GenAI Studio: News, Tools, and Teaching & Learning FAQs
These sixty minute, weekly sessions – facilitated by Technologists and Pedagogy Experts from the CTLT – are designed for faculty and staff at UBC who are using, or thinking about using, Generative AI tools as part of their teaching, researching, or daily work. Each week we discuss the news of the week, highlight a specific tool for use within teaching and learning, and then hold a question and answer session for attendees.
They run on Zoom every Wednesday from 1pm – 2pm and you can register for upcoming events on the CTLT Events Website.
News of the Week
Each week we discuss several new items that happened in the Generative AI space over the past 7 days. There’s usually a flood of new AI-adjacent news every week – as this industry is moving so fast – so we highlight news articles which are relevant to the UBC community.
In this week’s tech news, NTIA has released a policy recommendation that calls for risk monitoring and openness for AI. DeepMind has developed a table tennis robot, evaluated as “solidly amateur”. Figure released their latest AI-driven humanoid robot, Figure 02. Apple introduced foundation language models to be used in Apple Intelligence. The Transformer Explainer provides deeper insight through visuals to the inner workings of a transformer model. Finally, OpenAI introduces Structured Outputs in API, a text-to-speech (TTS) playground, and a System Card for ChatGPT-4o.
Here’s this week’s news:
NTIA Supports Open AI Models
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) advocates for openness in AI while ensuring risk monitoring. Their report recommends the U.S. government focus on monitoring potential risks rather than restricting open model weights, fostering innovation while preparing for future challenges. Read more.
DeepMind’s Table Tennis Bot Performance
DeepMind’s AI-powered table tennis bot, though currently at an “amateur” level, shows promising potential for future advancements. Its ability to engage in real-time gameplay highlights the ongoing progress in AI replicating complex human activities. As development continues, this bot could pave the way for more sophisticated AI applications in sports and beyond. Watch here.
Figure’s Humanoid Robot Demo
Figure Robotics showcased its latest AI-driven humanoid robot, demonstrating advanced mobility and task execution. This marks a significant step forward in the development of robots capable of complex physical interactions, suggesting a future where such robots could assist in various industries with tasks that require a high degree of precision and adaptability. Watch here.
Apple Foundation Language Models
Apple introduced foundation language models focusing on privacy and responsible AI, featuring both on-device and server-based models. These models are designed for efficiency, safety, and enhancing user empowerment across Apple devices. Read more.
Transformer Explainer Tool
The Transformer Explainer is an interactive tool that visualizes the inner workings of Transformer models, helping users grasp key concepts such as tokenization and self-attention. The tool is aimed at making these complex models more accessible for educational purposes. Explore more.
OpenAI Introduces Structured Outputs in API
OpenAI has introduced a new feature in its API that allows for structured outputs, enabling developers to receive responses from AI models in a more organized and predictable format. This enhancement simplifies data parsing and integration into applications, making it easier to work with AI-generated content in a variety of use cases. Read more.
OpenAI’s TTS Playground Launch
OpenAI introduced a new text-to-speech (TTS) playground, allowing users to experiment with voice synthesis directly, expanding accessibility to AI-generated speech technology. Try it out here.
GPT-4o System Card
OpenAI’s GPT-4o, a multimodal model, has undergone extensive safety evaluations including external red teaming and risk assessments. The system card outlines the measures taken to mitigate risks, ensuring responsible deployment in various applications. Read more.
Tool of the Week
Tool of the Week: sus-column-r
What is sus-column-r?
Sus-column-r is a new AI model that has been mysteriously released on the LMSYS Arena platform, and is outperforming several adept models such as Claude 3.5 Sonnet and GPT-4-Turbo.
How is it used?
It is designed to understand and generate human-like text, making it a valuable tool for developers and researchers in AI and NLP. It is currently available on the LMSYS Arena for direct chats, or comparisons with another model by providing prompts and evaluating their respective responses.
What is it used for?
sus-column-r can be used in various applications, including conversational AI, content creation, and other tasks requiring advanced language comprehension. It has been released into the LMSYS Arena for testing purposes.
For additional information, explore sus-column-r on the LMSYS Arena.
Without a PIA, instructors cannot require students use the tool or service without providing alternatives that do not require use of student private information
Questions and Answers
Each studio ends with a question and answer session whereby attendees can ask questions of the pedagogy experts and technologists who facilitate the sessions. We have published a full FAQ section on this site. If you have other questions about GenAI usage, please get in touch.
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How can I use GenAI in my course?
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