EdTechSR Ep 298 AI Overlords Loom

Welcome to Episode 298 (“AI Overlords Loom”) of the EdTech Situation Room from June 14, 2023, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week, Dr. Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (wesfryer.com/after) discussed the past week’s technology news through an educational lens. In this week’s episode, Jason and Wes started by sharing their “Geeks of the Week,” including the Whisper voice transcription app and the link shortening service short.io. They then dove into recent Apple news, discussing the positive reviews of the new 15-inch MacBook Air and the dropping of support for many older Intel Macs in the upcoming macOS update. A good portion of the episode focused on AI developments, including Microsoft’s rushed integration of ChatGPT into Bing despite warnings from OpenAI, new AI regulations being developed in the EU, estimates that AI poses a 20-30% risk of catastrophe (P-doom), Amazon using AI to crack down on fake reviews, and more. Jason and Wes emphasized the need for thoughtful conversations and reasonable regulations around these powerful AI technologies. The hosts announced they would be taking a multi-week summer break. In the meantime, past episodes are still published across platforms like YouTube and podcast feeds. To find the hosts during the break, one could look for @techsavvyteach on Twitter for Jason and www.westfryer.com/after for Wes. The show was live-streamed and archived simultaneously on YouTube Live as well as Facebook Live via StreamYard.com. Please follow @edtechSR on Twitter and @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 claude.ai.

Shownotes

  1. Subscribe to our EdTechSR Substack Newsletter!
  2. EdTech Situation Room Listener Survey: wfryer.me/edtechsr
  3. Follow @edtechSR on Twitter and on Mastodon!
  4. Audio podcast feed (Subscribe with iTunes or Stitcher)
  5. Video version on YouTube
  6. Check out our video podcast feed and subscribe to our YouTube Channel (episodes also in this YouTube playlist)
  7. Jason Neiffer (Mastodon: @neif@mastodon.cloud – Twitter: @techsavvyteach) – blog: blog.ncce.org
  8. Wes Fryer – wesfryer.com/after
  9. Let us serve you, but don’t bring us down (Archive.org blog; 29 May 2023)
  10. OpenAI reportedly warned Microsoft about rushing GPT-4 integration into Bing (Engadget; 13 June 2023)
  11. Amazon cracks down on fake reviews with AI (BBC; 12 June 2023)
  12. E.U. Takes a Step Closer to Passing the World’s Most Comprehensive AI Regulation (Time; 14 June 2023)
  13. The US Senate is working to get up to speed on AI basics ahead of any legislation (CNN Business; 8 June 2023)
  14. Adobe is so confident its Firefly generative AI won’t breach copyright that it’ll cover your legal bills (Fast Company, 8 June 2023)
  15. The best MacBooks for 2023: How to pick the best Apple laptop (Engadget; 13 June 2023)
  16. macOS Sonoma drops support for another wide swath of Intel Macs (Ars Technica; 5 June 2023) – OpenCore Legacy Patcher
  17. Here’s what Mark Zuckerberg thinks about Apple’s Vision Pro (The Verge; 8 June 2023)
  18. Apple’s Face Computer + Crypto Chaos + How Teens Really Feel About Social Media (Hard Fork Podcast, 9 June 2023)
  19. The best hidden ChromeOS features I use on my Chromebook (About Chromebooks; 13 June 2023)
  20. ‘Minecraft’ for ChromeOS leaves early access, works on more machines (Engadget; 7 June 2023)
  21. Dozens of popular Minecraft mods found infected with Fracturiser malware (ArsTechnica, 7 June 2023)
  22. Jason’s Geeks of the Week: https://short.io/  – https://mizage.com/divvy/ 
  23. Wes’ Geek of the Week: Whisperboard
Wide-angle view of the ALMA correlator” (CC BY 2.0) by European Southern Observatory

