Mobile Apps News #89
Using emerging technologies for good
Hi everyone!
Hope you’re having a good summer. I’ve been following many sources about generative AI over the past few months. There is so much to learn! I’ve also been offering webinars, participating on panels and working groups, and planning future offerings.
Since there’s so much interest in generative AI, I’ll focus on that for this issue, including,
News about ChatGPT and other language models
Sources for learning about the underlying technology
Sources for learning about the ethical issues
Higher education and ChatGPT
As usual, this issue also includes:
Thought-provoking articles
“Just for fun”
Articles about the future.
I hope you’ll enjoy this newsletter and spread the word to your friends and colleagues.
️ ❤️ Enjoy! (And if you like this issue, please “heart” it - thanks!)
By the way, this newsletter was written entirely by a human! (me)
Mobile apps
Meco: a newsletter reader app that connects with Gmail
I love this app for keeping my email newsletters separate from the rest of my email. It’s a great way to keep up with AI newsletters.
ChatGPT for iOS and ChatGPT for Android
The official mobile apps for ChatGPT. With these apps, you can use your voice to speak your input. It uses OpenAI’s own “Whisper” technology for the speech recognition (more capable than a lot of other speech recognition). Gets positive reviews from blind users.
Poe - Fast AI Chat
Poe (made by Quora) gives access to GPT-4, gpt-3.5-turbo, Claude from Anthropic, and a variety of other bots. Web access available at poe.com.
Perplexity AI for iOS and for Android
Perplexity is similar to Bing Chat. it links to the internet sources it uses to answer questions. You can also use the free web version without logging in.
ChatGPT and other language models
Learn prompting - useful free online course, self-paced
Prompt engineering for ChatGPT - Coursera course by Dr. Jules White, Vanderbilt University
How to Use AI to Do Stuff: An Opinionated Guide - Prof. Ethan Mollick
Good overview of the different models available and what you can do with them.
Beyond ChatGPT - A page from our University of Arizona Libguide for instructors. Includes a comparison chart of the major language models.
The technology behind generative AI
Elements of AI - University of Helsinki
Free course for learning about AI in general.
What Is ChatGPT Doing ... and Why Does It Work? - Stephen Wolfram
Learn the details about how it works. Based on his book of the same name.
ChatGPT is everywhere. Here’s where it came from - Will Douglas Heaven, MIT Technology Review. A useful history.
The Acceleration of Artificial Intelligence - Anna-Sofia Lesiv
An interesting summary of the development of today’s generative AI. It’s useful for understanding the 2017 breakthrough (transformer architecture) that led to so much that’s happening now.
Why does chatGPT make up fake academic papers? - Twitter thread by David Smerdon, Univ. of Queensland. Very good explanation.
Large language models from scratch and Large Language Models: Part 2 (videos) - Graphics in 5 Minutes on YouTube
Transformers, Explained - Google Cloud Tech on YouTube.
Learn more about transformer architecture.
Introduction to Image Generation - Google Cloud Tech on YouTube
Useful overview of how image generation models work.
What is Reinforcement Learning From Human Feedback (RLHF) - Alex McFarland
Useful explanation.
What "GPT" actually means, and the building blocks of AI - Matt Hartman
Learn about the technologies behind generative AI.
Ethical issues around generative AI
Copyright issues
Generative AI Meets Copyright - Pamela Samuelson, Professor of Law, UC Berkeley (YouTube)
Recording of a talk where she summarized the outstanding copyright cases. "It will take years for this to be resolved in the courts."
Learn more about the copyright issues in our University of Arizona Libraries guide for instructors.
Bias
AI expert Meredith Broussard: ‘Racism, sexism and ableism are systemic problems’ - The Guardian
”Racism, sexism and ableism are systemic problems that are baked into our technological systems because they’re baked into society. It would be great if the fix were more data. But more data won’t fix our technological systems if the underlying problem is society.”
A Radical Plan to Make AI Good, Not Evil - Wired
OpenAI competitor Anthropic, on using AI to train AI (instead of humans). They call it “constitutional AI.”
Identifying AI-created content
Is badging a solution? (badging AI vs badging human-created content)
Not by AI - Ideas for a badge for human created content. (I used the badge at the top of this newsletter. In reality I don’t think it will ever be practical to badge in this way. I see AI as a useful tool that will be more and more integrated into everything).
Watermarking ChatGPT, DALL-E and Other Generative AIs Could Help Protect Against Fraud and Misinformation - Berkeley iSchool
Generative AI is forcing people to rethink what it means to be authentic - The Conversation
Higher education and generative AI
Suspicion, Cheating and Bans: A.I. Hits America’s Schools - The Daily: podcast episode.
