Teaching gen AI chatbots the importance of both IQ and EQ - McKinsey

Silicon Valley pioneer Reid Hoffman explains why we should view generative AI as a “steam engine of the mind” that promises to profoundly alter our professional and personal lives. But you also have to understand the human transitions. How will your workforce learn new ways to work? How are your customers going to learn new ways to interface with your company, new ways to learn about a service, and new ways to buy or otherwise engage? All of this requires a compassionate mindset. But that doesn’t mean being soft and not driving hard into the future and breaking some eggs. Being compassionate means caring about the human experience, the human transitions, and the human costs involved in all this. It also means having human well-being as your ultimate goal, both in the now, in the transitionary, and in the future. 

https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/gen-ai-a-cognitive-industrial-revolution

Navigating the Evolution of Microcredentials and Open Badges - Brittany Gooding, atd

In recent years, there has been a notable transformation in how we prepare individuals for the workforce. Traditional methods are making way for new approaches driven by recognizing specific skills and experiences. The rise of technology and online learning platforms has brought microcredentials and open badges to the forefront, offering learners alternative paths to showcase their capabilities. While both concepts serve this purpose, they differ significantly in their structure, purpose, and application.

https://www.td.org/atd-blog/navigating-the-evolution-of-microcredentials-and-open-badges

The Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession, 2023-24 - AAUP

 This year's Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession presents findings from the AAUP’s annual Faculty Compensation Survey. The report also describes key institutional finance trends in US higher education and documents the ongoing shift in the makeup of the academic workforce from mostly full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty members to mostly faculty members holding contingent appointments that are ineligible for tenure. From fall 2022 to fall 2023, nominal average salaries for full-time faculty members increased 3.8 percent for all academic ranks combined. However, real average salaries for full-time faculty members are nowhere near prepandemic levels. The Annual Report presents a wide range of data on full-time faculty compensation, including salaries and expenditures for fringe benefits. Economic conditions remain dire for part-time faculty members, who make up just under half (48.7 percent) of the academic workforce. In 2022–23, part-time faculty members earned an average of $3,903 per three-credit course section. The Annual Report presents data on part-time faculty members who were paid on a per-course-section basis, including pay and fringe benefit coverage.

https://www.aaup.org/report/annual-report-economic-status-profession-2023-24

GPT-5 will have ‘Ph.D.-level’ intelligence - Luke Larsen, Digital Trends

PROOF POINTS: Teens are looking to AI for information and answers, two surveys show - Jill Barshay, Hechinger Report

Two new surveys, both released this month, show how high school and college-age students are embracing artificial intelligence. There are some inconsistencies and many unanswered questions, but what stands out is how much teens are turning to AI for information and to ask questions, not just to do their homework for them. And they’re using it for personal reasons as well as for school. Another big takeaway is that there are different patterns by race and ethnicity with Black, Hispanic and Asian American students often adopting AI faster than white students.

https://hechingerreport.org/proof-points-teens-ai-surveys/

Cut bloated textbook spending, not teachers' jobs - David J. Bobb, the Fulcrum

Abandoning our dependence on traditional textbooks may seem anathema to some, but this transition is already happening in higher education. International research firm WordsRated found spending on higher education textbooks hasdeclined for most of the past decade. More colleges are transitioning toward open educational resources (OER), open-license materials offered for free or at a low cost. The California Community College system launched a major OER initiative with the goal of creating"zero textbook cost" programs after many students spentmore on textbooks than on college courses themselves.

https://thefulcrum.us/civic-engagement-education/cost-of-textbooks

Purdue and Accenture develop online smart manufacturing program for employee upskilling - Purdue University

Purdue University is collaborating with industry leader Accenture on an online smart manufacturing education program for organizations looking to enhance employee skill sets. The Smart Manufacturing Academy curriculum is self-paced and structured asynchronously, meaning employees can engage with course materials at different times and from different locations. It is designed to teach foundational knowledge in digital transformation to machine and line operators, technicians, plant managers, engineers, and employees in other manufacturing roles. The program, which Purdue and Accenture are making available to businesses and industry associations, includes courses covering such topics as an introduction to smart manufacturing, the industrial Internet of Things, the connected worker, advanced automation and robotics, security, network infrastructure, and business skills.

