AI Definition: Narrow AI

Narrow AI – The use of artificial intelligence for a very specific task or a limited range of tasks. For instance, general AI would reference an algorithm capable of playing all kinds of board games, while narrow AI would limit the range of machine capabilities to a specific game like chess or Scrabble. Google Search queries, Alexa and Siri answer questions by using narrow AI algorithms. They can often outperform humans when confined to known tasks, but often fail when presented with situations outside the problem space where they are trained to work. In effect, narrow AI can’t transfer knowledge from one field to another. Narrow AI techniques fall into two categories: symbolic AI and machine learning.

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The demand for philosophers with AI training

While a plain-vanilla philosophy degree remains as hard to monetize as ever, David Chalmers, a prominent philosopher of consciousness at N.Y.U., observes: “I think the demand for philosophers with A.I. training is, if anything, outstripping the supply right now. It’s an area I encourage students to go into. I think these issues with A.I. will be front and center for a good while.” - New York Times

A Lesson from the history of technology

If there’s one lesson from the history of technology, it is that these changes are hard to predict. Everyone loves to point out that the number of bank tellers rose for decades after the invention of the ATM. But today, the bank-teller profession is indeed dying. It was killed not by the invention that was intended to replace it, but by one that no one expected: the iPhone. When it was invented, no one predicted that this new device would eventually transform how the whole world banked. Some of the most dramatic consequences of the AI revolution are guaranteed to be just as surprising. - Rogé Karma writing in The Atlantic

20 Articles about AI & Teaching

My Students Hate AI. But They Can’t Stop Using It. – Chronicle of Higher Ed

AI’s impact on cognitive ability: MIT study reveals more troubling data – MIT

The AI-Tutor Revolution That Wasn’t: It turns out bots aren’t great teachers. – The Atlantic

Can—and Should—Honor Codes Survive in the AI Age? – Inside Higher Ed

Cal State faculty push to prevent AI tools from replacing them as schools and staff experiment – Cal Matters

Student Cheating Is Becoming Impossible to Detect in an A.I. Era – New York Times

Can Colleges Make All Their Students ‘AI Fluent’? - Chronicle of Higher Ed

Colleges Are Building A.I. Degrees, Hoping Students Will Come – New York Times

A major university just banned AI detectors — here's why – Tom’s Guide

How to Fight AI Brain Rot at School? For One Country, It’s With Free ChatGPT – Wall Street Journal

A major teachers’ union is urging schools not to give students tech devices until at least the third grade, and to keep A.I. out of elementary schools. – New York Times

I Built an AI Grading Tool. Then a Student Thanked Me for Words I Didn’t Write. - EdSurge

Teachers aren’t getting formal guidance on AI, poll finds - Semafor

Your New AI Professor Is the Rapper From the Black Eyed Peas – Wall Street Journal

The ChatGPT era prompts a boom in A-graded coursework – Axios

Artificial Intelligence and Grade Inflation Center for Studies in Higher Ed – eScholarship

The High Cost of Silent Classrooms – New York Times

Teaching AI how people work is fraught with problems – The Economist

How to Use Paper to Teach About AI and Cutting-Edge Tech – EdWeek

‘All or Nothing’ Approach to AI ‘Risks Shutting Down Innovation’ - Inside Higher Ed

25 Articles about AI & Legal Issues

AI law startup Norm raises $120M - Tech Crunch

Governor JB Pritzker signs AI bill into law – ABC-7 Chicago

When The Lawsuit Fails, You License: Getty’s Forced Pivot To OpenAI – TV News Check

Newspapers sue OpenAI, Microsoft for mass copyright infringement – Courthouse News

AI-generated video of Vermont congressional race tests new state disclosure law – WCAX

AI models have a troubling knack for discovering legal loopholes – Science.org

For the First time, an AI Law Firm has Won a Case in the UK – The Guardian

Lawyers Have Been Hallucinating for Decades, Judges Say—AI Just Made It Faster – Law.com

The CNN-Perplexity Lawsuit Is Not Just Another AI Copyright Case – Data Innovation Center

Ninth Circuit on AI Hallucinations – Reason.com

Landmark German ruling declares Google's AI Overviews are Google's own words and makes it liable for false answers – The Decoder

Why legal teams are still growing in the age of AI – Wolters Kluwer

Artificial Intelligence Floods Court Dockets with Home-Brewed Lawsuits – New York Times

AI keeps inventing fake cases. Lawyers keep citing them – Scientific American

What jobs will AI destroy? Exhibit A shouldn’t be on the list. – Washington Post

The JPMorgan Sexual-Assault Lawsuit Was Already Messy. AI Is Making It Worse. – Wall Street Journal

AI and Data Privacy in Investigations: What Legal Teams Need to Know - JD Supra

US judicial panel delays action on AI-generated evidence, deep fakes – Reuters

CNN sues Perplexity over alleged AI copyright theft – CNN

3rd Circuit Mulls Fair-Use Defense in Westlaw's Copyright Suit Against AI Startup – Law.com