Hear directly from students and one instructor about how they use ChatGPT for their work.
AI Guidance - Yale Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning.
Suggestions for how to adapt your teaching in light of quickly developing AI capabilities.
Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Teaching and Learning - U.S. Dept. of Education, Office of Educational Technology.
“… addresses the clear need for sharing knowledge, engaging educators, and refining technology plans and policies for artificial intelligence (AI) use in education.”
Educator considerations for ChatGPT - OpenAI.
From the creators of ChatGPT and based on feedback from educators from a number of institutions. Covers ethics and literacy, truthfulness, bias, assessment, equity, and more.
Free online conference (Aug. 5-6): Generating The Future of Education with AI. Driven by Students, Dedicated to Educators.
This event is organized by students. “Designed for K12 and Higher-Ed Educators & Administrators, this conference aims to provide a platform for educators, administrators, AI experts, students, parents, and EdTech leaders to discuss the impact of AI on education… A special emphasis will be placed on including students' voices in the conversation.”
Higher ed discussions of AI writing - a Facebook group where instructors discuss what to do about assignments and assessment in writing courses, given that ChatGPT is here.
My offerings
Webinar recording:
Watch this May 18 webinar that I offered for our staff at Univ. of Arizona Libraries. It’s a condensed version of the webinar I presented for ALA on May 17. Feel free to share!
AI Literacy: Using ChatGPT and Artificial Intelligence Tools in Instruction.
(video with PDF handouts and slides)
Free online guides:
Two guides that I co-authored with a few of my colleagues at Univ. of Arizona Libraries. Feel free to share!
AI Literacy in the Age of ChatGPT - for instructors
Keeping Up with Emerging Technologies: Best Practices for Information Professionals - Nicole Hennig
Use the methods in my book for keeping up with developments around AI.
Just for fun
Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine - Jay Williams, Raymond Abrashkin.
This 1958 children’s book is fun and worth reading! Kids modify a large computer to do their homework… I won’t spoil the ending.
What a Sixty-Five-Year-Old Book Teaches Us About A.I. - David Owen
Book Review: Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine - Cathy Gellis
Reviews of Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine, 1958 book for kids
Thought- provoking
Visualizing Global Attitudes Towards AI
Results of a survey. “Do products and services using AI have more benefits than drawbacks?” People living in wealthier economies view AI products and services less positively.
In Search of Truth with Aravind Srinivas of Perplexity AI - podcast, episode 7 of The Cognitive Revolution
Interesting interview with Aravind Srinivas, co-founder and CEO of Perplexity AI.
AI Outperforms Humans in Creativity Test - Neuroscience News
”Artificial Intelligence (AI), specifically GPT-4, was found to match the top 1% of human thinkers on a standard creativity test. It excelled in fluency and originality in the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking, a widely recognized tool for assessing creativity.”
Deep Learning: AI, Art History, and the Museum - MoMA
Refik Anadol’s Unsupervised invites us to come to terms with new ways of making history at the edge of what’s technically possible.
How AI is Changing (and Challenging) the Art World - Everypixel Journal
How AI is changing art and what conventions are being challenged in this rapid evolution.
What The Beatles can teach us about AI - Bennett Institute for Public Policy
As headlines report that The Beatles used artificial intelligence to create a new song featuring John Lennon's voice, the international frenzy shows just how unprepared we are for the new technological age.
Written Testimony of Clement Delangue, Co-founder and CEO of Hugging Face, For a hearing on “Artificial Intelligence: Advancing Innovation Towards the National Interest. (PDF)
”Open systems foster democratic governance and increased access, especially to researchers, and can help to solve critical security concerns by enabling and empowering safety research.” Useful for a summary of what’s happening with open source generative AI. Also on YouTube.
The future
As AI Spreads, Experts Predict the Best and Worst Changes in Digital Life by 2035 - Pew Research
”They have deep concerns about people’s and society’s overall well-being. But they also expect great benefits in health care, scientific advances and education.”
On giving AI eyes and ears - Ethan Mollick
AI can listen and see, with bigger implications than we might realize.
How we can teach children so they survive AI – and cope with whatever comes next - George Monbiot
“It’s not enough to build learning around a single societal shift. Students should be trained to handle a rapidly changing world.”
Eric Schmidt: This is how AI will transform the way science gets done - Technology Review
”Science is about to become much more exciting—and that will affect us all, argues Google's former CEO.”
Thank you!
Thank you, Nicole!