The Weekly Five: The Roller Coaster

Back in the mid-1990s, I had the opportunity to teach writing courses as a grad student. Our department had also received a significant grant to convert and network a handful of classrooms with computers at every seat. The professors wanted none of this, the latest fad in education, so we, the lowly TAs, were assigned to these classrooms. We had a blast experimenting, learning HTML, and introducing our students to the digital age.

Now I am the professor in the scenario, and I understand the nuances of my predecessors' hesitation. Although I am still a full-on experimenter, I temper it with other concerns. But I still want to have fun with the emerging tech! But I have to be in charge of plagiarism violations. But do we really need more 5-paragraph essays about floral symbolism in the works of imagist poets? But I need to make sure students learn to write so they can use it in their professions! But they are going to have access to AI tools in their professions. But we need people to be creative! But AI can be a creativity booster. But we need to be better thinkers to be vigilant against misinformation! But But but buutttt...

The bots are proliferating and there's no turning back. No buts about that.

"Snapchat+ subscription surpasses 3 million as AI chatbot goes free," Kavita Verma for Interesting Engineering, April 20, 2023

Do you have a new friend on your Snapchat app?

"The global confusion over new AI rules," Mark Scott for Politico, April 20, 2023

An international standard? Must I keep dreaming?

"How can you tell if a photo is AI generated? Here are some tips."Allie Yang for National Geographic, April 20, 2023

NatGeo, the source of so much incredible photography, weighs in on AI-generated images.

"Google to deploy generative AI to create sophisticated ad campaigns," Cristina Criddle and Hannah Murphy for Financial Times, April 20, 2023

Be careful what you wish for! Google just might tell you where to get it.

"Welcome to AI Fashion Week," home site for an event April 20-21, 2023

I have no idea! If you check it out, let me know.

The Takeaway: If you thought the pace of change was dizzying a few months ago, you are in for another, dizzier ride.