Seeking Balance in a Time of Crisis

A Thanksgiving Message from Educating AI

In the US, we are gearing up for Thanksgiving, a holiday with complicated historical origins to say the least. In its current version of celebration, the holiday focuses on gratitude, togetherness, and food. While I cannot share food with my readership, I can offer you my gratitude for sticking with this endeavor thus far. In addition, I would like to say that as I write this post, I do feel a certain level of sympathetic awareness–or togetherness–from my growing readership. And for that, I thank you!

Not too long ago, I primarily wrote on very specific narrative, rhetorical, literary, and media concerns. At that time, like many academics, my readership was quite small. The intense labor of creating thoughtful pieces was very exhilarating. But lack of impact wore on me as time passed. For a time, I ceased to write, focusing all my energies on my students and my family. This fallow period was rich and much needed. I think I became a better teacher, reader, and father during that time. I would like to thank my students and loved ones for helping me realize those goals! 

Then this summer, I felt that writer’s call once again. Gen AI was changing so much so quickly. I needed to write to sort out these changes for myself so that I could be a more effective educator this fall. A friend recommended Substack as a possible place of publication. I set up an account and fell in love with the process, the content, and the people. While it sounds strange, I have Gen AI to thank for my discovery of my passion for writing. The irony here does not escape:  But this is how things work sometimes. 

In this new AI world, I am finding that there are no true positives or negatives–just a lot of in-betweens. What initially appears to many to be a catastrophe later opens doors for students to engage in amazing and innovative ways. What initially appears to be an area of promise later becomes useless or even dangerous. What are we to do? Embrace the in-between. 

In this moment, we are poised in the balance. As Thanksgiving approaches, seek out the things that help you stay balanced. For me, one major thing is writing . And so this newsletter continues…

Update 1: OpenAI Turned Inside Out

Like many, I followed the firing of Sam Altman quite closely this week. As an educator, I am deeply concerned about what all this means for the safety, security, and stability of Gen AI in the coming months and years. Prior to this weekend, I didn’t fully appreciate the complexity and brilliance of OpenAI’s internal setup: 2 distinctive wings of operation, one focused on for-profit enterprises, another dedicated non-profit endeavors, and AGI as a constraint both propelling and governing the system. But this week’s ousting and schism reveal how tenuous any effort at self-regulation is. If you want to read more on this situation, I’d recommend these four links:

1. Ethan Mollick contrasts short-term vs. long-term consequences. In the short-term, not much will change; in the long-term, we will get more top-tier Gen AI competition in the market. 

2. Gary Marcus composed an interesting series of posts over the weekend. I really appreciate his open letter to the EU about the need to continue to develop AI regulation policy. 

3. Alberto Romero offers a more in-depth take on long-term concerns about AI safety and security. I will continue to follow this line of thought as it develops over the next couple months.

4. Hard Fork with Kevin Roose and Casey Newsome provides a beautiful 15-minute summary of the ins and outs of the weekend drama at the beginning of this podcast. 

Update 2: Common Sense Media Reviews Major LLMs

In the midst of the OpenAI crisis, Common Sense Media quietly released its first review and assessment of the leading commercial and educational Gen AI products. Educators, you have to check this out!!! It will not be of much surprise to anyone to see how poorly ChatGPT and some of its competitors scored on these ratings. 

ChatGPT

Bard

DALL-E 2

I very much appreciate these guidelines even as I approach them with a bit of healthy skepticism. It will be nice in the coming days if and when Common Sense Media  “opens up the hood” a bit more and helps us understand precisely how and why some sites are getting 5 dots for privacy while others are getting just 1. 

The “How We Review and Rate Products” only partially answers some of these questions. That said, I think this is an amazing resource, something we educators have greatly needed for a while now. 

Be on the lookout for some longer posts.

• I am writing an in-depth analysis of Biden’s EO at the moment.

• I have begun a close study of Ian McEwan’s Machines like Me.

Thanks for reading Educating AI!

Nick Potkalitsky, Ph.D.