Hi everyone, and happy Wednesday! What a glorious day it is here in Boise. I hope it's beautiful where you are too, and that you're feeling revved up about something that brings you joy or a sense of purpose. We'll start with some very local opportunities:
Get involved!
Last call! If you're an instructor in Idaho, please fill out a survey from our State Board AI fellows on your perspectives of AI (critics and adherents and everyone in between is invited to participate!) The survey should take about 5-10 minutes and all responses are completely confidential. To thank you for your time and support, respondents can enter a raffle with the chance to win one of several $50 Amazon gift cards. If you choose to enter the raffle, you will be asked to provide an email address that will be collected separately from any survey responses. Survey link: https://boisestate.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8BcXJISnUJQdpXg
Boise State friends! Are you interested in serving as an AI Faculty Liaison? We're looking to engage folks who may be AI-curious but haven't been super-involved yet. And critics are welcome! Please discuss this opportunity with your department chair and ask them to nominate you using the AI Faculty Liaison nomination form by April 30, 2025. AI Faculty Liaisons will receive a $1000 honorarium in gratitude for their efforts. Additional details about the AI Faculty Liaison role, time commitment, and expectations can be found on the Call for Nominations: AI Faculty Liaisons document.
AI and Higher Ed
Gallup, the Walton Family Foundation, and GSV have just released a report on Gen Z and generative AI (h/t Lisa Bostaph; fyi, you have to give your email to download the report). As we've discussed many times before, it turns out Gen Z has nuanced and/or mixed views about Gen AI: "The data suggest that young people are skeptical about the effects generative artificial intelligence will have on their lives while actively considering the risks these products pose. Overall, they are more likely to feel anxious than excited about AI and are less likely to trust work products that were created using these tools. Despite these concerns, most Gen Zers say they use AI, recognize the potential benefits and, perhaps most importantly, acknowledge that they will likely need to know how to utilize this technology in their future jobs."
So, the kids are maybe alright.
Speaking of Gen Z, Leif Nelson passed along this piece from The Verge about the race between Anthropic and OpenAI to become the primary tool younger generations go to for their AI: "Both labs releasing education initiatives simultaneously reveals the high value of college students. The race to embed AI tools in academia is a competition to shape how the next generation works with AI — and crucially, to become their default AI tool."
This NYT article is about K-12 and not higher ed, but, you know, we get those students in our classes sooner than later: "A.I. 'is already being used by the majority of teachers and students,' said Jennifer Carolan, a former history teacher and founder of Reach Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in A.I. learning tools. But as the technology works its way into schools, some educators say they are concerned that tech companies are pouring resources into A.I. applications, like tutoring bots, that disrupt the human relationships at the core of teaching and learning — instead of creating tools to ease the bureaucratic burdens that shift adults’ attention away from children."
An important read, especially for my friends in COED.
AI in Politics and Policy
The always-incredible Liza Long has this short Substack piece about algorithmic bias. She asked ChatGPT, based on everything you know about me, what do you think I look like? Spoiler alert, it didn't do that great: "When I asked my AI intern to create an image of me—Liza, writer, professor, proud mother of four, and self-described ‘AI Queen’—it gave me a square-jawed, broad-shouldered bearded tech bro."
[This guy probably has some vinyl he'd like to recommend now that you have a collection started. Oh, GPT. You rascal.]
Remember during COVID when that attorney showed up to Zoomcourt as a cat? It still makes me laugh to think about it ("I'm not a cat!).
Well, gen AI is causing some hijinks in the courtroom again, according to the NYT, which reports on a case of a man trying to show an AI-generated video avatar at his own defense, and the judges getting big mad about it. But reading the article softened my perspective on this a bit: "He said he had resorted to using the software after stumbling over his words in previous legal proceedings. Using A.I. for the presentation, he thought, might ease the pressure he felt in the courtroom. He said he had planned to make a digital version of himself but had encountered 'technical difficulties' in doing so, which prompted him to create a fake person for the recording instead." He apologized to the judges afterward, too. It happens to the best of us.
It could be that gen AI compute is consuming less energy than originally estimated (potentially by a factor of 10). I've also been listening to some talks that suggest it's likely to get more efficient as time goes on. Energy and water resource usage is a particular area of concern for me, so I'm glad to see it, and I think it's a space where we're developing more understanding. Still, sometimes a technology can become more efficient but also be much more widely adopted and then you don't see any net efficiency gains, from the environment's perspective. But I'll take some good news.
Tech Updates
New tech releases in the genAI space are coming fast and furious now, so much so that it's hard for us normies to keep up. There's this one from The Verge about some changes coming to Google Workspace: "This update, which is coming to Workspace accounts 'in the coming weeks,' will bring audio overviews right into Google Docs, along with the option to have AI read your article out loud. Having your writing read back to you is genuinely useful, but I used Gemini to generate one of these “podcasts” based on an article I wrote and I’m not in a hurry to do it again.""
And sigh, 404 Media continues to report on the most dystopian elements of generative AI, this week with an article about an AI technology that can call your elderly parents and have a conversation with them in your place: "Obviously, the idea of having an AI call your lonely relative because you can’t or don’t feel like it is dystopian, insulting, and especially non-human, even more so than other AI-based creations. The creator, though, says it can provide a way to keep in touch with relatives and make sure they’re safe."
Pinterest (which is apparently still a thing?) will start labeling images as AI generated: "So yes, Pinterest is moving to better tag and highlight AI-generated images within the Pin feed, in order to help users avoid clicking through on these junk peddlers."
I'm as dismayed as anyone by *all of this going on,* but, ngl, if AI makes it so I can talk to dolphins, it might all have been worth it.
And over on X (yes, still a thing) Microsoft Copilot interviews Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, and Satya Nadella at the same time. Worth watching just to see what it can do.
AI Image of the Week
Like Liza, I went ahead and asked it what it thought I looked like based on our interactions so far, and here's what it gave me:
Not that far off! Though I like to think my eyes are more piercing and judgmental, and of course, there's my gray stripes that it missed. Still, I kind of like the new Boise State logo it created in the background. Would love to see what you get...let me know!
Talk to you soon,
Jen