output Is a Threat to A.I. Itself” [Bhatia], xAI introduces most powerful AI training system in the world +other items re: AI

On 09/03/2024, in Amazon, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, bots, business, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, corporate / business world, data related items, design, emerging technologies, Google, graphics, learning agents, legislatures / government / legal, Open AI, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, the downsides of how people use tech, tools, United States, universities, vendors, videoconferencing, by Daniel Christian

When A.I.’s Output Is a Threat to A.I. Itself — from nytimes.com by Aatish Bhatia
As A.I.-generated data becomes harder to detect, it’s increasingly likely to be ingested by future A.I., leading to worse results.

All this A.I.-generated information can make it harder for us to know what’s real. And it also poses a problem for A.I. companies. As they trawl the web for new data to train their next models on — an increasingly challenging task — they’re likely to ingest some of their own A.I.-generated content, creating an unintentional feedback loop in which what was once the output from one A.I. becomes the input for another.

In the long run, this cycle may pose a threat to A.I. itself. Research has shown that when generative A.I. is trained on a lot of its own output, it can get a lot worse.

Per The Rundown AI:

The Rundown: Elon Musk’s xAI just launched “Colossus“, the world’s most powerful AI cluster powered by a whopping 100,000 Nvidia H100 GPUs, which was built in just 122 days and is planned to double in size soon.
…
Why it matters: xAI’s Grok 2 recently caught up to OpenAI’s GPT-4 in record time, and was trained on only around 15,000 GPUs. With now more than six times that amount in production, the xAI team and future versions of Grok are going to put a significant amount of pressure on OpenAI, Google, and others to deliver.

Google Meet’s automatic AI note-taking is here — from theverge.com by Joanna Nelius
Starting [on 8/28/24], some Google Workspace customers can have Google Meet be their personal note-taker.

Google Meet’s newest AI-powered feature, “take notes for me,” has started rolling out today to Google Workspace customers with the Gemini Enterprise, Gemini Education Premium, or AI Meetings & Messaging add-ons. It’s similar to Meet’s transcription tool, only instead of automatically transcribing what everyone says, it summarizes what everyone talked about. Google first announced this feature at its 2023 Cloud Next conference.

The World’s Call Center Capital Is Gripped by AI Fever — and Fear — from bloomberg.com by Saritha Rai [behind a paywall]
The experiences of staff in the Philippines’ outsourcing industry are a preview of the challenges and choices coming soon to white-collar workers around the globe.

[Claude] Artifacts are now generally available — from anthropic.com

[On 8/27/24], we’re making Artifacts available for all Claude.ai users across our Free, Pro, and Team plans. And now, you can create and view Artifacts on our iOS and Android apps.

Artifacts turn conversations with Claude into a more creative and collaborative experience. With Artifacts, you have a dedicated window to instantly see, iterate, and build on the work you create with Claude. Since launching as a feature preview in June, users have created tens of millions of Artifacts.

MIT's AI Risk Repository -- a comprehensive database of risks from AI systems

What are the risks from Artificial Intelligence?
A comprehensive living database of over 700 AI risks categorized by their cause and risk domain.

What is the AI Risk Repository?
The AI Risk Repository has three parts:

  • The AI Risk Database captures 700+ risks extracted from 43 existing frameworks, with quotes and page numbers.
  • The Causal Taxonomy of AI Risks classifies how, when, and why these risks occur.
  • The Domain Taxonomy of AI Risks classifies these risks into seven domains (e.g., “Misinformation”) and 23 subdomains (e.g., “False or misleading information”).

California lawmakers approve legislation to ban deepfakes, protect workers and regulate AI — from newsday.com by The Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California lawmakers approved a host of proposals this week aiming to regulate the artificial intelligence industry, combat deepfakes and protect workers from exploitation by the rapidly evolving technology.

Per Oncely:

The Details:

  • Combatting Deepfakes: New laws to restrict election-related deepfakes and deepfake pornography, especially of minors, requiring social media to remove such content promptly.
  • Setting Safety Guardrails: California is poised to set comprehensive safety standards for AI, including transparency in AI model training and pre-emptive safety protocols.
  • Protecting Workers: Legislation to prevent the replacement of workers, like voice actors and call center employees, with AI technologies.

New in Gemini: Custom Gems and improved image generation with Imagen 3 — from blog.google
The ability to create custom Gems is coming to Gemini Advanced subscribers, and updated image generation capabilities with our latest Imagen 3 model are coming to everyone.