https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2024/Q2/purdue-and-accenture-develop-online-smart-manufacturing-program-for-employee-upskilling.html

Chat with butterflies? - Martin Crowley, AI Tool Report

Ex-Snapchat engineer–Vu Tran–has launched a new social media network called Butterflies, which allows users to create an AI character (complete with emotions, backstories, and opinions) that can generate posts and interact with other accounts on the platform, via DMs and comments, on its own. The social app, which has an Instagram-like interface, has been in private beta testing for five months, and is now available on Apple and Google Play stores, for free. Thousands of testers have given Tran positive feedback, after spending, on average, between 1-3 hours on the app per day, with one user spending over five hours creating over 300 AI characters.

https://www.aitoolreport.com/articles/chat-with-butterflies

While women outnumber men on campus, their later earnings remain stuck - Jon Marcus, NPR

The number of college-educated women in the workforce has now overtaken the number of college-educated men, according to the Pew Research Center. While this would seem to have significant implications for society and the economy — since college graduates make more money over their lifetimes than people who haven't finished college — other obstacles have stubbornly prevented women from closing leadership and earnings gaps. Women still earn 82 cents, on average, for every dollar earned by men, Pew reports — a figure that is nearly unchanged since 2002.

https://www.npr.org/2024/06/13/g-s1-4038/women-outnumber-men-colleges-earnings

Exclusive: Former Meta engineers launch Jace, an AI agent that works independently - Shubham Sharma, Venture Beat

Zeta Labs, a London-based startup founded by former Meta engineers Fryderyk Wiatrowski and Peter Albert, announced the launch of Jace, an LLM-powered AI agent that can execute in-browser actions on command. The company also announced it has raised $2.9 million in a pre-seed round of funding, led by Y Combinator’s former head of AI Daniel Gross and former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman.  While AI agents have been in the news lately (Cognition’s Devin being the most popular one), Zeta claims its offering doesn’t need any guidance and can save users entirely from sitting in front of their computers. They just have to tell the agent what needs to be done and it will get to work. 

https://venturebeat.com/ai/exclusive-former-meta-engineers-launch-jace-an-ai-agent-that-works-independently/

Divided Over Digital Learning - Johanna Alonso, Inside Higher Ed

A new report finds that students are much less likely than their professors to favor in-person instruction, but far more inclined to use (and pay for) generative AI. While more than half of professors selected in-person learning as their favorite modality for teaching, only 29 percent of students prefer learning face-to-face, the 2024 “Time for Class” report found. A similar share of students, 28 percent, said they favor hybrid learning, a mixture of face-to-face and online learning—which marks an increase of six percentage points since 2023. Meanwhile, the percentage of students who prefer asynchronous online learning has decreased. The share of students who say they use generative AI at least once per month rose from 43 percent in spring 2023 to 59 percent this spring. And while more and more instructors and administrators are also using the technology, this year’s rates still lag behind, at 36 percent and 40 percent, respectively.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/students/academics/2024/06/12/ai-online-courses-divide-students-faculty-administrators

Hackers target university’s e-learning system in Hong Kong, putting data of 20,000 at risk - Ng Kang-chung, South China Morning Post

The personal data of more than 20,000 students, staff and past graduates of the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies could be at risk after an e-learning system was hacked earlier this month. In a statement on Thursday, the school said it found out on June 3 that its “moodle learning management system” had been hacked. “The data concerned involves name, email address and student registration number … of 20,870 [users of the system] who are staff, part-time instructors, students, graduates and some guest users,” it said.

