#37 - Gemini rising...

Another busy week in AI - the biggest news being that Google have released a major upgrade to their own AI. Formerly known as Bard, it's been rebranded to Gemini, and given superpowers at the same time.

There's a free version available at https://gemini.google.com/app, and then there's a paid more powerful version, coming in at around the same price you'll pay for ChatGPT or CoPilot's paid tiers - Gemini is currently €22/month (first 2 months free).

This gives you access to the Ultra 1.0 model (like ChatGPT4) and will integrate Gemini into Google Docs and Gmail soon.

The interface is similar to the other chatbots, clean and offering some ideas above the text entry box. There's an icon to upload an image and ask questions about it, but disappointingly, there's no file upload icon so I don't think you can upload files as yet - that's a clear differentiator (and advantage) for tools like Claude and Perplexity. There's also a dictate icon - I find this a really good way to put in prompts that can make the conversation flow rather than typing every entry.

Click on the hamburger icon in the top left-hand corner of the screen to open up the sidebar, where you can see your chat history and access the settings.

Looking into the settings, there's no Custom Instructions option like ChatGPT has (this really is a great feature that keeps me going back to ChatGPT!), but if you choose to share any of your chats with others, there's a Public Links section where you can manage those shares and a Dark Mode option.

It's early days yet - Gemini has only just been released - so there are the normal positive and less favourable reviews coming in. I've found it very good at generating basic structure-type ideas such as outlines for a session or lesson plans - and it supplies references as well. It doesn't seem to like being asked to supply people's names, even when the information is publicly available, so there are clear differences in the responses you get compared with CoPilot or ChatGPT.

It's got a space on my quick links bar alongside the other key chatbots, and I'll be dropping prompts into it to compare responses. I don't see myself paying out another €22 / month yet though - as I'm primarily creating most materials in the Microsoft Office apps the CoPilot subscription has me covered there.

But if you are heavily working in the Google environment and using Gmail, Docs, Sheets for your main work, then this might be the subscription for you.

A good article on the new Gemini release is here:

Great website for AI in Education ideas

https://scottybreaksitdown.com/ai/ has lots of great ideas and graphics around using AI in education - worth a look.

Australian framework for generative AI in schools

This framework is a great set of things for schools to think about when considering what to do about generative AI. It's a starting point for discussions and policy making...

The main webpage with further downloadable resources is at https://www.education.gov.au/schooling/resources/australian-framework-generative-artificial-intelligence-ai-schools

Academic AI searches from Mushtaq Bilal, PhD

Mushtaq gives a fascinating workflow for academic searching in this LinkedIn post:

... and this reel from Elizabeth Yardley's Instagram has some good ChatGPT prompts for those outlining the first chapter for a PhD or thesis:

OK, that's enough for today - see you next time!

Joe Houghton is an Assistant Professor at UCD Smurfit Graduate School of Business where he directs the MSc programmes in Project Management. After a career in IT in multinationals, Joe switched into a portfolio career of University teaching, management coaching and training.

He has authored 6 books to date including "Innovative teaching with AI: Creative approaches to enhancing learning in education", and "Project Management made easy...: the ECCSR approach". His latest book "Applying Artificial Intelligence to Close the Accessibility Gap: A practical handbook for educators & students!" is now available on Amazon! More on this in a future edition...

Contact Joe on email at [email protected] for any requests for training, seminars, workshops or keynote speaking.