We have new features rolling out, [that started on 8/28/24], that we previewed at Google I/O. Gems, a new feature that lets you customize Gemini to create your own personal AI experts on any topic you want, are now available for Gemini Advanced, Business and Enterprise users. And our new image generation model, Imagen 3, will be rolling out across Gemini, Gemini Advanced, Business and Enterprise in the coming days.

Cut the Chatter, Here Comes Agentic AI — from trendmicro.com

Major AI players caught heat in August over big bills and weak returns on AI investments, but it would be premature to think AI has failed to deliver. The real question is what’s next, and if industry buzz and pop-sci pontification hold any clues, the answer isn’t “more chatbots”, it’s agentic AI.

Agentic AI transforms the user experience from application-oriented information synthesis to goal-oriented problem solving. It’s what people have always thought AI would do—and while it’s not here yet, its horizon is getting closer every day.

In this issue of AI Pulse, we take a deep dive into agentic AI, what’s required to make it a reality, and how to prevent ‘self-thinking’ AI agents from potentially going rogue.
…
Citing AWS guidance, ZDNET counts six different potential types of AI agents:

    • Simple reflex agents for tasks like resetting passwords
    • Model-based reflex agents for pro vs. con decision making
    • Goal-/rule-based agents that compare options and select the most efficient pathways
    • Utility-based agents that compare for value
    • Learning agents
    • Hierarchical agents that manage and assign subtasks to other agents

Ask Claude: Amazon turns to Anthropic’s AI for Alexa revamp — from reuters.com by Greg Bensinger

Summary:

  • Amazon developing new version of Alexa with generative AI
  • Retailer hopes to generate revenue by charging for its use
  • Concerns about in-house AI prompt Amazon to turn to Anthropic’s Claude, sources say
  • Amazon says it uses many different technologies to power Alexa

Alibaba releases new AI model Qwen2-VL that can analyze videos more than 20 minutes long — from venturebeat.com by Carl Franzen

Hobbyists discover how to insert custom fonts into AI-generated images — from arstechnica.com by Benj Edwards
Like adding custom art styles or characters, in-world typefaces come to Flux.

200 million people use ChatGPT every week – up from 100 million last fall, says OpenAI — from zdnet.com by Sabrina Ortiz
Nearly two years after launching, ChatGPT continues to draw new users. Here’s why.

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AI agents are the future, and a lot is at stake [Sanzeri]

On 08/28/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, change, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, education, education technology, emerging technologies, engineering, entrepreneurship, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, health, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, K-12 related, learner profiles, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, lifelong learning, personalized/customized learning, the downsides of how people use tech, workplace, by Daniel Christian

AI agents are the future, and a lot is at stake — from forbes.com by Skip Sanzeri

What An Agent Is
Agents are computer programs that can autonomously perform tasks, make decisions and interact with humans or other computers. There are many different types of agents, and they are designed to achieve specific goals spanning our lives and nearly every industry, making them an integral and unstoppable part of our future.

Learning: AI agents will transform education by providing personalized learning experiences such as one-to-one tutoring. ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs) are providing access to all digital knowledge now. An “agent” would act as a more personalized version of an LLM.

The hacking and control of an AI agent could lead to disastrous consequences, affecting privacy, security, the economy and societal stability. Proactive and comprehensive security strategies are essential to mitigate these risks in the future.

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“Every single restaurant, every single website will probably, in the future, have these AIs …” Huang said. Plus numerous other items re: AI in general.

On 07/31/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, accessibility / UDL, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, Asia, bots, business, change, computer science, corporate / business world, Daniel S. Christian, emerging technologies, Facebook / Meta Platforms, health, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, marketing/social marketing, NVIDIA, Open AI, platforms, privacy, productivity / tips and tricks, programming, skills, society, the downsides of how people use tech, tools, trends, United States, vendors, vision/possibilities, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, by Daniel Christian

Per the Rundown AI:

Why it matters: AI is slowly shifting from a tool we text/prompt with, to an intelligence that we collaborate, learn, and grow with. Advanced Voice Mode’s ability to understand and respond to emotions in real-time convos could also have huge use cases in everything from customer service to mental health support.

Also relevant/see:

Creators to Have Personalized AI Assistants, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg Tells NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang — from blogs.nvidia.com by Brian Caulfield
Zuckerberg and Huang explore the transformative potential of open source AI, the launch of AI Studio, and exchange leather jackets at SIGGRAPH 2024.

“Every single restaurant, every single website will probably, in the future, have these AIs …” Huang said.

