The Age of AIducation

First things first: this week I’ve got covid for the third time.

The week has been spent in a mix of lucid dreamlike state and the feeling of having been runover by a ten-ton truck, but there’s been zero pleasure in the experience, unlike in The Smiths song.

And yet one can never fully escape reality, even with covid. This week the conversation is dominated by AI headlines again. AI is a bit like that person that always interrupts you half-way through when you’re telling them about something that has happened to you and say: “That’s nothing compared to what has happened to ME!”

The best way to educate these people is to carry on with your story and pretend you’re deaf. And that’s what I’m going to do just now.

The Zuckerberg vs Musk feud is getting more and more interesting as Threads, the Twitter-like app created by Meta to rival Twitter , has just launched in the US and in the UK, attracting 10 million users within hours.

A strategic launch to make the most of the restrictions that Twitter introduced over the weekend and which only let registered users see the content on the platform. Apparently, they’re being now removed. ?

Last time I checked it wasn’t the case, so my online stalking has been severely affected. Just thought you should know.

Two things about Threads.

• Thing 1: It has been build by the team behind Instagram , which is the team that has come up with more original ideas at Meta in the last few years, as documented in the fantastic No Filter by Sara Frier. ?

This is very telling as Threads is relying on users from the other Meta platforms, and therefore may even cannibalise them. It’s very early days to make any predictions on how things will go, and it’s true that Threads also benefits from the combined users of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp.

• Thing 2: Threads is not yet launching in EU as there is a concern around privacy and the use it makes of personal data.

While Threads is a separate product, it seems it imports data from Instagram (see above) and collects highly sensitive information to monitor digital activity of users with the aim of offering them targeted ads. Since Meta already got a hefty fine in May from the EU for breaching Data Protection, it seems the rollout of Threads to the rest of Europe will have to wait a bit. ?

For those of you in the UK ready to duplicate content in yet another app, here’s the lowdown on the differences between Threads and Twitter.

Talking about online safety, today the House of Lords is looking at the Online Safety Bill, a legislation that aims at ?ensuring platforms have systems and processes in place to deal with illegal and harmful content and their associated risk, particularly to children and young people.

While the end goal of the Online Safety Bill is that of protecting those most vulnerable early on, it seems that it might have just the opposite effect if approved as it would eliminate end-to-end encryption in order to monitor content. This measure may actually backfire as expressed by the open letter signed by 68 UK security and privacy researchers, and instead open the door to surveillance and greater vulnerability risks.

A concern echoed by major messaging apps WhatsApp, Signal and Element, which will have to install third-party software to monitor users’ messages if the bill passes as it stands.

And now the news that have really got my attention amid the covid haze.

• News number one: All 24 universities part of the Russell Group have agreed on drawing principles guiding the use of generative AI tools, such as Chat GPT, and help both teaching staff and students become AI literate.
• News number two: Harvard University plans to use an AI chatbot to teach coding classes next semester.
• ?News number three: A blast from the past -actually written in 2018 but in post-pandemic and pro-AI times that is the equivalent to the XIX century- titled "Six reasons Artificial Intelligence technology will never take over from human teachers"

Let me be clear on this: I am of the opinion that resisting something that is already embedded in society is pointless, which is the case of generative AI.

However, I also wonder how the value of knowledge may change in the coming years and how universities can justify the exorbitant tuition fees when the learning model they’re based on is being disrupted by the use of new technologies.

Generative AI has far bigger capabilities than previous technologies and the current conversation about its use in academic contexts is focused on the definition of ethical and clear guidelines, setting rules around generation but also on detection of AI-generated content.

Can generative AI change for good the academic and learning environments? Some argue it could make it more dynamic.

The realist in me thinks it could also risk having the same effect on learning that Google Maps has had on our sense of orientation. Try leaving the house now without your phone to get somewhere and then tell me about it. We all get used quickly to anything that makes our lives easier.

We’re still a few years away from seeing the full extent of the transformation of the current learning and teaching paradigm as a result of generative AI, but it never hurts to start asking questions about the value of knowledge and looking closely at the prohibitive tuition fees in the age of AIducation.

Last but not least, Apple has announced that they will be forced to reduce their production forecast for the VisionPro from the expected one million units to roughly 400,000. I know: another blow to showing your financial status when you were already looking forward to leaving the house in your brand new headset. But worry not because there is a solution for those of you who can’t wait to get your hands on the VisionPro: what about an upgraded luxury gold XR device for just under $40,000?

The yacht is not included.

Tech News

• ?The UK is home to the highest proportion of future unicorns, according to recent report
• Social media apps will have to shield children from dangerous stunts
• Netflix cracks down as it begins password-sharing purge in UK
• London-based early stage VC Notion capital closes 300m startup investment fund
• ?Spotify is removing App store payment option for legacy subscribers

Creative & Cultural News

• ?Fashion District Festival kicks off next week with a programme focused on fashion innovation, digital innovation and circularity
• Games London launches GAME CHANGER, a programme for underrepresented founders in the games industry
• A new report reveals the barriers to career progression facing Black disabled music creators and music professionals in the UK
• Research by Frontier Economics commissioned by DCMS and the CEP highlights the positive benefits that the creative industries bring to firms across the wider economy.
• Burberry reopens flagship store on New Bond Street

Highlight of the week

• As a result of covid, my brain craves zero stimulation and yet wants to be distracted. Therefore, I’ve watched for a seventh time This World Can’t Tear Me Down by Italian cartoonist Zerocalcare available on Netflix.
• ?I loved his first series, Tear Along the Dotted Line, which made me discovered Zerocalcare and his impressive ability to reflect perfectly that feeling of never fitting in, of struggling to find your place in the world as you see the people around you progress and move on in life while you remain stuck. It really struck a chord.
• The second series explores these questions further, both from a generational and social perspective, and does a great job at portraying how easy it is to feel -and make someone feel- isolated and how we all need to belong somewhere, somehow to feel seen.
• If you haven’t watched either of the series, you’re missing out. And if you can watch them in Italian, go for it because the absolute highlight of this animation series is the Roman accent.

?

London Creative and Tech News is a weekly round-up of curated creative, cultural and tech news with a focus on London.