EdTechSR Ep 286 Mom Isn’t Calling

Welcome to episode 286 (“Mom Isn’t Calling”) of the EdTech Situation Room from March 22, 2023, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer@mastodon.cloud) discussed the ongoing impacts of artificial intelligence / AI including ChatGPT, the release of Minecraft for Chromebooks by Microsoft, the challenges to actors and voice actors posted by corporate contracts in the age of AI-powered voice creation, and the pending copyright / intellectual property case involving the Internet Archive and publishers Hachette, HarperCollins, Wiley, and Penguin Random House. AI-faked images of Donald Trump’s arrest, a new interview with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and AI voice scams tricking people into believing their loved ones are calling in crisis and need help were also explored. The fate of the pirate eBook site Z-Library and the resignation of an FCC appointee because of a deluge of personal attacks on social media were discussed. Geeks of the Week included the uber-powerful package tracking website 17Track, and a wonderful new post by Steven B Johnson about lessons to be learned from historical innovation mistakes. (ChatGPT and other AI tools were NOT used for this week’s podcast summary, btw!) Our show was live streamed and archived simultaneously on YouTube Live as well as our Facebook Live page via StreamYard.com, and compressed to a smaller video version (about 100MB) on AmazonS3 using Handbrake software. Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and join us LIVE on Wednesday nights (normally) if you can at 9 pm Eastern / 8 pm Central / 7 pm Mountain / 7 pm Pacific or 3 am UTC. All shownotes are available on http://edtechSR.com/links. Stay savvy and safe!

Shownotes

  1. Subscribe to our EdTechSR Substack Newsletter!
  2. EdTech Situation Room Listener Survey: wfryer.me/edtechsr
  3. Follow @edtechSR on Twitter and on Mastodon!
  4. Audio podcast feed (Subscribe with iTunes or Stitcher)
  5. Video version on YouTube
  6. Check out our video podcast feed and subscribe to our YouTube Channel (episodes also in this YouTube playlist)
  7. Jason Neiffer (Mastodon: @neif@mastodon.cloud – Twitter: @techsavvyteach) – blog: blog.ncce.org
  8. Wes Fryer (Mastodon: @wfryer@mastodon.cloud – Twitter: @wfryer ) – wesfryer.com/after
  9. Now for sale: Data on your mental health (Washington Post; 13 February 2023) – 🎁Link
  10. AI-faked images of Donald Trump’s imagined arrest swirl on Twitter (ArsTechnica, 21 March 2023)
  11. Sam Altman (English WikiPedia)
  12. Sam Altman Interview Video: OpenAI CEO, CTO on risks and how AI will reshape society
  13. Transcending Political Polarization (Wes Fryer, 21 March 2023)
  14. Google’s new AI chatbot seems boring. Maybe that’s the point. (Vox, 22 March 2023)
  15. “GPTs are GPTs: An Early Look at the Labor Market Impact Potential of Large Language Models,” ARXIV/Cornell University; 23 March 2023
  16. Chat-GPT Pretended to Be Blind and Tricked a Human Into Solving a CAPTCHA (Gizmodo; 16 March 2023)
  17. Thousands scammed by AI voices mimicking loved ones in emergencies (ArsTechnica, 6 March 2023)
  18. Technology Fear Therapy | Wesley Fryer | TEDxUCO
  19. Stop Source-Shaming: Acknowledge Wikipedia in the research process (American Libraries, 1 Sept 2021)
  20. ‘Disrespectful to the Craft:’ Actors Say They’re Being Asked to Sign Away Their Voice to AI (Motherboard by Vice; 7 February 2023)
  21. Microsoft releases Minecraft for Chromebooks. Who needs the metaverse? (About Chromebooks / Kevin C Toefel, 15 March 2023)
  22. Hachette v. Internet Archive (EFF, date unclear?)
  23. Pirate e-book site Z-Library is back from the dead (Silicon Republic, 14 Feb 2023)
  24. Biden FCC nominee withdraws, blaming cable lobby and “unlimited dark money“ (ArsTechnica, 7 March 2023)
  25. Jason’s Geek of the Week: 17 Track
  26. Wes’ Geek of the Week: “The Brilliant Inventor Who Made Two of History’s Biggest Mistakes” by #stevenbjohnson #GiftLink http://wfryer.me/43w 
New Phone” (CC BY 2.0) by Willy D