Judge rules both sides in lawsuit misused AI, disqualifies lawyers – Reuters

Copyright law ‘struggling’ to parse AI’s ascendancy – Harvard Law

Investors sue Adobe execs over AI copyright statements – Courthouse News

How US courts are addressing fair use questions in AI training and copyright disputes – IAM

A Court Has Ruled That Google Is Liable for False Statements Generated by AI Overviews – WIRED

AI is eating the academic publishing industry alive

If the exposure of AI-generated slop, hallucinated references, fabricated data and voiceless prose brings about the downfall of the Big Five (academic) publishing oligopoly, I cannot mourn it. An industry that profits so spectacularly from unpaid labour, that sells publicly funded research to the public at an enormous mark-up, that has used its stranglehold on prestige to distort what universities are for, well, this industry deserves disruption. - Sioux McKenna writing in the Daily Maverick

10 Webinars this week about AI, Journalism & Media

Mon, July 6 - AI and Human Dignity 

What: Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical (about AI) and the broader questions it raises about AI ethics, education, and our shared digital future.

Who: Wesley Fryer, a middle school STEM and media literacy middle school teacher at Providence Day School in Charlotte, North Carolina and educational technology early adopter.

When: 7 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Media Education Lab

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Tue, July 7 - Reporting on Rape

What: This webinar will cover:  Common myths and harmful narratives to avoid; How language choices influence public attitudes to sexual violence; Practical tips for ethical and accurate journalism – built on strong working practice; Best practice for working with survivors sharing their stories; Opportunities to ask questions and raise any challenges you face in reporting on this issue.

Who: Sophie Wilkinson, a freelance journalist with over 15 years’ experience working for a range of consumer titles; Alessia Tranchese, Associate Professor of Language, Feminism and Digital Media.

When: 9 am, Eastern 

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: End Violence Against Women Coalition

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Tue, July 7 - The Data Investigator’s Toolkit: Lessons from 2026’s Sigma Award Winners

What: Each winning team will have five minutes to showcase the approaches and breakthroughs that helped them uncover complex stories. The session will offer perspectives on the trends and practices redefining data journalism today.

Who: Moderated by Brant Houston, GIJN co-founder and Knight Chair in Investigative Reporting at the University of Illinois.

When: 9 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Global Investigative Journalism Network

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Tue, July 7 - Codex for Everyday Use  

What: We'll explore ways people are using Codex to support everyday projects and tasks—from organizing information and planning activities to creating simple tools that make life a little easier. We'll focus on practical examples and leave some time for questions and ideas from the audience.

Who: Angela Bunn, AI Deployment Manager, OpenAI.

When: 11 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: OpenAI Academy

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Tue, July 7 - AI Impact Hour for Nonprofits

What: A practical, interactive conversation designed for executive directors, staff, board members, and volunteers who want to understand what AI can realistically do in a nonprofit setting. You’ll see simple demonstrations and real examples, and you'll have a chance to share your experiences, challenges, and insights with the group.

Who: Aretha Simons, M.Ed., Webinar Producer, Nonprofit & Al Consultant.

When: 1 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: TechSoup

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Thu, July 9 - Uncover the Hidden AI Risks in Your Applications

What: In this webinar, we’ll discuss: The benefits of leveraging AI models to accelerate innovation; How to identify the models, license obligations, and risks in your applications; Ways to prevent vulnerable AI-generated code from impacting your business; How to customize your SBOMs to include AI models and fit your specific needs.

Who: Steven Zimmerman, DevOps Security Solutions Manager, Black Duck.

When: 5 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Blackduck

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Thu, July 9 - Health care affordability isn’t inflation, and AI may not serve us: What journalists need to understand

What: This practical session will provide reporters with data sources, story ideas and reporting frameworks for covering one of the most important economic issues facing American households.

 

Who: Marty Steffens, SABEW chair of business and financial reporting at the Missouri School of Journalism; Larry Levitt, Executive Vice President for Health Policy at KFF.

When: 1 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Society for Advancing Business Editing & Writing

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Thu, July 9 - How Rural Districts Are Using AI to Meet Real Needs: Lessons from the Rural AI Strategy Lab

What: You’ll hear from the three team leads from the Rural AI Strategy Lab, a cohort-based initiative where 13 rural school district teams are working through a human-centered design process to identify real problems and build AI-enabled solutions that fit their contexts. They walk through their experience from the inside. They’ll share the user-centered problems they identified, the AI tools they selected and why, what they learned when they started prototyping, and how they’re planning their pilots for fall 2026.

Who: David Huggins, an educator and United States Army veteran with more than a decade of experience in education; Jessica Gillespie, the Director of Instructional Improvement–Innovation at Griswold Public Schools; Ted W. Paton, a forward-thinking educator and innovator dedicated to bridging the digital divide for the next generation of rural leaders; Megan Benay, a Partner on the Practice and Implementation team at FullScale; Adam A. Phyall, III, a former high school science teacher.

