AI adoption and challenges across education, radio, and industry with calls for regulation

Shocking no one, I want to bookend the week with another AI segment.  There’s been a lot.

There’s first data on the sentiment in education on ChatGPT —  Quoting Axios.  The Feb. 2-7 survey of 1,000 teachers (grades K–12) and 1,000 students (ages 12–17) found high levels of adoption, with teachers relying on ChatGPT more heavily than students.   51% of teachers reported using ChatGPT, with higher usage among Black (69%) and Latino (69%) educators.  Teachers say they’re using it for lesson planning (30%), coming up with creative ideas for classes (30%), and building background knowledge for lessons and classes (27%).  A third of students 12-17 say they’ve used ChatGPT for school (33%), including 47% of those 12–14.

Another industry is getting an AI infusion – Radio.   Futuri launched RadioGPT, a radio platform powered by AI.    It scans online news sources and social media to identify topics and trends in local markets, generates scripts for broadcast, and delivers those on air by AI-generated personalities.  

Microsoft is making ChatGPT available in its Azure OpenAI service, allowing integration for developers and businesses.     The company has also integrated it with Power Platform, including Power Virtual Agent and AI Builder.     And we’re expecting more in a March 16 event focused on the future of work with AI.      They also announced an AI assistant, Dynamics 365 copilot, for applications that handle sales, marketing, and customer service tasks.  

Slack, too, is getting in the game – the announcement of a ChatGPT bot for Slack is coming soon.   They’re owned by Salesforce, who is bringing their Einstein GPT across their product set.     Speaking of Salesforce, they surveyed IT leaders — Nearly 3 in 5 executives believe generative AI is a potentially game-changing technology, and one-third say it’s overhyped.    Two-thirds of executives say they’re prioritizing business use of the technology in the next 18 months. For one-third of leaders, generative AI is a top priority.

And if we’re looking for the challenges, a survey by Rackspace gives some —  issue or obstacle most often faced is a shortage of skilled talent, cited by 67%, followed by algorithm or model failure (61%) and cost of implementation (57%).   To address these issues, 82% of respondents said they had tried recruiting employees with AI and machine learning skills in the past 12 months, while 86% have grown their AI and machine learning workforce in the past 12 months.    

Weighing in, too, is the US Chamber of Commerce – they’re calling for regulation of artificial intelligence technology to ensure it does not hurt growth or become a national security risk. 

Earlier this week, I mentioned an alleged “celebrity mode” inside Bing’s new chat feature that allowed you to talk to virtual representations of Elon Musk, Taylor Swift, and others. Microsoft says Bing has no “celebrity mode” — the model was hallucinating.

Why do we care?

The US Chamber of Commerce is not known for being pro-regulation.    This story is told in three parts: specific examples of AI being used in industry, the rapid development of new solutions to consider in those industries, and the challenges to overcome to take advantage.      It’s a firehose to drink from, and it also looks like the service opportunity of the future.