EdTechSR Ep 283 AI Promises and Perils

Welcome to episode 283 (“AI Promises and Perils”) of the EdTech Situation Room from February 1, 2023, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer@mastodon.cloud) discussed topics including Internet censorship / content moderation, TikTok bans, “The Tech Correction,” artificial intelligence, free speech, and media literacy. They also shared their thoughts on the impact of technology on education, safety concerns related to installing apps, and the intersection of technology and performance-based assessments. Additionally, they mentioned some news articles, including Indian police detaining students over a banned BBC Modi documentary, a decades-old law obstructing a nationwide TikTok ban, the U.S. Air Force’s plan to install surveillance tools powered by AI technology in Central Command sites, and recent layoffs in the tech industry. The hosts shared their experiences with using AI tools like GPT-3 and discussed the potential implications of AI-generated content for student learning and assessment. They also mentioned some other articles related to AI, including one on the potential of AI to improve the accuracy of cancer diagnoses and another on the risks of bias in AI decision-making. Overall, the podcast offered a thoughtful and informative discussion on the latest trends and issues in the world of technology and education. (AI Disclosure: This show summary was initially created by ChatGPT. The show title was also influenced by ChatGPT queries.) Our show was live streamed and archived simultaneously on YouTube Live as well as our Facebook Live page via StreamYard.com, and compressed to a smaller video version (about 100MB) on AmazonS3 using Handbrake software. Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and join us LIVE on Wednesday nights (normally) if you can at 9 pm Eastern / 8 pm Central / 7 pm Mountain / 7 pm Pacific or 3 am UTC. All shownotes are available on http://edtechSR.com/links. Stay savvy and safe!

Shownotes:

  1. Subscribe to our EdTechSR Substack Newsletter!
  2. EdTech Situation Room Listener Survey: wfryer.me/edtechsr
  3. Follow @edtechSR on Twitter and on Mastodon!
  4. Audio podcast feed (Subscribe with iTunes or Stitcher)
  5. Video version on YouTube
  6. Check out our video podcast feed and subscribe to our YouTube Channel (episodes also in this YouTube playlist)
  7. Jason Neiffer (Mastodon: @neif@mastodon.cloud – Twitter: @techsavvyteach) – blog: blog.ncce.org
  8. Wes Fryer (Mastodon: @wfryer@mastodon.cloud – Twitter: @wfryer ) – wesfryer.com/after
  9. Apple should be required to let iPhone users sideload apps, Biden admin says (ArsTechnica, 1 Feb 2023)
  10. White House goes after app store ‘gatekeepers’ Apple and Google (The Verge; 1 February 2023)
  11. Smartphone Shipments Are Imploding. Is Apple’s iPhone Next? (CNet, 31 Jan 2023)
  12. Apple beefs up smartphone services in “silent war” against Google (Ars Technica; 25 January 2023)
  13. Microsoft has laid off entire teams behind Virtual, Mixed Reality, and HoloLens (Windows Central; 20 January 2023)
  14. AI-powered surveillance sought for US Central Command (Defense News, 31 Jan 2023)
  15. Gmail creator says ChatGPT might ‘destroy’ Google within 2 years (BGR, 30 Jan 2023)
  16. The AI Ethics War Will Make the Content Moderation Debate Look Like a Picnic (Observer, 20 Jan 2023)
  17. Netflix stirs fears by using AI-assisted background art in short anime film (ArsTechnica, 1 Feb 2023)
  18. OpenAI announces ChatGPT Plus at $20 a month (The Verge; 1 February 2023)
  19. GPT Zero
  20. Scores of Stanford students used ChatGPT on final exams, survey suggests (Stanford Daily; 22 January 2023)
  21. ChatGPT passes MBA exam given by a Wharton professor (NBC News; 24 Janaury 2023)
  22. Decades-old law forms biggest obstacle to nationwide TikTok ban, lawmaker says (ArsTechnica, 30 Jan 2023)
  23. Indian police detain students over BBC’s Modi documentary (Deutsche Welle, 25 Jan 2023)
  24. When Fox entered the hen house (Robert Reich, 26 Jan 2023)
  25. Jason’s Geek of the Week: MidJourney
  26. Wes’ Geeks of the Week: Top Gun: Maverick – Official Trailer IN LEGOArchive.Today (example) – new podcast: “Wes and Shelly Share”