“…just like every business has an email address and a website and a social media account, I think, in the future, every business is going to have an AI,” Zuckerberg responded.
…
More broadly, the advancement of AI across a broad ecosystem promises to supercharge human productivity, for example, by giving every human on earth a digital assistant — or assistants — allowing people to live richer lives that they can interact with quickly and fluidly.

Also related/see:

From DSC:
Today was a MUCH better day for Nvidia however (up 12.81%). But it’s been very volatile in the last several weeks — as people and institutions ask where the ROI’s are going to come from.

9 compelling reasons to learn how to use AI Chatbots — from interestingengineering.com by Atharva Gosavi
AI Chatbots are conversational agents that can act on your behalf and converse with humans – a futuristic novelty that is already getting people excited about its usage in improving efficiency.

7. Accessibility and inclusivity
Chatbots can be designed to support multiple languages and accessibility needs, making services more inclusive. They can cater to users with disabilities by providing voice interaction capabilities and simplifying access to information. Understanding how to develop inclusive chatbots can help you contribute to making technology more accessible to everyone, a crucial aspect in today’s diverse society.

8. Future-proofing your skills
AI and automation are the future of work. Having the skills of building AI chatbots is a great way to future-proof your skills, and given the rising trajectory of AI, it’ll be a demanding skill in the market in the years to come. Staying ahead of technological trends is a great way to ensure you remain relevant and competitive in the job market.

Top 7 generative AI use cases for business — from cio.com by Grant Gross
Advanced chatbots, digital assistants, and coding helpers seem to be some of the sweet spots for gen AI use so far in business.

Many AI experts say the current use cases for generative AI are just the tip of the iceberg. More uses cases will present themselves as gen AIs get more powerful and users get more creative with their experiments.

However, a handful of gen AI use cases are already bubbling up. Here’s a look at the most popular and promising.

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The “World’s Most Powerful AI Training Cluster” now online + other items re: AI in general

On 07/23/2024, in Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, bots, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, content development, aggregation, repositories, emerging technologies, future, game-changing environment, human-computer interaction (HCI), IT in HE, NVIDIA, Open AI, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, society, the downsides of how people use tech, tools, trends, United States, vendors, by Daniel Christian

How to use Perplexity in your daily workflow — from ai-supremacy.com by Michael Spencer and Alex McFarland
“I barely use Google anymore (for anything)” says today’s guest author.

Make Perplexity your go-to research companion with these strategies:

  • Morning briefings: Start your day by asking Perplexity for the latest news in your field. (I personally like to use Perplexity to curate the top AI news of the day to consider writing about for Unite AI and Techopedia.)
  • Fact-checking: Use it to quickly verify information before including it in your work.
  • Brainstorming: Generate ideas for projects or content by asking open-ended questions.
  • Learning new concepts: When you encounter an unfamiliar term or idea, turn to Perplexity for a quick, comprehensive explanation.
  • Writing assistance: Use it to find relevant statistics, examples, or counterarguments for your content.

From DSC:
So I used it to ask “What is Elon Musk’s Memphis Supercluster?” (which went online yesterday I believe) — which resulted in this reply:

Elon Musk’s Memphis Supercluster is a newly activated AI training cluster that is claimed to be the most powerful in the world. Here are the key details about this supercomputer:

1. Location: The supercluster is located in Memphis, Tennessee[1][2].

2. Hardware: It consists of 100,000 liquid-cooled Nvidia H100 GPUs connected through a single RDMA (Remote Direct Memory Access) fabric[1][3].

3. Purpose: The supercluster is designed for training large language models (LLMs) and other advanced AI technologies for Musk’s xAI company[1][2].

4. Activation: The Memphis Supercluster began training at approximately 4:20 AM local time on July 22, 2024[1][3].

5. Collaboration: The project is a result of collaboration between xAI, X (formerly Twitter), Nvidia, and other supporting companies[1][2].

6. Investment: With each H100 GPU estimated to cost between $30,000 to $40,000, the total investment in GPUs alone is estimated to be between $3 billion to $4 billion[5].

7. Goals: Musk claims that this supercluster will be used to develop “the world’s most powerful AI by every measure” by December 2024[1].

8. Comparison: The Memphis Supercluster’s 100,000 H100 GPUs significantly outclass other supercomputers in terms of GPU horsepower, such as Frontier (37,888 AMD GPUs) and Microsoft Eagle (14,400 Nvidia H100 GPUs)[3].

9. Infrastructure: The project required significant infrastructure development, including fiber optic networking[5].

While Musk’s claims about the supercluster’s capabilities are ambitious, it remains to be seen how it will perform in practice and whether it will meet the stated goals within the given timeframe[1].

