AI

There’s a lot out there from folks trying and suggesting and selling ways for teachers to put their fingers in the dike holding back the allegedly inevitable AI tide.

The unending tide of AI used for stupid things just keeps on coming, and as widely predicted, the major accomplices are managers and employers, sucked in with promises that AI will make their work faster and easier and less have-to-deal-with-humans-y.

"Can you tell me where we're headin'? Lincoln County Road or Armageddon?"

Commentary on Statement on Educational Technologies and AI Agents by Stephen Downes. Online learning, e-learning, new media, connectivism, MOOCs, personal learning environments, new literacy, and more

Some things you can't be polite about.

The AI upheaval is unique in its ability to metabolize any number of dread-inducing transformations. The university is becoming more corporate, more politically oppressive, and all but hostile to the humanities? Yes — and every student gets their own personal chatbot. The second coming of the Trump Administration has exposed the civic sclerosis of the US body politic? Time to turn the Social Security Administration over to Grok. Climate apocalypse now feels less like a distant terror than a fact of life? In three years, roughly a tenth of US energy demand will come from data centers alone.

Some common traits at institutions successfully meeting the challenge of teaching in today’s world.

ChatGPT and other language models can be your new study buddies.

Scholars should log every step of the process of composition.

The downsides of generative AI are growing like wildfire

Anxieties around AI and punctuation say a lot about academia, Joseph Mellors writes.

Resistance is not futile, Melanie Dusseau writes.

Learning requires friction. Here’s how to get students to disclose and evaluate their own usage of tools like ChatGPT.

In the final chapter of Plagiarism in Higher Education: Tackling Tough Topics in Academic Integrity (2021) I contemplate the future of plagiarism and academic integrity. I introduced the idea of li…

AI Resources September 2024 Susan D. Blum sblum@nd.edu Teaching with AI: A Practical Guide to a New Era of Human Learning, José Antonio Bowen and C. Edward Watson (Johns Hopkins, 2024) More Than Words by John Warner | Hachette Book Group 2025 Future-Ready Teaching with AI, Aaron Blackwelder ...

Deep Dive for July 2024: Uses for ChatGPT and AI 00:00 Introduction to the Session: Overview of the focus on AI and its integration into various platforms, including Apple's operating system. 00:08 Overview of AI's Impact and Ethical Concerns: Discussing the transformative potential of AI, its implications for job markets, and ethical concerns regarding privacy and intellectual property. 03:01 AI in Practical Applications: Examples of AI in daily tasks, its effectiveness, and limitations, such as in writing assistance and image generation. 10:03 Deep Dive into Specific AI Tools and Features: Exploration of specific AI tools, enhancements in AI model capabilities over time, and their practical applications in various fields. 20:01 User Experiences and Applications: Personal experiences shared by participants using AI in diverse scenarios, from academic assistance to professional settings. 30:01 Discussion on AI's Role in Creativity and Automation: Debate on the balance between AI assistance and human creativity, especially in creative writing and generating artistic content. 40:01 Concerns and Optimistic Views on AI: Concerns about AI’s limitations in understanding context and human emotion, contrasted with optimism about AI improving productivity. 50:01 Closing Remarks and Future AI Trends: Summary of the session, reiteration of ethical considerations, and speculation on future advancements in AI technology. Overview: David Sparks, known as MacSparky, hosted a webinar to discuss the potential uses and implications of ChatGPT and artificial intelligence (AI) in various fields. He initially planned to focus on Apple's AI initiatives but shifted the topic due to their products not being released yet. Key Points: AI's Impact on Society: David believes AI is a significant technological advancement, not a fleeting trend like cryptocurrency. He predicts it will substantially change work dynamics, causing both job losses and creations. Personal Experience and Ethical Concerns: David shares his experiments with AI, specifically using ChatGPT, which he chose due to its early market presence and upcoming integration into Apple's ecosystem. He expresses concerns about the ethical implications of AI, particularly regarding intellectual property and privacy, as AI models are trained by scraping vast amounts of data from the internet. Practical Applications Discussed: David provides examples of practical AI applications, such as improving workflow efficiency, assisting in content creation without replacing human input, and enhancing research capabilities. He emphasizes the importance of keeping a human in the loop to avoid errors that AI might introduce. AI in Writing and Personal Work: He discusses his discomfort with using AI for personal or emotional writing, sharing a story about someone using AI to write a speech, which he found disheartening. David stresses the importance of authenticity in personal expressions. Future Plans: Plans to explore AI’s role once Apple releases its AI products. He mentions that he will continue to evaluate how AI can be integrated responsibly into his work and shares resources for others to learn about AI’s broader implications. Conclusion: David Sparks encourages critical engagement with AI technologies, balancing the benefits of efficiency and innovation with mindful consideration of ethical and personal values. He advocates for a cautious, informed approach to integrating AI into professional and personal life. ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ All About MacSparky ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 📄 Read my Blog https://www.macsparky.com 📚 Browse through the MacSparky Field Guides https://learn.macsparky.com ⚙️ Join the MacSparky Labs https://www.macsparky.com/join/ 🗞️ Subscribe to the MacSparky Newsletter https://sparky-media-inc.ck.page/2eb4ea7041 🎙️I’m the co-host of three podcasts on Relay FM: Mac Power Users 🖥️ https://www.relay.fm/mpu Automators ⚙️ https://www.relay.fm/automators Focused 👓 https://www.relay.fm/focused

It is worthwhile spending some time on social media to see the relentless bombardment faced by students from influencers peddling AI tools that straddle the line between aiding study and blatantly enabling cheating. These influencers flourish is contradictions and promise the moon: complete your homework in five minutes flat, forget about ever attending another lecture, let AI take up the pen for you. In each pitch, the essence of learning is overshadowed by a pervasive call to save time. Welcome to the dizzying world of AI influencer culture, where the pursuit of profit drives companies to use influencers as direct conduits to push their products onto students.

The Elon Musk and Sam Altman-backed chatbot has caught the attention of big names in the tech world as it reached one million users on Monday.