EdTechSR Ep 280 LastPass Security Breach

Welcome to episode 280 (“LastPass Security Breach”) of the EdTech Situation Room from January 11, 2023, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week’s topics include the recent breach of password manager LastPass and what that means for users, as well as security best-practices overall. (Spoiler: Keep using a recommended password manager!) Additional security articles discussed included leaked addresses of millions of Twitter users, and a Supreme Court decision allowing the NSO iPhone hacking (Pegasus spyware) case to move forward. On the Google front, the 2022 Chromebook of the year, enhanced spam prevention in Google Voice, and a review of the “Framework Chromebook” were highlighted and analyzed. Lastly, a variety of articles on the artificial intelligence / AI front were explored. These included articles highlighting the ability of ChatGPT to write malware, a college student’s software program to “detect” AI-authored essays, and others. Geeks of the Week included the search engine Neeva, youtubetranscript.com, and a free Chrome extension which facilitates summarization of YouTube video transcripts using ChatGPT. Our show was live streamed and archived simultaneously on YouTube Live as well as our Facebook Live page via StreamYard.com, and compressed to a smaller video version (about 100MB) on AmazonS3 using Handbrake software. Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR and Mastodon (@edtechsr@mastodon.education) for updates, and join us LIVE on Wednesday nights (normally) if you can at 9 pm Eastern / 8 pm Central / 7 pm Mountain / 7 pm Pacific or 3 am UTC. All shownotes are available on http://edtechSR.com/links. Stay savvy and safe!

Shownotes

  1. Subscribe to our EdTechSR Substack Newsletter!
  2. EdTech Situation Room Listener Survey: wfryer.me/edtechsr
  3. Follow @edtechSR on Twitter and on Mastodon!
  4. Audio podcast feed (Subscribe with iTunes or Stitcher)
  5. Video version on YouTube
  6. Check out our video podcast feed and subscribe to our YouTube Channel (episodes also in this YouTube playlist)
  7. Jason Neiffer (Mastodon: @neif@mastodon.cloud – Twitter: @techsavvyteach) – blog: blog.ncce.org
  8. Wes Fryer (Mastodon: @wfryer@mastodon.cloud – Twitter: @wfryer ) – wesfryer.com/after
  9. LastPass users: Your info and password vault data are now in hackers’ hands (Ars Technica; 22 December 2022)
  10. Hackers reportedly leak email addresses of more than 200 million Twitter users (The Guardian; 5 January 2023)
  11. Supreme Court declines to block WhatsApp lawsuit over NSO phone hacking (TechCrunch, 9 Jan 2023)
  12. A New Chat Bot Is a ‘Code Red’ for Google’s Search Business (NY Times, 21 Dec 2022, Gift Link)
  13. A college student created an app that can tell whether AI wrote an essay (NPR; 9 January 2023)
  14. Microsoft’s new AI can simulate anyone’s voice with 3 seconds of audio (ArsTechnica, 9 Jan 2023)
  15. Controversy erupts over non-consensual AI mental health experiment (ArsTechnica, 10 Jan 2023)
  16. ChatGPT is enabling script kiddies to write functional malware (ArsTechnica, 6 Jan 2023)
  17. My pick for 2022 Chromebook of the Year (About Chromebooks; 2 January 2023)
  18. Google Voice Can Now Flag Suspected Spam Calls (CNET; 30 December 2022)
  19. Review: Framework Chromebook is what enthusiasts have been waiting for (9 to 5 Google; 10 January 2023)
  20. The best Chromebooks for work (ZDnet, 9 Jan 2023)
  21. Jason has moved to… 1password.com
  22. Jason’s Geek of the Week: Search Engine neeva.com
  23. Wes’ Geeks of the Week: youtubetranscript.com and YouTube Summary with ChatGPT (Example)
Anonymous computer hacker over abstract” (CC BY 2.0) by focusonmore.com

