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Submission + - Analytics Platform Databricks Joins Amazon, Microsoft in AI Demo Hall of Shame

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: If there was an AI Demo Hall of Shame, the first inductee would have to be Amazon, whose demo to support its CEO's claims that Amazon Q Code Transformation AI saved it 4,500 developer-years and an additional $260 million in 'annualized efficiency gains' by automatically and accurately upgrading code to a more current version of Java showcased a program that didn't even spell 'Java' correctly (it was instead called 'Jave'). Also worthy of a spot is Microsoft, whose AI demo of a Copilot-driven Excel school exam analysis for educators reassured a teacher they needn't be concerned about the student who received a 27% test score, autogenerating a chart to back up its claim.

Today's nominee for the AI Demo Hall of Shame inductee is analytics platform Databricks for the NYC Taxi Trips Analysis it's been showcasing on its Data Science page since last November. Not only for its choice of a completely trivial case study that requires no 'Data Science' skills — find and display the ten most expensive and longest taxi rides — but also for the horrible AI-generated bar chart used to present the results of the simple ranking that deserves its own spot in the Graph Hall of Shame. In response to a prompt of "Now create a new bar chart with matplotlib for the most expensive trips," the Databricks AI Assistant dutifully complies with the ill-advised request, spewing out Python code to display the ten rides on a nonsensical bar chart whose continuous x-axis hides points sharing the same distance (one might also question why no annotation is provided to call out or explain the 3 trips with a distance of 0 miles that are among the ten most expensive rides, with fares of $260, $188, and $105).

Looked at with a critical eye, all three of these examples used to sell data scientists, educators, management, investors, and Wall Street on AI by Amazon (market cap $2.32 trillion), Microsoft (market cap $3.87 trillion), and Databricks (valuation $100+ billion) would likely raise eyebrows rather than impress their intended audiences. So, is AI fever so great that it sells itself and companies needn't even bother reviewing their AI demos to see if they make sense?

Submission + - Former R.I. Governor Raimondo is Rethinking Coding Education Push in AI Era

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: As Governor of Rhode Island, the Boston Globe reports, Gina Raimondo made a relentless push to expand computer science in K-12 education, part of an effort to train more students to code. But during a forum at the Harvard Institute of Politics this week, the former R.I. Governor and past U.S. Secretary of Commerce suggested the Computer Science for All initiative might have been a dud (YouTube).

“For a long time, everyone said, ‘let’s make everybody a coder,’” Raimondo said. “We’re going to predict this is where the skills are going to be. Everyone should be a software coder. I don’t know, it doesn’t look necessarily like a super idea right now with AI.”

Raimondo was responding to a question about investing in research and development versus the government picking specific companies to invest in, the Globe notes. She was critical of President Trump’s strategy of having the United States take a stake in companies, although she defended the Biden administration’s handling of subsidies through the CHIPS and Science Act. “You could pick 100 different examples,” Raimondo said. “The government gets it wrong a lot.” Raimondo launched the computer science initiative as governor in 2016 to ensure that it was part of every student’s experience in Rhode Island. It was a trendy – and widely praised – strategy at the time.

Submission + - Tech Workers Versus Enshittification

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Writing for the Communications of the ACM, Corey Doctorow makes the case for unionization in Tech Workers Versus Enshittification:

"Now that tech workers are as disposable as Amazon warehouse workers and drivers, as disposable as the factory workers in iPhone City, it’s only a matter of time until the job conditions are harmonized downward. Jeff Bezos doesn’t force his delivery drivers to relieve themselves in bottles because he hates delivery drivers. Jeff Bezos doesn’t allow his coders to use a restroom whenever they need to because he loves hackers. The factor that determines how Jeff Bezos treats workers is 'What is the worst treatment those workers can be forced to accept?'"

"Throughout the entire history of human civilization, there has only ever been one way to guarantee fair wages and decent conditions for workers: unions. Even non-union workers benefit from unions, because strong unions are the force that causes labor protection laws to be passed, which protect all workers. [...] Now is the time to get organized. Your boss has made it clear how you’d be treated if they had their way. They’re about to get it. Walking a picket line is a slog, to be sure, but picket lines beat piss bottles, hands down."

