When you think about AI, does your brain immediately go to evil AI such as Skynet, Ex Machina, or Microsoft’s Clippy (this one might be a stretch)? This is entirely normal and I hope to transform your mindset slightly when thinking about AI and its capabilities to help improve education and society as a whole.
What is AI? AI is everywhere now! Social Media, Cars, Smart Thermostats, and much more. The simplest definition of AI is the ability of a computer to use data to learn and complete actions based upon the data. The continuous learning is what sets AI apart from other computing systems. For example, if you are using a conversational AI tool, the AI will learn from its entire conversation with you and use this information to impact its other conversations.
How is it being used in education? Artificial Intelligence has already entered the classroom and is used in a lot of ways including differentiated learning, research projects, writing, grading, and much more. At Hemlock Public School District, we use AI or differentiated learning as well as writing. In fact, three of our administrators recently authored a book with the help of AI titled, 43 Ways to Be Less Lame as an Educator.
What free tools can I use to explore AI? *Note - some of these tools require an account to be created
DALL-E - AI art generation, give it a prompt and watch art get created before your eyes
ChatGPT - Conversational AI tool, have a conversation with AI, create poems, songs, and more
Quickdraw - AI drawing game. Can the AI guess what you are drawing?
Semiconductor - AI orchestra using your webcam