Welcome to episode 330 (“AI Summer Surge”) of the EdTech Situation Room from July 18, 2024, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week, Dr. Jason Neiffer (aicentrist.com) and Dr. Wesley Fryer (wesfryer.com) discussed a variety of topics with a focus on artificial intelligence and its broader implications. Key discussions included the increasing dominance of AI in various sectors, the ethical challenges surrounding AI usage, and the impact of AI on social media and disinformation. The hosts also touched on the significance of AI vision tools and their practical applications, from personal use cases to educational settings. The episode covered the evolving landscape of social media algorithms and their effects on user engagement and information dissemination. Dr. Fryer shared his personal experiences with algorithmic bans on social media platforms and the importance of computational thinking in education. The conversation also highlighted the latest updates from major tech companies, including Microsoft’s changes in Windows updates and Apple’s advancements in iOS 18. “Geeks of the Week” included “Claude AI” and “Chad GPT Vision Tools” (from Jason) and “Ideogram AI Visuals” and “Perplexity Answer Engine” (from Wes). Our show was live-streamed and archived on YouTube via StreamYard.com. We created our episode show art with Ideogram.ai. Please follow our @EdtechSR page on Facebook, @edtechsr@mastodon.education on Mastodon for updates, and join LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can. All shownotes are available on edtechSR.com/links. AI Disclosure: An initial draft of this episode summary was generated using youtubetranscript.com and a custom GPT on ChatGPT, as well as options for our show title! Stay savvy and safe!
Shownotes
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- Jason Neiffer (Mastodon: mastodon.cloud/@neif) – aicentrist.com – blog: blog.ncce.org
- Wes Fryer (Mastodon: mastodon.cloud/@wfryer) – wesfryer.com
- GPT-4o mini released (OpenAI; 18 July 2024)
- SchoolAI
- Google Vids – Google’s Blog post about Google Vids:
- ‘One screen, two movies’: Conflicting conspiracy theories emerge from the Trump rally shooting (AP, 18 July 2024)
- NotebookLM goes global with Slides support and better ways to fact-check (Google Keyword Blog)
- Meta tells court it won’t sue over Facebook feed-killing tool—yet (ArsTechnica, 17 Jul 2024)
- Claude AI summary and analysis
- Microsoft is changing how it delivers Windows updates: 4 things you need to know (ZDnet, 18 Jul 2024)
- Apple rolls out iOS 18 Beta: List of eligible devices and how to update your devices (LiveMint.com; 17 July 2024)
- FCC closes “final loopholes” that keep prison phone prices exorbitantly high (ArsTechnica, 18 Jul 2024)
- Jason’s Geek of the Week: Google AI Studio
- Wes’ Geeks of the Week: Social Media Text Formatter (CustomGPT – details / instructions) and “Teaching the Conspiracies – Part 2” (starts Sunday, July 21!)
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