When: 2 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: FullScale

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Thu, July 9 - How to Improve AI Visibility With Press Releases & Syndicated Articles

What: We’ll show you how to turn press releases and syndicated content into powerful drivers of AI visibility. Today’s AI search engines don’t rank content, they cite trusted sources. If your PR strategy isn’t built for that, you’re missing critical opportunities to get surfaced where your audience is searching.

Who: Melissa James, Senior Sales Director, Notified; Jeff Heisler, Senior Sales Director, Notified.

When: 2 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Public Relations Society of America

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Fri, July 10 - Strengthening Stories Workshop: Ledes, Nut Grafs, and Self Editing

What: Participants will learn: Practical tips to punch up languid ledes; Ways to quickly identify and focus nut grafs; Approaches to story structure to rethink — or reshape — the narrative A new framework for self-editing that will improve or tighten your copy, guaranteed; Additional tips for effective storytelling.

Who: Beth Francesco, Executive Director at NPCJI Elliot C. Williams, Training Manager at NPCJI.

When: 12 pm, Eastern

Where: EventBrite

Cost: $20 members, $25 nonmembers

Sponsor: National Press Club

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AI Bias in Academic Publishing

A new study finds “academic publication reviewers continue to penalise authors from countries where English is less widely spoken, even after ChatGPT became widely available. Write naturally and risk being flagged as a non-native speaker; write with AI assistance and risk being flagged as an AI user. The problem was never purely linguistic but structural, and AI tools are not designed to address structural bias.” -London School of Economics

21 Articles about AI Fakes

Now we’re getting AI fake news complaining about how AI fake news is the death of real news – Harvard’s Nieman Lab

WIRED talks to author who included quotes made up by AI — in his book on AI.  – WIRED

AI-generated video of Vermont congressional race tests new state disclosure law – WCAX

One fake web page can be enough to trick AI shopping recommendations – Fast Company

Anyone can fake a scientific image with AI, tricking even academic journals – and undermining trust in science – The Conversation

Medical students are using a popular research tool (aided by AI) to pump out misleading studies – Science.org

In Age of AI, World’s Leading Deepfake Expert No Longer Trusts His Own Eyes - The New York Times

An explosion of AI deepfakes is redefining American elections - Axios

AI Supercharges Deepfake Nudes—Unleashing a New Form of Bullying Among Kids – Wall Street Journal

Cybercriminals Use Fake AI Guides and Dev Tools to Spread AsyncRAT Malware – InfoSecurity Magazine

Concern for study looking into whether conversations with AI could change viewpoints – Retraction Watch

Google Says Chinese Cybercrime Group Used Its A.I. in Scams - The New York Times

Telegraph, Sun and Mirror hoaxed by AI picture of Thai police in drag – Press Gazette

A.I. Is Making Scams Hard to Spot. Here’s How to Protect Yourself. - The New York Times

Fake academic journals are publishing AI-generated papers under real professors’ names – NBC News

Two New AI-Driven Impersonation Scams to Avoid – Writer Beware

Scammers using AI to create convincing fake delivery texts, emails | How to protect yourself – ABC7 Chicago

Cop Accused of Using AI to Fake Evidence – Futurism

Judge rules both sides in lawsuit misused AI, disqualifies lawyers – Reuters

AI-Generated Fake Receipts Now Make Up 71% of Expense Fraud – Pymnts

In Texas, AI-generated political ads are blurring the line between real and fake- Poynter

AI Definitions: AI Trainer

AI Trainer (or AI tutor) – This is the job of helping an AI find and digest the best, most useful data and then teaching it to respond accurately and in constructive ways. When AI companies were first launching, they often relied on workers in low-income countries to perform tedious data labeling, but now there's demand for more specialized knowledge. Some companies pay significant hourly rates for highly skilled experts to share their expertise with AI for training. This includes those working in computer science, real estate, law, medicine, writing, etc. 

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Unintended Consequences

Any idiot can build a system. Any amateur can make it perform. Professionals think about how a system will fail. It’s very common for people to think about how a system will work if it is used the way they imagine. But they don’t think about how that system might work if it were used by a bad actor or a perfectly ordinary person who is just a little different from what the person designing it is like.

Companies need to be thinking about how each product could actually be used in the real world. If you build a product that works great for men and is going to lead to harassment of women, you have a problem. If you build a product that makes everyone’s address books 5% more efficient and then gets three people killed because it gave their personal information to their stalkers, that’s a problem.

What you need is a very diverse working group that can recognize a wide range of problems, that knows which questions to ask and has support inside the company and in the broader community to surface these issues and make sure they are taken seriously. If they’re in there from day one, it makes a huge difference.

Former Google engineer Yonatan Zunger in an interview with NPR