Citations:
[1] https://venturebeat.com/ai/elon-musk-announces-most-powerful-ai-training-cluster-in-the-world/
[2] https://www.tuaw.com/2024/07/22/elon-musks-xai-unveils-worlds-most-powerful-ai-training-cluster/
[3] https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/elon-musk-fires-up-the-most-powerful-ai-training-cluster-in-the-world-uses-100000-nvidia-h100-gpus-on-a-single-fabric
[4] https://www.thestack.technology/xai-elon-musk-ai-supercomputer/
[5] https://www.benzinga.com/news/24/07/39881748/elon-musks-xai-flips-the-switch-on-100k-nvidia-h100-gpus-worth-up-to-4b-in-memphis-supercluster-most
[6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JhtJa05C2Y

—–
Elon’s AI empire expands — from theneurondaily.com by Grant Harvey
Elon Musk’s team at xAI just powered on the “World’s Most Powerful AI Training Cluster.”
If you don’t know what a supercluster is, it’s basically a massive network of Nvidia GPUs (computer chips) working together as a single unit to solve “super” complex calculations at unprecedented speeds.

And this Memphis Supercluster is the most “super” supercluster we’ve ever seen. The new facility, dubbed the “Gigafactory of Compute”, is a beast:

  • 100,000 liquid-cooled Nvidia H100 GPUs on a single RDMA fabric (for context, Google snagged only 50,000 H100 GPUs last year).
  • Up to 150 megawatts of electricity usage per hour—enough for 100K homes.
  • At least one million gallons of water per day to keep cool!

What to expect: Better models, more frequently. That’s been the trend, at least—look at how the last few model releases have become more squished together. 

OpenAI to make GPT-4o Advanced Voice available by the end of the month to select group of users — from tomsguide.com by Ryan Morrison

GPT-4o Advanced Voice is an entirely new type of voice assistant, similar to but larger than the recently unveiled French model Moshi, which argued with me over a story.

In demos of the model, we’ve seen GPT-4o Advanced Voice create custom character voices, generate sound effects while telling a story and even act as a live translator.

This native speech ability is a significant step in creating more natural AI assistants. In the future, it will also come with live vision abilities, allowing the AI to see what you see.

Could AGI break the world? — from theneurondaily.com by Noah Edelman

“Biggest IT outage in history” proves we’re not ready for AGI.
…
Here’s the TL;DR—a faulty software update from cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike made this happen:

  • Grounded 5,000+ flights around the world.
  • Slowed healthcare across the UK.
  • Forced retailers to revert to cash-only transactions in Australia (what is this, the stone ages?!).

…
Here’s where AI comes in: Imagine today’s AI as a new operating system. In 5-10 years, it’ll likely be as integrated into our economy as Microsoft’s cloud servers are now. This isn’t that far-fetched—Microsoft is already planning to embed AI into all its programs.

So what if a Crowdstrike-like incident happens with a more powerful AI system? Some experts predict an AI-powered IT outage could be 10x worse than Friday’s fiasco.

The Crowdstrike outage and global software’s single-point failure problem — from cnbc.com by Kaya Ginsky

KEY POINTS

  • The CrowdStrike software bug that took down global IT infrastructure exposed a single-point-of-failure risk unrelated to malicious cyberattack.
  • National and cybersecurity experts say the risk of this kind of technical outage is increasing alongside the risk of hacks, and the market will need to adopt better competitive practices.
  • Government is also likely to look at new regulations related to software updates and patches.

The “largest IT outage in history,” briefly explained — from vox.com by Li Zhou
Airlines, banks, and hospitals saw computer systems go down because of a CrowdStrike software glitch.

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AI-assisted job fraud is spiking [Krietzberg] + other items re: AI in general

On 07/19/2024, in Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, career development, communications, creativity, digital audio, digital video, ethics, morals/values, multimedia, NVIDIA, online media, Open AI, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, robotics, society, the downsides of how people use tech, tools, vendors, by Daniel Christian

AI-assisted job fraud is spiking — from thedeepview.co by Ian Krietzberg

A recent report published by the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) found that data from 2023 shows “an environment where bad actors are more effective, efficient and successful in launching attacks. The result is fewer victims (or at least fewer victim reports), but the impact on individuals and businesses is arguably more damaging.”

One of these attacks involves fake job postings.

The details: The ITRC said that victim reports of job and employment scams spiked some 118% in 2023. These scams were primarily carried out through LinkedIn and other job search platforms.

