Exploring AI futures in Research and Learning posted an AI generated podcast of the ARL/CNI AI Scenarios: AI-Influenced Futures using the NotebookLM AI-tool and it is pretty good. Listen to it next time you want a short listen in while you are walking or running! And, feed some text to this tool and generate your own podcasts!  The report highlights the importance of intentionality and adaptability in our AI generated futures and describes four potential scenarios:

  • Democratized and socially integrated AI is a utopian scenario where we constantly build AI tools and collaborate for the benefit of humanity, fostering equity, and doing good.  Everyone has access to the global digital libraries and has a direct line to the minds of researchers – this is a scenario where we are democratizing knowledge and fostering collaboration at a scale we can barely imagine.
  • Consumer oriented AI focused on Education and Entertainment is a personalized AI scenario where we become consumers of a hyper personalized education and entertainment system with immersive interactive experiences; in this scenario research is afforded to well funded institutions and questions are raised about increasing the gap between the haves and the have nots.
  • Laissez Faire AI – proceed with caution (prioritize speed and innovation over .. importance of critical thinking, discern fact from fiction, it’s not just about being bombarded with information but navigating the information universe; a world where
  • Autonomous AI – Abandon all hope – from being a research assistant to being the researchers – ARI leading the charge with minimal human involvement; what’s the point of human researchers? Are we going to watch AI do its thing?

 

AI is just tool though faster and more efficient! Humans bring the context and the real world applications, the sense makers, human researchers and policy makers make decisions and craft effective policies!  Apply the information for the benefit of humanity!

A future where we constantly learning and applying our skills; teaching how to be adaptable and resilient; instead of rote memorization, we ask students to think for themselves. We are standing at the end of a brave new world! Explore the consequences of our choices!

From knowledge scarcity to knowledge abundance and all they while we need to trust but verify!