Submission + - Code.org Spent $276M to Get Kids Coding, Now It Wants to Get Them Using AI

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: "This year marks a pivotal moment, for Code.org and for the future of education," writes Code.org co-founder Hadi Partovi in his Letter From the CEO, explaining the tech-backed nonprofit's pivot to support a shift in focus from coding to AI. "AI is reshaping every aspect of our world, yet most students still lack the opportunity to learn how it works, manage it, or shape its future. For over a decade, Code.org has expanded access to computer science education worldwide, serving as a trusted partner for policymakers, educators, and advocates. Now, as the focus of computer science shifts from coding to AI, we are evolving to prepare every student for an AI-powered world. [...] In the year ahead, we’ll ignite the first-ever Hour of AI ["One moment. One world. Millions of futures to shape."] to engage more than 25 million learners, scale age-appropriate AI curriculum and tools to help put these skills within reach of every student and teacher, and continue shaping the global conversation through our leadership of AI education policy."

The letter introduces the newly-released Code.org 2024-25 Impact Report, which reveals that sparking "global movements and grassroots campaigns" doesn't come cheap. A table that "shows the total cost breakdown of our headline achievements since founding" puts a staggering $276.8 million price tag on its efforts to-date [2013-2025], which includes $41M for Diversity and Global Marketing, $69.9M for Curriculum + Learning Platform, $122.8M on Partnership + Professional Learning, $25M for Government Affairs, and $18.1M on Global Curriculum. (a Code.org IRS filing reported assets of $75 million as of Aug 2024). The report calls out Amazon, Google, Microsoft, the Ballmer Group, Kenneth C. Griffin, and an Anonymous donor for their "generous commitments" of $3+ million each to Code.org in 2024-2025. On its website, publicly-supported charity Code.org credits six "Lifetime Supporters" for providing a minimum of $100 million: Amazon ($30M+, AWS gave another $5M+), Microsoft ($30M+), Google ($10M+), Facebook ($10M+), Ballmer Group ($10M+), Infosys ($10M+). Microsoft, whose President Brad Smith has been helping Code.org promote its AI pivot, is also the lead "AI Education Champion" sponsor of the new Hour of AI.

Submission + - "If Oberlin Won't Stand Up Against AI, Who Will?"

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Writing in The Oberlin Review, Oberlin College student Kate Martin asks, "If Oberlin Won’t Stand Up Against AI, Who Will?" Martin begins: "As generative AI infiltrates our academic spaces more and more, liberal arts schools face a particularly troubling threat. Other types of institutions may be more focused on career preparation and, consequently, accept the experience of education as a means to an end. In that case, generative AI programs may be a welcome addition to the processes behind our academic products, so long as they streamline that process. But liberal arts schools are aiming at a loftier goal — one of thinking for its own sake, of growing our minds holistically, and situating our academic pursuits among a wider cultural conversation."

"As a student who quite literally signed up to follow this model of education, I found President Carmen Twillie Ambar’s statement about Oberlin’s emergent Year of AI Exploration deeply worrying. From its first line asking us to type a prompt into ChatGPT to discern its own greatness, it reads like a sales pitch. It frames AI as something omnipotent and inevitable: an emblem of innovation so juicy we need to overhaul all operations and reallocate funds just to step into its world of boundless potential. Let’s acknowledge the reality of the situation: Kids are no longer learning how to write, the planet is being sucked dry, and our collective value system about the very essence of creativity is buckling beneath the weight of the machine."

"Say we all learn to use AI 'responsibly.' What would that mean? When our entire job as students is to learn how to think, where would be a good spot to introduce an entity that is designed to think for us? The life cycle of a written product, from its onset as a spark in our minds to its final form as words on a page, is necessarily full of awkward stages. We push and pull at our ideas, wrestling with them through outlines and rough drafts, before they finally settle into a coherent shape. Well-meaning AI optimists see programs like ChatGPT as friendly companions that can smooth over the wrinkles in our path to well-packaged creative realization, without understanding that turbulence is precisely where our ideas and intellects thrive. Creativity is not throwing an idea into a void and watching it pop back out in neat, aesthetic form — it is a slow, embodied, iterative process that needs all parts of itself to function. Despite AI becoming more and more popular, Oberlin students, and, more generally, progressive young people in academia, are notably silent even as mental alarms are sounding in our heads."