    • The bad actors here would either create fake (but professional-looking) job postings, profiles and websites or impersonate legitimate companies, all with the hopes of landing victims to move onto the interview process.
    • These actors would then move the conversation onto a third-party messaging platform, and ask for identity verification information (driver’s licenses, social security numbers, direct deposit information, etc.).

Hypernatural — AI videos you can actually use. — via Jeremy Caplan’s Wonder Tools

Hypernatural is an AI video platform that makes it easy to create beautiful, ready-to share videos from anything. Stop settling for glitchy 3s generated videos and boring stock footage. Turn your ideas, scripts, podcasts and more into incredible short-form videos in minutes.

GPT-4o mini: advancing cost-efficient intelligence — from openai.com
Introducing our most cost-efficient small model

OpenAI is committed to making intelligence as broadly accessible as possible. Today, we’re announcing GPT-4o mini, our most cost-efficient small model. We expect GPT-4o mini will significantly expand the range of applications built with AI by making intelligence much more affordable. GPT-4o mini scores 82% on MMLU and currently outperforms GPT-41 on chat preferences in LMSYS leaderboard(opens in a new window). It is priced at 15 cents per million input tokens and 60 cents per million output tokens, an order of magnitude more affordable than previous frontier models and more than 60% cheaper than GPT-3.5 Turbo.

GPT-4o mini enables a broad range of tasks with its low cost and latency, such as applications that chain or parallelize multiple model calls (e.g., calling multiple APIs), pass a large volume of context to the model (e.g., full code base or conversation history), or interact with customers through fast, real-time text responses (e.g., customer support chatbots).

Also see what this means from Ben’s Bites, The Neuron, and as The Rundown AI asserts:

Why it matters: While it’s not GPT-5, the price and capabilities of this mini-release significantly lower the barrier to entry for AI integrations — and marks a massive leap over GPT 3.5 Turbo. With models getting cheaper, faster, and more intelligent with each release, the perfect storm for AI acceleration is forming.

Nvidia: More AI Waves Are Taking Shape — from seekingalpha.com by Eric Sprague

Summary

  • Nvidia Corporation is transitioning from a GPU designer to an AI factory builder.
  • AI spending will continue to grow in healthcare, government, and robotics.
  • CEO Jensen Huang says the AI robot industry could be bigger than the auto and consumer electronics industries combined.

Byte-Sized Courses: NVIDIA Offers Self-Paced Career Development in AI and Data Science — from blogs.nvidia.com by Andy Bui
Industry experts gather to share advice on starting a career in AI, highlighting technical training and certifications for career growth.

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“How Learning Designers Are Using AI for Analysis” [Hardman] + other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 06/17/2024, in Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, disruption, education, education technology, faculty, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, instructional design, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, online learning, online media, productivity / tips and tricks, student-related, teachers, the downsides of how people use tech, training / L&D, by Daniel Christian

How Learning Designers Are Using AI for Analysis — from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr. Philippa Hardman
A practical guide on how to 10X your analysis process using free AI tools, based on real use cases

There are three key areas where AI tools make a significant impact on how we tackle the analysis part of the learning design process:

  1. Understanding the why: what is the problem this learning experience solves? What’s the change we want to see as a result?
  2. Defining the who: who do we need to target in order to solve the problem and achieve the intended goal?
  3. Clarifying the what: given who our learners are and the goal we want to achieve, what concepts and skills do we need to teach?

PROOF POINTS: Teens are looking to AI for information and answers, two surveys show — from hechingerreport.org by Jill Barshay
Rapidly evolving usage patterns show Black, Hispanic and Asian American youth are often quick to adopt the new technology

Two new surveys, both released this month, show how high school and college-age students are embracing artificial intelligence. There are some inconsistencies and many unanswered questions, but what stands out is how much teens are turning to AI for information and to ask questions, not just to do their homework for them. And they’re using it for personal reasons as well as for school. Another big takeaway is that there are different patterns by race and ethnicity with Black, Hispanic and Asian American students often adopting AI faster than white students.

AI Instructional Design Must Be More Than a Time Saver — from marcwatkins.substack.com by Marc Watkins

We’ve ceded so much trust to digital systems already that most simply assume a tool is safe to use with students because a company published it. We don’t check to see if it is compliant with any existing regulations. We don’t ask what powers it. We do not question what happens to our data or our student’s data once we upload it. We likewise don’t know where its information came from or how it came to generate human-like responses. The trust we put into these systems is entirely unearned and uncritical.
…
The allure of these AI tools for teachers is understandable—who doesn’t want to save time on the laborious process of designing lesson plans and materials? But we have to ask ourselves what is lost when we cede the instructional design process to an automated system without critical scrutiny.