EdTechSR Ep 277 Generative AI Alarms

Welcome to episode 277 (“Generative AI Alarms”) of the EdTech Situation Room from December 22, 2022, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed artificial intelligence developments and controversies, the ongoing Twitter dumpster fire, TikTok security concerns, and a facial recognition headline from New York which sounds like a headline from China. Rumors of third party iOS app stores coming to Europe soon, and the punishment FTC fine of Epic games were also highlighted. Geeks of the Week included “Hotel Tonight” and #edtechSR tagged posts on Mastodon by Wes. Our show was live streamed and archived simultaneously on YouTube Live as well as our Facebook Live page via StreamYard.com, and compressed to a smaller video version (about 100MB) on AmazonS3 using Handbrake software. Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and join us LIVE on Wednesday nights (normally) if you can at 9 pm Eastern / 8 pm Central / 7 pm Mountain / 7 pm Pacific or 3 am UTC. All shownotes are available on http://edtechSR.com/links. Stay savvy and safe!

Shownotes

  1. Subscribe to our EdTechSR Substack Newsletter!
  2. EdTech Situation Room Listener Survey: wfryer.me/edtechsr
  3. Follow @edtechSR on Twitter and on Mastodon!
  4. Audio podcast feed (Subscribe with iTunes or Stitcher)
  5. Video version on YouTube
  6. Check out our video podcast feed and subscribe to our YouTube Channel (episodes also in this YouTube playlist)
  7. Jason Neiffer (Mastodon: @neif@mastodon.cloud – Twitter: @techsavvyteach) – blog: blog.ncce.org
  8. Wes Fryer (Mastodon: @wfryer@mastodon.cloud – Twitter: @wfryer ) – wesfryer.com/after
  9. Jason is collecting AI and Education Articles on Wakelet
  10. Canva Magic Write: https://www.canva.com/magic-write/ 
  11. Fotor AI Image Generator: https://www.fotor.com/features/ai-image-generator/ 
  12. AI writer: https://lex.page/
  13. Hate Speech’s Rise on Twitter Is Unprecedented, Researchers Find (NY Times, 2 Dec 2022) – #GiftLink
  14. Should You Leave Twitter for Mastodon? (Ethan Zuckerman, 7 Nov 2022)
  15. TikTok personality journalists continue to rise (Nieman Lab; December 2022)
  16. Warner: Parents should be ‘very concerned’ about TikTok (The Hill; 20 November 2022)
  17. Senate votes to ban TikTok use on government devices (The Hill; 14 December 2022)
  18. TikTok privacy and security – Is TikTok safe to use? (Kaspersky)
  19. Algorithm Warfare: How Elon Musk uses Twitter to control brains (George Lakeoff Substack, 14 Dec 2022)
  20. Mastodon 101 from Jeff Jarvis (YouTube)
  21. Mastodon Tips – 30 min screencast tutorial (Wes’ blog, 21 Dec 2022)
  22. “Facebook downranks content that links to other sites on the internet.” (via Cory Doctorow)
  23. Shadow Banning: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_banning
  24. Face Recognition Tech Gets Girl Scout Mom Booted From Rockettes Show — Due to Where She Works (NBC New York; 19 December 2022)
  25. Apple is reportedly preparing to allow third-party app stores on the iPhone (The Verge; 13 December 2022)
  26. iPhone app sideloading? Developers can’t agree whether it’s a blessing or a disaster waiting to happen (iMore; 20 December 2022)
  27. Epic Games fined $520 million in FTC’s Fortnite privacy case (Axios, 19 Dec 2022)
  28. Jason’s Geek of the Week: Hotel Tonight
  29. Wes’ Geek of the Week: My #edtechSR tagged posts on Mastodon
Alarm” (CC BY 2.0) by chilliam.wen