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3266518/hackers-target-universitys-e-learning-system-hong-kong-putting-data-20000-risk

LinkedIn’s AI Career Coaches Will See You Now - Amanda Hoover, Wired

On Thursday, the career site announced new features like a pilot for AI-powered expert advice, an interactive chat to break down information in LinkedIn courses, and more AI features that can be used to search for and apply for jobs for its premium users in English. The changes showcase a massive push by LinkedIn to capitalize on generative AI. (LinkedIn is owned by Microsoft, which has invested heavily in OpenAI, which in turn is powering the platform’s AI offerings.) And as LinkedIn continues its drive to become more than just a job site, people may spend their time there socializing or learning new skills through video courses.

https://www.wired.com/story/linkedin-ai-features-career-coach-chatbot/

Is DEI Going Away? Here’s What Experts Say- Angie Basiouny, Knowledge at Wharton

Experts say DEI is being attacked by critics who don't want to face the real problem — inequality. Cooperation and discussion are essential in solving ongoing issues of inequality. Academics and practitioners can better advance DEI by sharing their expertise and bringing insights back to their workplaces.

https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/is-dei-going-away-heres-what-experts-say/

This Harvard dropout thinks AI recruiters are the future of college admissions - Shalene Gupta, Fast Company

In a demo, Fast Company spoke with an AI recruiter named “Sarah.” Sarah was able to rattle off answers to questions about academic programs and extracurriculars. She responded so promptly, and with so much tonal variety, she sounded almost human. However, when we made a sudden left turn into asking about campus administrators’ stance on Palestine and Israel, Sarah stumbled and went silent. She regained her footing when we redirected, asking about campus policy on student protests. Perkins later said we’d triggered a moderation process since Sarah’s not allowed to discuss politics. “That said, the lag wasn’t great,” he said. “We’ll work on that.”

https://www.fastcompany.com/91135776/harvard-college-admissions-ai-recruiter-collegevine

What to do when salaried employees fall below the new overtime threshold - Ryan Golden, Higher Ed Dive

There is more to the decision-making process than colleges may realize, especially with future increases and litigation on the horizon, attorneys said.   the U.S. Department of Labor. The agency published its final rule updating overtime pay eligibility, which increases the FLSA’s minimum annual salary threshold via a pair of changes set to take effect over the next several months. July 1 marks the first increase from the current minimum of $35,568 per year to $43,888 per year. After that, the threshold will next increase to $58,656 per year on Jan. 1, 2025, roughly 65% higher than the present-day mark — and will automatically increase every three years thereafter using a formula outlined by the DOL. The HR department at our hypothetical administrative professional’s college now has a series of choices to make. 

https://www.highereddive.com/news/what-to-do-when-salaried-employees-fall-below-overtime-rule-minimum/718285/

The takers, shapers, and makers of gen AI - McKinsey

After the entrance and buzz of generative AI (gen AI) led to surges in adoption and scaling, 2024 is the year organizations truly began using—and deriving business value from—this new technology. Today, the takers, shapers, and makers use gen AI models off the shelf, customize them with proprietary data, or develop them from scratch. But who is leading the pack, and what are they doing differently? Not surprisingly, say McKinsey’s Michael Chui and coauthors, only a small group of high performers report that a meaningful share of their organizations’ EBIT can be attributed to their deployment of the technology. These high performers use gen AI in more business functions, pay more attention to challenges, and follow a set of risk-related best practices.

https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/themes/the-takers-shapers-and-makers-of-gen-AI

Make ChatGPT 10x better - OpenAI, Taft Notion

OpenAI has a prompting guide. And it's really good! 

Here are their 6 strategies to making ChatGPT 10x better: 

1. Write clear instructions

2. Provide reference text

3. Split complex tasks into simpler subtasks

4. Give the model time to "think"

5. Use external tools

6. Test changes systematically

https://taaft.notion.site/Make-ChatGPT-10x-better-e7759be8c2ba43e4864e422edb6d02bd

Working-age adult population with some college but no credential jumps 2.9%, report finds - Natalie Schwartz, Higher Ed Dive

However, over 943,000 stopped-out students reenrolled in 2022-23, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Yet those improvements haven’t halted the growth of the stopped-out population. “Higher education regularly generates more students leaving school without a credential than returning to finish one,” Doug Shapiro, the research center’s executive director, said in a statement. The population of U.S. adults under age 65 with some college but no credential reached 36.8 million by July 2022, up 2.9% compared to the year before, according to a new analysis from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. 

https://www.highereddive.com/news/working-age-population-some-college-no-degree/718150/

Sam Altman Admits That OpenAI Doesn't Actually Understand How Its AI Works - Futurism