From DSC:
I post this to be a balanced publisher of information. I don’t agree with everything Marc says here, but he brings up several solids points.

What does Disruptive Innovation Theory have to say about AI? — from christenseninstitute.org by Michael B. Horn

As news about generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) continually splashes across social media feeds, including how  ChatGPT 4o can help you play Rock, Paper, Scissors with a friend, breathtaking pronouncements about GenAI’s “disruptive” impact aren’t hard to find.

It turns out that it doesn’t make much sense to talk about GenAI as being “disruptive” in and of itself.

Can it be part of a disruptive innovation? You bet.

But much more important than just the AI technology in determining whether something is disruptive is the business model in which the AI is used—and its competitive impact on existing products and services in different markets.

On a somewhat note, also see:

National summit explores how digital education can promote deeper learning — from digitaleducation.stanford.edu by Jenny Robinson; via Eric Kunnen on Linkedin.com
The conference, held at Stanford, was organized to help universities imagine how digital innovation can expand their reach, improve learning, and better serve the public good.

The summit was organized around several key questions: “What might learning design, learning technologies, and educational media look like in three, five, or ten years at our institutions? How will blended and digital education be poised to advance equitable, just, and accessible education systems and contribute to the public good? What structures will we need in place for our teams and offices?”

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Daniel Christian: My slides for the Educational Technology Organization of Michigan’s Spring 2024 Retreat

On 06/13/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Access to Justice (A2J), adjunct faculty, Adobe, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, bots, business side of he, change, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, creativity, culture, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, design, digital audio, digital learning, digital photography, digital storytelling, digital video, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty, future of higher education, game-changing environment, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, K-12 related, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, liberal arts, library / librarians, lifelong learning, media/film, microlearning, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, Natural Language Processing (NLP), new business models, NVIDIA, online media, online tutoring, Open AI, pace of change, personalized/customized learning, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, reinvent, skills, smart/connected TV, society, staying relevant, streams of content, student-related, surviving, teachers, technologies for your home, technology (general), the downsides of how people use tech, tools, training / L&D, United States, universities, user experience (UX), user interface design, vendors, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Last Thursday, I presented at the Educational Technology Organization of Michigan’s Spring 2024 Retreat. I wanted to pass along my slides to you all, in case they are helpful to you.

Topics/agenda:

  • Topics & resources re: Artificial Intelligence (AI)
    • Top multimodal players
    • Resources for learning about AI
    • Applications of AI
    • My predictions re: AI
  • The powerful impact of pursuing a vision
  • A potential, future next-gen learning platform
  • Share some lessons from my past with pertinent questions for you all now
  • The significant impact of an organization’s culture
  • Bonus material: Some people to follow re: learning science and edtech

 

Education Technology Organization of Michigan -- ETOM -- Spring 2024 Retreat on June 6-7

PowerPoint slides of Daniel Christian's presentation at ETOM

Slides of the presentation (.PPTX)
Slides of the presentation (.PDF)

 

Plus several more slides re: this vision.

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A Right to Warn about Advanced Artificial Intelligence [righttowarn.ai]

On 06/06/2024, in corporate / business world, ethics, future, game-changing environment, Google, morals/values, Open AI, the downsides of how people use tech, tools, United States, vendors, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

A Right to Warn about Advanced Artificial Intelligence — from righttowarn.ai

We are current and former employees at frontier AI companies, and we believe in the potential of AI technology to deliver unprecedented benefits to humanity.

We also understand the serious risks posed by these technologies. These risks range from the further entrenchment of existing inequalities, to manipulation and misinformation, to the loss of control of autonomous AI systems potentially resulting in human extinction. AI companies themselves have acknowledged these risks [1, 2, 3], as have governments across the world [4, 5, 6] and other AI experts [7, 8, 9].

We are hopeful that these risks can be adequately mitigated with sufficient guidance from the scientific community, policymakers, and the public. However, AI companies have strong financial incentives to avoid effective oversight, and we do not believe bespoke structures of corporate governance are sufficient to change this.

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The Good, the Bad, & the Unknown of AI [Eaton]

On 05/14/2024, in Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, education technology, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, intelligent systems, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, the downsides of how people use tech, tools, universities, by Daniel Christian

The Good, the Bad, & the Unknown of AI — from aiedusimplified.substack.com by Lance Eaton
A recent talk at University of Massachusetts, Boston
.

…the text, slides, and prompt-guide can be found in this resource.