Comment Re:that vertical bar chart.. (Score 1) 39

Good catch! Copilot didn't "share its work" and I mistakenly assumed it was a bar chart rather than a histogram with an unfortunate choice of bar width and x-axis range for this score distribution. For comparison, here's a Plotly histogram makeover of the Copilot-generated chart with a bin width of .1 and an x-axis that displays the full range of possible scores, which makes the outlying low scores readily apparent.

Submission + - In Copilot in Excel Demo, AI Tells Teacher a 27% Exam Score Is of No Concern

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: It's unclear what exactly led to Thursday's announcement that Microsoft will provide free AI tools for Washington State schools and professional development and AI training to teachers and administrators statewide in partnership with the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Washington Education Association, and the National Education Association. But WA state records do show that the WA STEM Education Innovation Alliance — which "brings together leaders from labor, education, government, and non-profit organizations" — was treated to a "Demonstration of Microsoft Education tool and the latest AI updates for educators and students" (video @2:11:00, slides-79MB pdf) by Microsoft Education Product Manager Mike Tholfsen at a March 2024 meeting. And a report on the future direction of the STEM Alliance unveiled at the Alliance's November 2024 meeting at the Redmond Microsoft Conference Center cited this earlier demo, noting that "Alliance members heard from experts across the AI field in Washington, including leaders from the University of Washington and Microsoft about how AI has the possibility to transform various job sectors and the education system."

The demo, which Microsoft's Tholfsen explained was a hit with the crowd at the Bett UK 2024 EdTech Conference (ppt, 220MB download), includes a segment on Copilot in Excel that is likely to resonate with AI-wary software developers. Not only does it illustrate how the realities of AI assistants sometimes fall maddeningly short of the promises, the demo also shows how AI vendors and customers alike sometimes forget to review promotional AI content closely in all the AI excitement. Here, the Copilot in Excel segment — which purports to show how even teachers who were too 'afraid of' or 'intimidated' to use Excel in the past can now just use natural language prompts to conduct Excel analysis. But even a cursory glance at the example shown should raise eyebrows, as Copilot advises the teacher there are no 'outliers' in the exam scores for their 17 students, whose test scores range from 27%-100% (apparently due to Copilot's choice of an inappropriate outlier detection method for this size population and score range). Fittingly, the student whose 27% score is confidently-but-incorrectly deemed to be of no concern by Copilot is named after Michael Scott, the largely incompetent, unproductive, unprofessional boss of The Office (Microsoft also named the other exam takers after characters from The Office).

The additional Copilot student score 'analysis' touted by Microsoft in the demo is also less than impressive. It includes: 1. A vertical bar chart that fails to convey the test score distribution that a histogram would have (a rookie chart choice mistake), 2. A horizontal bar chart of student scores that only displays every other student's name and shows no score values (a rookie formatting error), and 3. A pivot table copy of the original data but sorted in descending order, generated in response to a teacher's prompt to rank the data (although simply clicking the Excel ribbon's sort button would have yielded similar results). So, will teachers — like programmers — be spending a significant amount of time in the future reviewing, editing, and refining the outputs of their AI agent helpers?

Submission + - Microsoft to Kids: You Get AI! Your Teacher Gets AI! Every [WA] School Gets AI! 1

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: GeekWire reports that Microsoft is bringing artificial intelligence to every public classroom in its home state — and sparking new questions about its role in education. The Redmond tech giant on Thursday unveiled Microsoft Elevate Washington, a sweeping new initiative that will provide free access to AI-powered software and training for all 295 public school districts and 34 community and technical colleges across Washington state. The program is part of Microsoft Elevate, the company’s broader $4 billion, five-year commitment to support schools and nonprofits with AI tools and training that was announced in July.

“This is our home,” Microsoft President Brad Smith said at a launch event on the company’s headquarters campus. “A big part of what we’re doing today is investing in our home.” Smith said Microsoft understands the unease around AI in classrooms but argued that waiting isn’t an option. “I don’t know that it will be possible to slow down the use of AI, even if someone wanted to,” he said. In an interview with KING-TV Seattle, Smith added, "We're making a bigger commitment to this state than we are to any state in the country. [...] Above all else, we want to ensure that people can learn how to use the technology of tomorrow. That's the only way for our kids to succeed in the future."