During last week's International Telecommunication Union AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva, Switzerland, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was stumped after being asked how his company's large language models (LLM) really function under the hood. "We certainly have not solved interpretability," he said, as quoted by the Observer, essentially saying the company has yet to figure out how to trace back their AI models' often bizarre and inaccurate output and the decisions it made to come to those answers. Other AI companies are trying to find new ways to "open the black box" by mapping the artificial neurons of their algorithms. For instance, OpenAI competitor Anthropic recently took a detailed look at the inner workings of one of its latest LLMs called Claude Sonnet as a first step.

https://futurism.com/sam-altman-admits-openai-understand-ai

I've tested dozens of AI chatbots since ChatGPT's debut. Here's my new top pick - Sabrina Ortiz, ZDnet

Looking for an AI chatbot that can help lighten your workload, from writing emails to generating code, images, and more? Here are your best options and what they can do for you.For the last year and a half, I have taken a deep dive into AI and have tested as many AI tools as possible -- including dozens of AI chatbots. Using my findings and those of other ZDNET AI experts, I have created a list of the best AI chatbots on the market.  The list details everything you need to know before choosing your next AI assistant, including what it's best for, pros, cons, cost, its large language model (LLM), and more. Whether you are entirely new to AI chatbots or a regular user, this list should help you discover a new option you haven't tried before. 

https://www.zdnet.com/article/best-ai-chatbot/

OpenAI is making ChatGPT cheaper for schools and nonprofits - Emma Roth, the Verge

OpenAI is making ChatGPT more accessible to schools and nonprofit organizations. In a pair of blog posts, the company shared that it’s launching a version of ChatGPT for universities, along with a program that lets nonprofits access ChatGPT at a discounted rate. OpenAI says ChatGPT Edu will allow universities to “responsibly deploy AI to students, faculty, researchers, and campus operations.” It’s built on its faster GPT-4o model, which offers improved multimodal capabilities across text, vision, and audio. For example, OpenAI says universities can use the tool to review student resumes, write grant applications, and assist professors with grading. ChatGPT for Edu offers “enterprise-level” security and doesn’t use data to train OpenAI’s models. It’s offered at an “affordable” rate for universities.

https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/31/24168574/openai-chatgpt-schools-nonprofits-discounts

Employers appear more likely to offer interviews, higher pay to those with AI skills, study says - Carolyn Crist, Higher Ed Dive

Employers are significantly more likely to offer job interviews and higher salaries to job candidates with experience related to artificial intelligence, according to a new study published in the journal Oxford Economics Papers. Specifically, college graduates with “AI capital” or business-related AI studies listed on their resumes and cover letters were far more likely to receive an interview invitation and higher wage offers. “In the UK, AI is causing dramatic shifts in the workforce, and firms need to respond to these demands by upgrading their workforces through enhancing their AI skills levels,” study author Nick Drydakis, a professor of economics at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, said in a statement.

https://www.highereddive.com/news/employers-more-likely-to-offer-interviews-higher-pay-AI-skills/717129/

AI products like ChatGPT much hyped but not much used, study says - Tom Singleton, BBC

Very few people are regularly using "much hyped" artificial intelligence (AI) products like ChatGPT, a survey suggests. Researchers surveyed 12,000 people in six countries, including the UK, with only 2% of British respondents saying they use such tools on a daily basis. But the study, from the Reuters Institute and Oxford University, says young people are bucking the trend, with 18 to 24-year-olds the most eager adopters of the tech. The findings were based on responses to an online questionnaire fielded in six countries: Argentina, Denmark, France, Japan, the UK, and the USA. The majority expect generative AI to have a large impact on society in the next five years, particularly for news, media and science. Most said they think generative AI will make their own lives better. When asked whether generative AI will make society as a whole better or worse, people were generally more pessimistic.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c511x4g7x7jo.amp

2024 EDUCAUSE Action Plan: AI Policies and Guidelines - Jenay Robert Mark McCormack, EDUCAUSE

More than a year after the "AI spring" suddenly upended notions of what could be possible both inside and outside the classroom, most institutions are still racing to catch up and establish policies and guidelines that can help their leaders, staff, faculty, and students effectively and safely use these exciting and powerful new technologies and practices. Thankfully, institutions need not start from scratch in developing their AI policies and guidelines. Through the work of Cecilia Ka Yuk Chan and WCET, institutions have a foundation to build on, a policy framework that spans institutional governance, operations, and pedagogy. Built around these three pillars, this framework helps ensure that institutional AI-related policies and guidelines comprehensively address critical aspects of institutional life and functioning.