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Educators help children and teens learn how to identify fake news [Bhatt & Christian]

On 05/03/2024, in communications, ideas, journalism, K-12 related, library / librarians, Michigan, student-related, teachers, the downsides of how people use tech, youth, by Daniel Christian

Educators help children and teens learn how to identify fake news — from WMUK.org by Kalloli Bhatt and Sue Ellen Christian

Last year at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum, kids could learn about how misinformation is made and how to avoid it. Now the media scholar behind the exhibit is adapting it for libraries.

A new exhibit for libraries

That concern also drove the “Wonder Media” exhibit that ran through last year at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum. Sue Ellen Christian is a communications professor at Western Michigan University. The exhibit was her idea. Full disclosure: I’m a former student of Christian’s. We met in her office on campus.

“It’s really important for our entire society to think about the importance of facts and truth to a democracy,” said Christian. “And without an informed citizenry, we cannot have a healthy democracy.”

Christian recently received a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, based in Washington D.C., to adapt the Wonder Media exhibit for public libraries. It’s designed to reach middle-school-age children.

Mainly, with her grant, Christian wants to develop something for students whose schools do not have librarians anymore. The website associated with the exhibit has resources for students, teachers, and libraries.

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“The Verge: What’s Next in AI?” + other items re: AI in general

On 05/01/2024, in 21st century, art, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, bots, business, change, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, communications, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, creativity, digital audio, digital photography, digital video, education, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, future, game-changing environment, generational differences, Google, health, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, intelligent systems, Microsoft, multimedia, Open AI, society, technologies for your home, technology (general), the downsides of how people use tech, United States, vendors, by Daniel Christian

The Verge | What’s Next With AI | February 2024 | Consumer Survey

 

 

 

 

 

 

Microsoft AI creates talking deepfakes from single photo — from inavateonthenet.net

The Great Hall – where now with AI? It is not ‘Human Connection V Innovative Technology’ but ‘Human Connection + Innovative Technology’ — from donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com by Donald Clark

The theme of the day was Human Connection V Innovative Technology. I see this a lot at conferences, setting up the human connection (social) against the machine (AI). I think this is ALL wrong. It is, and has always been a dialectic, human connection (social) PLUS the machine. Everyone had a smartphone, most use it for work, comms and social media. The binary between human and tech has long disappeared. 

Techno-Social Engineering: Why the Future May Not Be Human, TikTok’s Powerful ForYou Algorithm, & More — from by Misha Da Vinci

Things to consider as you dive into this edition:

  • As we increasingly depend on technology, how is it changing us?
  • In the interaction between humans and technology, who is adapting to whom?
  • Is the technology being built for humans, or are we being changed to fit into tech systems?
  • As time passes, will we become more like robots or the AI models we use?
  • Over the next 30 years, as we increasingly interact with technology, who or what will we become?

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Two items re: AI and ethics

On 04/12/2024, in Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), emerging technologies, ethics, legislatures / government / legal, morals/values, policy, psychology, the downsides of how people use tech, United States, by Daniel Christian

Addressing equity and ethics in artificial intelligence — from apa.org by Zara Abrams
Algorithms and humans both contribute to bias in AI, but AI may also hold the power to correct or reverse inequities among humans

“The conversation about AI bias is broadening,” said psychologist Tara Behrend, PhD, a professor at Michigan State University’s School of Human Resources and Labor Relations who studies human-technology interaction and spoke at CES about AI and privacy. “Agencies and various academic stakeholders are really taking the role of psychology seriously.”

NY State Bar Association Joins Florida and California on AI Ethics Guidance – Suggests Some Surprising Implications — from natlawreview.com by James G. Gatto

The NY State Bar Association (NYSBA) Task Force on Artificial Intelligence has issued a nearly 80 page report (Report) and recommendations on the legal, social and ethical impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI on the legal profession. This detailed Report also reviews AI-based software, generative AI technology and other machine learning tools that may enhance the profession, but which also pose risks for individual attorneys’ understanding of new, unfamiliar technology, as well as courts’ concerns about the integrity of the judicial process. It also makes recommendations for NYSBA adoption, including proposed guidelines for responsible AI use. This Report is perhaps the most comprehensive report to date by a state bar association. It is likely this Report will stimulate much discussion.

For those of you who want the “Cliff Notes” version of this report, here is a table that summarizes by topic the various rules mentioned and a concise summary of the associated guidance.

The Report includes four primary recommendations:

 

 

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AWS, Educause partner on generative AI readiness tool [Rispens]

On 04/12/2024, in 24x7x365 access, Amazon, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, career development, change, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, corporate / business world, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, IT in HE, learning, learning ecosystem, personalized/customized learning, strategy, student-related, teaching & learning, the downsides of how people use tech, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

AWS, Educause partner on generative AI readiness tool — from edscoop.com by Skylar Rispens
Amazon Web Services and the nonprofit Educause announced a new tool designed to help higher education institutions gauge their readiness to adopt generative artificial intelligence.