The event on Thursday also included comedian Trevor Noah, the company’s “chief questions officer,” as well as Code.org CEO Hadi Partovi. Noah and Partovi both also appeared with Smith at the Microsoft Elevate launch event in July, where Smith told Partovi it was time to "switch hats" from coding to AI, adding that "the last 12 years have been about the Hour of Code [Code.org's flagship event, credited with pushing CS into K-12 classrooms], but the future involves the Hour of AI." Code.org last month committed to "engage 25M learners in an Hour of AI in school year '25/'26" at a meeting of the White House Task Force on AI Education that preceded a White House dinner for top execs from the nation's leading AI companies.

Submission + - Amazon Prime Video Launches Personalized Bet Tracking and Odds View with FanDuel

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: As Americans increasingly see legal sports betting as a bad thing for society and sports, Amazon News reports that when Prime Video tips off its 11-year agreement with the NBA on October 24, viewers will enjoy new levels of personalization, engagement, and broadcast quality with a comprehensive suite of interactive features and AI-powered broadcast enhancements — including personalized bet tracking — to transform how fans connect with the game.

Amazon News explains: "The personalized bet tracking feature presents a dynamic, real-time integration of betting information during live game action. When a fan links their Prime Video profile to their FanDuel account, their active NBA bets will be displayed and updated on the screen, along with relevant progress and won/lost status, providing an exciting new way to connect plays on the court with active bets. The bet tracking feature does not offer the ability to place bets directly on Prime Video. In addition to tracking personal bets, an immersive Odds View experience (available on supported devices) can be activated to present a rotating feed of live odds, lines, and probabilities associated with popular bets. This includes moneylines, spreads, totals, player props, parlays, game props, and more. The overlay adds context to the game and highlights how players and teams are performing relative to betting markets."

“Our partnership as the official odds provider for NBA and WNBA on Prime Video represents a significant milestone in how we connect with basketball fans,” said Mike Raffensperger, President of Sports at FanDuel in a separate FanDuel press release. “By integrating custom content into Prime Video's NBA broadcasts, we will enhance the fan viewing experience and connect with new audiences.” Danielle Carney, Head of U.S. Video and Live Sports Sales for Amazon Ads, added: “It’s important to partner with brands that are invested in enhancing the fan experience. We're helping to transform how brands reach highly engaged consumers. By prioritizing innovation and storytelling we can create unique opportunities for brands to connect with their audiences that are more meaningful.”

Comment SRA Cards: 1960's Self-Directed Learning (Score 2) 124

by theodp (#65703334) Attached to: The School That Replaces Teachers With AI

Reminds me a bit of the instruction a Canadian co-worker described he received back in the 1960's at a school in a remote area. After successfully completing their self-paced, self-directed learning assignments (e.g., SRA Cards: A History of Programmed Instruction and Personalization), kids were free to leave the school building on their own and play hockey at a nearby pond or explore the surrounding area with classmates.

Submission + - Class Dismissed

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: CBS News has a TL;DR video report, but Jeremy Stern's earlier epic Class Dismissed offers a deep dive into Alpha School, "the teacherless, homeworkless, K-12 private school in Austin, Texas, where students have been testing in the top 0.1% nationally by self-directing coursework with AI tutoring apps for two hours a day. Alpha students are incentivized to complete coursework to 'mastery-level' (i.e., scoring over 90%) in only two hours via a mix of various material and immaterial rewards, including the right to spend the other four hours of the school day in 'workshops,' learning things like how to run an Airbnb or food truck, manage a brokerage account or Broadway production, or build a business or drone."

Founder MacKenzie Larson's dream that "kids must love school so much they don't want to go on vacation" drew the attention of — and investments of money and time from — mysterious tech billionaire Joe Liemandt, who sent his own kids to Larson's school and now aims to bring the experience to rest of the world. "When GenAI hit in 2022," Liemandt said, "I took a billion dollars out of my software company. I said, 'Okay, we're going to be able to take MacKenzie's 2x in 2 hours groundwork and get it out to a billion kids.' It's going to cost more than that, but I could start to figure it out. It's going to happen. There's going to be a tablet that costs less than $1,000 that is going to teach every kid on this planet everything they need to know in two hours a day and they're going to love it. I really do think we can transform education for everybody in the world. So that's my next 20 years. I literally wake up now and I'm like, I'm the luckiest guy in the world. I will work 7 by 24 for the next 20 years to fricking do this. The greatest 20 years of my life are right ahead of me. I don't think I'm going to lose. We're going to win."

