Community College

A few researchers at Anthropic have, over the past year, had a part-time obsession with a peculiar problem: Can Claude play Pokémon? Early attempts were poor. In June 2024, Claude 3.5 Sonnet struggled to progress. When challenged, it repeatedly tried to run from mandatory battles. This wasn't surprising: Claude has never been explicitly trained to play any video games. These early attempts were not without moments of levity too. On one occasion, Claude got stuck in a corner and—convinced something must be broken—typed out a formal request to reset the game. With the new Claude 3.5 Sonnet in October, there was a glimmer of improvement. Claude managed to beat a rival for the first time and move beyond Pallet Town. But ultimately, progress stalled. Better, yes, but far from becoming a Pokémon master. Last week, a researcher tried out an early preview of Claude 3.7 Sonnet. The results were striking. Within hours, Claude defeated Brock. Days later, it trounced Misty. Progress that older models had little hope of achieving. Turns out extended thinking is super effective. Where previous models wandered aimlessly or got stuck in loops, Claude 3.7 Sonnet plans ahead, remembers its objectives, and adapts when initial strategies fail. Critical skills for battling pixelated gym leaders. And, we posit, in solving real-world problems too. So, what makes this possible? Claude was given a knowledge base to store notes, vision to see the screen, and function calls which allow it to simulate button presses and navigate the game. Together, they allow Claude to sustain gameplay with tens of thousands of interactions. With a few tools to help it see the screen a bit better, Claude acts as an agent, applying its abilities to a novel task. In this, we start to see glimmers of AI systems that tackle challenges with increasing competence, not just through training but with generalized reasoning. A small but enthusiastic following has formed at Anthropic, checking in on Claude's progress. Claude provides its followers daily moments of delight, like deciding to misname its Squirtle, "TSUNMAI!" Claude Plays Pokémon continues on as a researcher's personal project. Follow along on Twitch: https://lnkd.in/gMfe_-BS

New randomized, controlled trial by the World Bank of students using GPT-4 as a tutor in Nigeria. Six weeks of after-school teacher-led AI tutoring increased test scores by .3 SD, equivalent to 2 years of typical learning gains, outperforming 80% of other educational interventions. And it helped all students, especially girls who were initially behind. They used Microsoft Copilot and teachers provided guidance and initial prompts. No working paper yet, but the results and experiment are written up here: https://lnkd.in/eBARWcNm

Students teaching AI, rather than AI teaching students, is another surefire way of using Gen AI for learning. Any time AI is just giving us answers is a red flag for educators. In this study, AI acted more as a learner rather than a teacher. "The findings reveal that interacting with ChatGPT improves students’ knowledge gains and programming abilities, particularly in writing readable and logically sound code." Even more, it improved self-regulated learning, including self-efficacy and cognitive strategies. One caveat: These AI systems need to be designed to create purposeful errors that will provide learners with valuable opportunities to strengthen their debugging skills - both identifying and resolving issues. This goes for any tool, not just those meant to teach kids computer science. Plain, prompted ChatGPT is great and all, but we need AI teachable agents intentionally designed for learning. #TeachAI

Earlier this week I got the opportunity to go to an HBCU (Morgan State University) in Baltimore, Maryland to be a coach and judge for an AI & Security Business Case Competition. It was the highlight of my month to be able to support these students and evangelize the Learn & Be Curious leadership principle that Amazon Web Services (AWS) strives to run its business on. When I was an undergraduate engineering student at UIUC working as an officer in our local chapter of National Society of Black Engineers , I memorized the mission that still resonates with me to this day 20+ years later … I’m here to “increase the number of culturally responsible Black engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally, and positively impact the community” … my whole career aspiration in a sentence. A long list of thank you’s to the Amazonians, students, and admin from Morgan State University who made this possible as well (keep shining your lights) ???????? Adewale Omoniyi Bethann Monzel Ainsley Rattray Diya Wynn Emily Soward Gavin Jones Martin Lehofer De'Rell B. Keith Gelinas Radhouane Chouchane #aiml #security #blackexcellence #aws #morganstate #hbcu #engineering #community

?? Exciting News from Campus! ?? We are proud to announce the launch of our Applied AI concentration as part of our Associate of Arts in Business Administration (AABA) degree, starting January 2025. This concentration is designed to prepare students to meet the rising demand for AI skills across a variety of industries. With access to OpenAI models through ChatGPT Edu, our students will gain hands-on experience using cutting-edge AI tools in real-world business scenarios. ???? Our expert professors, including instructors who also teach at UC Berkeley and Princeton, will lead this innovative program, ensuring that students graduate with the practical AI skills needed to drive business transformation. ?? Special thanks to Professor Brandon Middleton for his exceptional work on the program and our video overview. Want to learn more about how AI is shaping the business world? Watch the video here: https://bit.ly/3C7Gddy ?? #AI #EdTech #HigherEducation #BusinessTransformation #AIinBusiness #OpenAI #CampusAI #Innovation