Amazon Web Services and the nonprofit Educause on Monday announced they’ve teamed up to develop a tool that assesses how ready higher education institutions are to adopt generative artificial intelligence.

Through a series of curated questions about institutional strategy, governance, capacity and expertise, AWS and Educause claim their assessment can point to ways that operations can be improved before generative AI is adopted to support students and staff.

“Generative AI will transform how educators engage students inside and outside the classroom, with personalized education and accessible experiences that provide increased student support and drive better learning outcomes,” Kim Majerus, vice president of global education and U.S. state and local government at AWS, said in a press release. “This assessment is a practical tool to help colleges and universities prepare their institutions to maximize this technology and support students throughout their higher ed journey.”

Speaking of AI and our learning ecosystems, also see:

Gen Z Wants AI Skills And Businesses Want Workers Who Can Apply AI: Higher Education Can Help — from forbes.com by Bruce Dahlgren

At a moment when the value of higher education has come under increasing scrutiny, institutions around the world can be exactly what learners and employers both need. To meet the needs of a rapidly changing job market and equip learners with the technical and ethical direction needed to thrive, institutions should familiarize students with the use of AI and nurture the innately human skills needed to apply it ethically. Failing to do so can create enormous risk for higher education, business and society.

What is AI literacy?
To effectively utilize generative AI, learners will need to grasp the appropriate use cases for these tools, understand when their use presents significant downside risk, and learn to recognize abuse to separate fact from fiction. AI literacy is a deeply human capacity. The critical thinking and communication skills required are muscles that need repeated training to be developed and maintained.

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“Do We Need Emotionally Intelligent AI?” [Watkins] + other items re: AI in general

On 04/04/2024, in Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, bots, communications, content development, aggregation, repositories, creativity, design, Emotion, engagement / engaging students, graphics, hearts -- matters of the heart, Open AI, the downsides of how people use tech, tools, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Do We Need Emotionally Intelligent AI? — from marcwatkins.substack.com by Marc Watkins

We keep breaking new ground in AI capabilities, and there seems little interest in asking if we should build the next model to be more life-like. You can now go to Hume.AI and have a conversation with an Empathetic Voice Interface. EVI is groundbreaking and extremely unnerving, but it is no more capable of genuine empathy than your toaster oven.
…

    • You can have the eLLM mimic a political campaign and call potential voters to sway their vote. You can do this ethically or program it to prey upon people with misinformation.
    • An eLLM can be used to socially engineer the public based on the values someone programs into it. Whose values, though?
    • Any company with a digital presence can use an eLLM like EVI to influence their customers. Imagine Alexa suddenly being able to empathize with you as a means to help persuade you to order more products.
    • An always-on, empathetic system can help a student stay on track to graduate or manipulate them into behaviors that erode their autonomy and free will.
    • Any foreign government could deploy such a system against a neighboring population and use empathy as a weapon to sow discontent within the opposing population.

From DSC:
Marc offers some solid thoughts that should make us all pause and reflect on what he’s saying. 

We can endlessly rationalize away the reasons why machines possessing such traits can be helpful, but where is the line that developers and users of such systems refuse to cross in this race to make machines more like us?

Marc Watkins

Along these lines, also see:

  • Student Chatbot Use ‘Could Be Increasing Loneliness’ — from insidehighered.com by Tom Williams
    Study finds students who rely on ChatGPT for academic tasks feel socially supported by artificial intelligence at the expense of their real-life relationships.

    …
    They found “evidence that while AI chatbots designed for information provision may be associated with student performance, when social support, psychological well-being, loneliness and sense of belonging are considered it has a net negative effect on achievement,” according to the paper published in Studies in Higher Education.
Editing your images with DALL·E — from help.openai.com via The Rundown
You can now edit images you create with DALL·E
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“NVIDIA just released FREE online courses in AI.” [Mishra] + other items re: AI in general

On 03/26/2024, in 24x7x365 access, 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, animation, art, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, content development, aggregation, repositories, creativity, digital photography, digital video, emerging technologies, experimentation, face-to-face, Google, health, homeschooling/homeschoolers, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, mathematics, media/film, mobile technologies, multimedia, NVIDIA, online learning, online media, photography, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, the downsides of how people use tech, tools, trends, United States, vendors, by Daniel Christian

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
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