Deluge of Developments: The Recent AI Surge in Education
Trying to Come Up for Air in Between Game-Changing Announcements
Hi, Educating AI Readers!
The AI x Education tech space is evolving at a breakneck pace, and I felt compelled to share these developments with you. I’m writing this as much for myself as for you, my readers, to help process and think through the sweeping changes unfolding before us.
Before I begin, I want to thank my readers who have decided to support my Substack via paid subscriptions. I appreciate this vote of confidence. Your contributions allow me to dedicate more time to research, writing, and building Educating AI's network of contributors, resources, and materials.
Summary:
In short, we are witnessing a transformative shift in how schools will access AI in the upcoming school year. Remarkably, the entire world now has free access to OpenAI’s premier model ChatGPT4o. Meanwhile, Google has introduced a potent new educational AI called LearnLM, alongside a suite of products designed to encourage deeper thinking rather than providing immediate answers.
Furthermore, OpenAI x Khan Academy’s Khanmigo, an inquiry-based AI, is now available for free to all teachers. Amidst these advancements, OpenAI has dismantled its superalignment team following Ilya Sutskever’s departure from the company. Adding to the drama, Scarlett Johansson is threatening to sue OpenAI for allegedly using her voice in its new model’s multimodal capabilities. Clearly, the landscape is shifting rapidly, and we have the summer to strategize our next steps.
The Daily Grind
To understand how we arrived here, let’s recap the key events of the past week:
Last Monday, May 13:
OpenAI released its latest and most advanced model, ChatGPT4o, a multimodal model with sophisticated visual, audio, image, and text production capabilities. Significantly, it is available for free to all ChatGPT users. In its promotional material, OpenAI highlighted its educational potential, featuring Sal Khan and his son using it to solve math problems, showcasing the model’s ability to handle simple math problems effectively.
Source: YouTube
Early users found ChatGPT4o to be highly personable, even flirtatious, leading commentators to speculate about the potential rise of AI-human romantic relationships. Altman likened the new model to the AI character in HER. Interestingly, an AI named Sky, speaking in an engaging female voice, became a point of fascination. However, it is worth noting that ChatGPT4o exhibits only modest improvements in analytical and computational reasoning. This trend towards lateral rather than vertical advancements has led some observers to question whether the broad accessibility and educational utility claims are a facade for data acquisition aimed at further model development.
Last Tuesday, May 14:
At its I/O 2024 Developers event, Google unveiled over 100 new products and applications, placing a strong emphasis on ethical AI for education. Central to this presentation was LearnLM, an AI designed to promote critical thinking by encouraging users to engage deeply with content rather than offering immediate answers. This concept is reminiscent of Khanmigo but built upon more extensive research, providing users with more complex and sustained conversational pathways.
Moreover, Google identified a critical need for AI tools that transform delivered content into meaningful learning experiences. For example, Illuminate enables LearnLM-driven conversations about lecture notes and class readings. Similarly, Learn About facilitates deep research engagements, while NotebookLM, already available, helps students organize notes, brainstorm, and read to develop effective writing strategies. Collectively, these products position Google as a leader in conscientious AI, prioritizing both instructional design and safety.
Last Wednesday, May 15:
Source: Tech Crunch
Ilya Sutskever, former Chief Scientist of AI and the last remaining founder committed to the non-profit principles of safe AI development, resigned from OpenAI. He cited irreconcilable differences in operating principles as his reason for departure. For many observers, this marked the culmination of OpenAI’s gradual absorption into Microsoft.
Last Friday, May 17:
Source: OpenAI
OpenAI disbanded its Superalignment group, which focused on developing AGI aligned with human values and societal well-being. Consequently, the company's commitment to AI safety and security appears to have ended, signifying a complete internal transformation.
This Monday, May 20:
Source: CNN Underscored
Microsoft announced that Copilot would be fully integrated with ChatGPT4o, coinciding with the launch of a new line of PCs equipped with these advanced AI functionalities. These systems will leverage ChatGPT4o’s multimodal capabilities. The Surface Laptop, priced at $999, will be available early this summer. While this move makes sound business sense, it somewhat undermines OpenAI’s initial positioning as an education-centric entity. The emerging pathway seems to be AI → agents → hardware → ???
Source: Business Insider
Later that day, Scarlett Johansson accused OpenAI of using her voice as the model for the Sky persona of ChatGPT4o. The similarities between Sky’s and Johansson’s voices are striking. Johansson has threatened to sue OpenAI for either training Sky on her voice or using a voice likeness, raising significant legal and ethical issues for the company.
This Tuesday, May 21:
Khanmigo, in collaboration with OpenAI, announced that their AI product is now free for all teachers. While this offers teachers a valuable tool, the timing and motivation behind this decision are intriguing. Following OpenAI’s mixed reception of ChatGPT4o, Google’s educational advances, the dismantling of OpenAI’s safety division, and the Johansson controversy, this move appears to be an attempt to regain goodwill. Notably, the tool is designed for students, yet it is being offered to teachers, possibly as a strategy to encourage schools to adopt the full package. Observing how Khanmigo performs against LearnLM and the extent to which Google grants free access to its suite of tools will be critical in the coming months.
A Life Raft Designed for the Seas of Change
Source: Collins Aerospace
As we navigate this whirlwind of AI advancements, it becomes increasingly clear that AI literacy and training are paramount. Educators must develop curricula that not only meet the challenges of universal access but also reassess instructional and assessment design to align with these technological shifts. The pace of AI development shows no signs of slowing down, and its accessibility will only expand.
Teachers, though limited in their control over the rapid evolution of technology, must channel their energy into refining their instructional methods and fostering meaningful relationships with students. By doing so, they can harness the potential of AI to enhance learning experiences while maintaining the human connection at the heart of education.
Nick Potkalitsky, Ph.D.
Check out some of my favorite Substacks:
Terry Underwood’s Learning to Read, Reading to Learn: The most penetrating investigation of the intersections between compositional theory, literacy studies, and AI on the internet!!!
Suzi’s When Life Gives You AI: An cutting-edge exploration of the intersection among computer science, neuroscience, and philosophy
Alejandro Piad Morffis’s Mostly Harmless Ideas: Unmatched investigations into coding, machine learning, computational theory, and practical AI applications
Michael Woudenberg’s Polymathic Being: Polymathic wisdom brought to you every Sunday morning with your first cup of coffee
Michael Spencer’s AI Supremacy: The most comprehensive and current analysis of AI news and trends, featuring numerous intriguing guest posts
Daniel Bashir’s The Gradient Podcast: The top interviews with leading AI experts, researchers, developers, and linguists.
Daniel Nest’s Why Try AI?: The most amazing updates on AI tools and techniques
Riccardo Vocca’sThe Intelligent Friend: An intriguing examination of the diverse ways AI is transforming our lives and the world around us.
This space is moving so crazily fast... this was a great little update! Have you figured out how we can actually use ChatGPT4o free? When I log on to my free account I can't seem to tell when it's GPT 3.5 vs GPT 4o doing the work...
You know, sometimes it's easy to just read articles, nod your head, and move on. But when you phrased it like that, aggregating these stories, I didn't realize we had so many announcements at once. Crazy! Thanks as always for help keeping us informed!
And as a post script, thanks to great AI posts, I'm learning more about priming AI and developing new materials for the classroom. Many things I can do on my own just fine, but the productivity boost is incredible!