Of course, Stern writes, there will be questions about this model of schooling, but asks: "Suppose that from kindergarten through 12th grade, your child's teachers were, in essence, stacks of machines. Suppose those machines unlocked more of your child's academic potential than you knew was possible, and made them love school. Suppose the schooling they loved involved vision monitoring and personal data capture. Suppose that surveillance architecture enabled them to outperform your wildest expectations on standardized tests, and in turn gave them self-confidence and self-esteem, and made their own innate potential seem limitless. Suppose what kind of 'mind virus' the Timeback of China, Russia, or Iran might incept. Suppose poor kids had a reason to believe and a way to show they're just as academically capable as rich kids, and that every student on Earth could test in what we now consider the top 10%. Suppose it allowed them to spend two-thirds of their school day on their own interests and passions. Suppose your child's deep love of school minted a new class of education billionaires. If you shrink from such a future, by which principle would you justify stifling it?"

Submission + - Tech Companies to K-12 Schoolchildren: Learn to AI is the New Learn to Code

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: From Thursday's Code.org press release announcing the replacement of the annual Hour of Code for K-12 schoolkids with the new Hour of AI: "A decade ago, the Hour of Code ignited a global movement that introduced millions of students to computer science, inspiring a generation of creators. Today, Code.org announced the next chapter: the Hour of AI, a global initiative developed in collaboration with CSforALL and supported by dozens of leading organizations. [...] As artificial intelligence rapidly transforms how we live, work, and learn, the Hour of AI reflects an evolution in Code.org's mission: expanding from computer science education into AI literacy. This shift signals how the education and technology fields are adapting to the times, ensuring that students are prepared for the future unfolding now."

"Just as the Hour of Code showed students they could be creators of technology, the Hour of AI will help them imagine their place in an AI-powered world," said Hadi Partovi, CEO and co-founder of Code.org. "Every student deserves to feel confident in their understanding of the technology shaping their future. And every parent deserves the confidence that their child is prepared for it."

"Backed by top organizations such as Microsoft, Amazon, Anthropic, Zoom, LEGO Education, Minecraft, Pearson, ISTE, Common Sense Media, American Federation of Teachers (AFT), National Education Association (NEA), and Scratch Foundation, the Hour of AI is designed to bring AI education into the mainstream. New this year, the National Parents Union joins Code.org and CSforALL as a partner to emphasize that AI literacy is not only a student priority but a parent imperative."

The announcement of the tech-backed K-12 CS education nonprofit's mission shift into AI literacy comes just days after Code.org's co-founders took umbrage with a NY Times podcast that discussed "how some of the same tech companies that pushed for computer science are now pivoting from coding to pushing for AI education and AI tools in schools" and advancing the narrative that "the country needs more skilled AI workers to stay competitive, and kids who learn to use AI will get better job opportunities."

Comment 10/2 Code.org Press Release: AI is Hot-Code Is Not (Score 1) 2

by theodp (#65699848) Attached to: NY Times Podcast on Job Market for Recent CS Grads Raises Ire of Code.org

Hour of AI: A Global Movement to Prepare Every Learner for the AI Era: A decade ago, the Hour of Code ignited a global movement that introduced millions of students to computer science, inspiring a generation of creators. Today, Code.org announced the next chapter: the Hour of AI, a global initiative developed in collaboration with CSforALL and supported by dozens of leading organizations. [...] "Just as the Hour of Code showed students they could be creators of technology, the Hour of AI will help them imagine their place in an AI-powered world," said Hadi Partovi, CEO and co-founder of Code.org. [...] Backed by top organizations such as Microsoft, Amazon, Anthropic, Zoom, LEGO Education, Minecraft, Pearson, ISTE, Common Sense Media, American Federation of Teachers (AFT), National Education Association (NEA), and Scratch Foundation, the Hour of AI is designed to bring AI education into the mainstream.

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