Latest News

.: AI Updates & Developments

​

.: Anthropic Secures $2 Billion in New Funding from Google ➜ Google has invested a further $2 billion in Anthropic following a $4 billion investment from Amazon. This funding aims to bolster Anthropic’s position in developing rival generative AI models, a market led by OpenAI. With OpenAI’s GPT models gaining traction, Amazon and Google, through AWS and Google Cloud respectively, intend to back Anthropic as a competitive alternative, particularly noting its capability to handle larger in-memory context compared to other LLMs, making it a unique offering in the AI market​.

.: Grammarly’s New Generative AI Feature Learns Your Style ➜ Grammarly is set to introduce a ‘Personalised Voice Detection and Application’ feature by year-end for its business-tier subscribers. This feature, leveraging generative AI, discerns users’ unique writing styles and creates voice profiles to rewrite texts accordingly.

.: Rishi Sunak Outlines AI Risks and Potential ➜ UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak emphasised the importance of addressing the risks associated with artificial intelligence (AI) in a speech in London. As he prepares to host a global summit on AI in Britain, Sunak highlighted both the opportunities for economic growth and the “new dangers and new fears” that AI presents.

.: Apple’s Week in Review: $1B AI Investment, Streaming Overhaul, and Product Redesigns ➜ Apple is boosting its AI game with an over $1 billion annual investment aimed at integrating generative AI across its product lineup.

.: Seoul Digital Foundation’s AI Initiative for Public Safety, Education, and Ethics ➜ This comprehensive AI initiative underscores Seoul’s ambition towards becoming a ‘Global Top 5 City’ through innovation, inclusivity, and ethical AI deployment, marking a significant stride towards leveraging AI for societal benefits​.

.: Humane’s AI Pin Price and Subscription Details ➜ First showcased by co-founder Imran Chaudhri at a TED presentation, the AI Pin demonstrated capabilities like accepting phone calls and translating sentences. Official details might be released on November 9th, shedding more light on the product’s features and subscription model​.

Reflection

.: Why this news matters for education

​

I could write about the power grab happening with all the investment funding flying around or the new all-modal updates from OpenAI (more next week). Instead, I think the news that matters most is the photo manipulation power-ups from Google and how the cameras on our smartphones have become remarkably adept at lying to us.

With new ​AI-powered tools introduced in Pixel phones​, snapshots can instantly transform frowns into smiles, erase unwanted photobombers, and use deep learning to fill in the gaps seamlessly. While provoking awe, these innovations also give us pause. In altering reality to create more picture-perfect photos, are we further losing grip on what’s real?

As new phone contracts get signed, and consumers embrace these capabilities, how do educators and students navigate this augmented world, where the truthiness is becoming more slippery? Lessons on media literacy and critical thinking become vital. Students should understand how the AI tools work and consider the implications of proliferating digitally altered images online. They can then strengthen their skills in detecting manipulated media.

Let’s not forget that this raprid AI augmentation is happening across a wide range of media types.

Andrew Pearsall explained in the BBC article how AI manipulation held dangers, stating, “You’ve got to be very careful about ‘When do you step over the line?'”

Students need guidance on ethical boundaries they ought not to cross. They must recognise the power images have in shaping perceptions and opinions. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but what if those words mislead?

It reminds me of the literacy activity where we viewed photos of an event and asked students to talk about what might be outside of the frame and what view does the creator want to show?

Now, of course, it is not just about staging an image, arranging the subjects and finding the angle. The whole story can be augmented afterwards regardless of what was witnessed, and on your phone.

Finding balance amid competing perspectives is essential. While some see the tools as “icky” or “creepy,” others view them as an evolution in capturing intended realities over strict fidelity. Teaching evaluation of multiple viewpoints develops critical analysis abilities.

Most importantly, lessons should stress the value of authenticity. Although AI enables new creative possibilities, transparency and ethics should be priorities. By instilling empathy and principles, schools can produce generations wielding these technologies for good, not deception.

The camera may now lie with ease, but we can still be determined to seek more truthiness.

.:

​

~ Tom

Prompts

.: Refine your promptcraft

​

Working with LLMs can be a great way to uncover new perspectives and insights. Here are a few examples:

1. Contrarian Thinking: This involves challenging the status quo or widely accepted beliefs. It can lead to innovative ideas and solutions.
   • Prompt: “What if we did the exact opposite of what’s typically done in this situation? What would that look like?”
2. Futurecasting: This involves imagining the future and working backward to understand the steps needed to get there.
   • Prompt: “Imagine it’s five years from now and we’ve achieved our goal. What steps did we take to get here?”
3. Role Play: This involves stepping into someone else’s shoes to gain a different perspective.
   • Prompt: “If you were [insert different role/person], how would you approach this problem?” This is one of my favourites to use and there are endless possibilities.
4. Questioning Assumptions: This involves questioning the underlying assumptions that are often taken for granted.
   • Prompt: “What assumptions are we making here? What if they weren’t true?”
5. Connecting the Dots: This involves finding connections between seemingly unrelated ideas or fields.
   • Prompt: “How might principles from [insert different field] apply to our situation?”
6. Reframing the Problem: This involves looking at the problem from a different angle or changing the context.
   • Prompt: “How might we reframe this problem? What if we looked at it from a [insert different perspective]?”
7. The Beginner’s Mind: This involves approaching the problem as if you know nothing about it, similar to how a beginner would.
   • Prompt: “If we knew nothing about this situation, what questions would we ask? What would stand out to us?”
8. The Time Traveler: This involves imagining how someone from a different time period would perceive the problem or situation.
   • Prompt: “How might someone from the past or future view this problem? What insights or solutions might they suggest?”
9. The Outsider: This involves considering the perspective of someone completely unfamiliar with the problem or field.
   • Prompt: “If an alien landed on Earth and encountered this problem, what might they find strange or noteworthy? How might they approach it?”
10. The Nature’s Way: This involves looking to nature for inspiration, a concept known as biomimicry.
    • Prompt: “How does nature handle similar challenges or processes? What can we learn from that?”

Remember, the goal of these prompts is not to find the “right” answer, but to explore different perspectives and possibilities.

The more diverse the perspectives, the richer the insights and solutions.

.:

Remember to mak​e this your own, tinker and evaluate the completions.

Learning

.: Boost your AI Literacy

​

.: Machine Learning for Everybody – Full Course | freeCodeCamp.org ➜

​

​

.: TWIMLfest: AI for Kids ➜

​

I found the initial grouping activities could be easily replicated for different age groups. A good way to start teaching about different types of machine learning.

​

.: Why Fei-Fei Li is Still Hopeful About AI (… and Elon) | On with Kara Swisher ➜

​

Ethics

.: Provocations for Balance

​

1. AI Image Manipulation: Is it ethical for AI, like Google Pixel’s photo tool, to alter reality by manipulating images, and what are the implications for authenticity?
2. AI in Education: What responsibilities do educators have to teach students about the ethical implications of AI and media manipulation?
3. AI and Privacy: How can we balance the benefits of AI, like Grammarly’s personalised feature, with the need to protect individual privacy?

~ Inspired by this week’s developments.