Happy New Year, dear readers! It was quite a year last year, eh? I'm sure that, like me, many of you are glad to move on. More on what we're moving into in a moment, but first let's use one of the biggest news stories (not just tech stories) of 2023 – generative AI – to look at the Top 5 news stories of the past year. I asked both Microsoft's Bing, powered by ChatGPT4, and Google's Bard, … [Read more...] about Welcome to 2024!
Generative AI: July 2023 freeze frame
It's feeling like I need a large language model brain to write about safety with large language models. [I certify that I only wish I had such a brain, and I am a human.] So let's freeze the film for a moment and see where we humans are with generative AI safety. First, so that we're all on the same page, a large language model is basically an algorithmic structure called a "neural … [Read more...] about Generative AI: July 2023 freeze frame
Then there’s the flip side of ChatGPT
Consider this Part 2. Earlier this month I wrote about the earliest takes on ChatGPT, zooming in on how it could be really good for media literacy education. Now we know more. So below another dimension of this new technology with a cautionary note.... Ok, the dark side. I don't usually go "there," because, well, our brains typically do, by default, whenever a new technology emerges, and there … [Read more...] about Then there’s the flip side of ChatGPT
Apple & the child online safety challenge
2nd important update Sept. 19: As if in direct response to the open letter from privacy activists around the world, the WeProtect Global Alliance published their own statement saying Apple must not pause its expanded protections, the Guardian reported. I stand by my thoughts in the update just below. We need privacy activists and protection activists in the same room answering the questions: Would … [Read more...] about Apple & the child online safety challenge
Finally! A YouTube (flexibly) designed for kids 9-12
Tweens are no longer little kids, but they’re also not yet teens. Like all their peers, younger and older, 9-to-12-year-olds love to explore and mess around with media, especially video. They want to be safe so they don’t have to worry, which means they really don’t mind a little help from parental types, but they also don’t want to be contained in an app for “little kids.” YouTube Kids, which … [Read more...] about Finally! A YouTube (flexibly) designed for kids 9-12