https://www.educause.edu/research/2024/2024-educause-action-plan-ai-policies-and-guidelines

Better Decisions with Data: Asking the Right Question - Stefano Puntoni and Bart De Langhe, Knowledge at Wharton

Many leaders excessively rely on existing data that may or may not address the issue at hand, or they pass key decisions to data scientists who don’t really understand the business dilemma they are trying to solve. Decision-makers are also prone to leading with a preference, arriving at a solution, and then finding the data to back it up. Alternatively, decision-driven analytics puts decision-makers at the center, resolving the common mismatch between analytics and actual business decisions. It starts from the decision that needs to be made and works backward toward the data that is needed. But it also requires more from leaders, who must shift the focus from getting answers to asking the right questions.

https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/better-decisions-with-data-asking-the-right-question/

How to assess and enhance students’ AI literacy - Rohini Rao, Times Higher Ed

The infiltration of AI into various aspects of modern daily life raises questions about whether we are prepared to understand, use and interact with it. This is where AI literacy, a combination of theoretical knowledge and practical and critical thinking skills related to artificial intelligence, comes in. This article explores the capabilities and knowledge we must empower our students to develop. Using ChatGPT as an example, students must know how large language models work and how the tool was trained for tasks like question answering. They need to know how to write prompts to get relevant answers to their questions. They must understand that the chatbot is trained on data from diverse internet sources such as books, articles and encyclopedias and incorporates human feedback. They must be able to evaluate the responses it gives to decide whether to accept them.

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/how-assess-and-enhance-students-ai-literacy

Why Are Your Workers Leaving in Droves? It Comes Down to 1 Simple Reason - Marcel Schwantes, Inc.

Want to solve your employee turnover problems? First, fix the selection criteria for those getting promoted to higher ranks. According to Gallup's research, the two most common reasons U.S. workers are promoted to managerial positions are their tenure with the company and their success in a non-managerial role. However, neither of these factors necessarily indicates that a person has the right talent to thrive as a manager. In fact, according to Gallup estimates, organizations make the wrong decision in this regard a staggering 82 percent of the time. Gallup asserts that employees with good management potential may be hiding inside their own company's walls. But first, decision-makers have to stop promoting people into managerial positions because they think they seemingly deserve it rather than have the talent for it.

https://www.inc.com/marcel-schwantes/workers-are-leaving-in-droves-due-to-1-simple-reason.html

The Crucial Difference Between AI And AGI - Forbes

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a transformative force that is reshaping industries from healthcare to finance today. Yet, the distinction between AI and Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is not always clearly understood and is causing confusion as well as fear. AI is designed to excel at specific tasks, while AGI is a theoretical concept that would be capable of performing any intellectual task that a human can perform across a wide range of activities. While AI already improves our daily lives and workflows through automation and optimization, the emergence of AGI would be a transformative leap, radically expanding the capabilities of machines and redefining what it means to be human.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2024/05/20/the-crucial-difference-between-ai-and-agi/

States are leading the effort to remove degree requirements from government jobs - Papia Debroy, et al; Brookings

Over the past two years, more than 20 states have expanded access to state jobs through a simple move: assessing or removing bachelor’s degree requirements. With state, local, and federal governments employing 15% of the U.S. workforce, these actions are of enormous consequence, especially for “STARs,” or workers who are skilled through alternative routes. STARs—who have gained their skills through community college, the military, partial college, certification programs, and, most commonly, on-the-job training—represent over half of the nation’s workforce, and currently occupy approximately 2 million state jobs. Government leaders see removing bachelor’s degree requirements as critical to meeting their hiring needs and public service delivery obligations. And at a time when states are struggling to fill a high number of open roles, removing these requirements can attract a larger pool of talent.

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/states-are-leading-the-effort-to-remove-degree-requirements-from-government-jobs/