Michael Webb's Blog

AI, Education, Creativity and Society.

  • Google’s new AI and the Future of Learning document.

    Some brief thoughts on Google’s new AI and the Future of Learning document. It doesn’t say much that we don’t know already, and of the major LLM developers, Google seem to be the ones making the most effort to create a model specifically focused on learning, with LearnLM. What I still don’t quite get is…

  • Marketing AI

    I’ve been thinking a lot about why I, and others who have been involved with AI for a long time, are often the ones questioning whether AI is really appropriate or useful for a given activity. On panels and in discussions, we can sometimes seem like the sceptics, while others are chomping at the bit…

  • Will any AI-generated music still be listened to decades from now

    Another Friday random thought post, this time on AI and creativity, and music specifically. This weekend is a far too infrequent music-playing one (geography gets in the way). We’re bringing together a few friends who have been making music together for over three decades. With one band, we’ll be playing our first album, released about…

  • AI investment in the UK

    An interesting set of announcements on AI investment in the UK.It’s difficult to unpick how much of this is because of the UK’s AI action plan, and how much is simply aligned but would have happened anyway. In summary: Microsoft has committed £22bn over four years to expand cloud capacity and build a new AI…

  • Can a cat be a brother, father and son to another cat?

    I guess many of you have seen report on Open AI’s new model. I love that fact that it was code-named strawberry – a nod to the much-shared meme that AI can’t count how many R’s in strawberry. I like less the narrative that it’s some way ‘thinking’. OpenAI have contributed to this – it…

  • YouGov AI in HE Survey

    A fairly detailed survey on AI usage in HE from YouGov has just come out. Any surprises? I don’t think so. The reported AI use is lower than in some other surveys, at 66% of students. I suspect it’s still a slight under-reporting, with some reluctant to ‘admit’ it, but probably reached more people who…

  • Don’t forget the AI we see today is the worst it will ever be?

    I’ve again seen a few messages today repeating “Don’t forget the AI we see today is the worst it will ever be.” It’s up there with “AI won’t take your jobs but someone who can use it will” in my list of top AI quotes that I dislike a lot! It’s also why we need…

  • Joy!

    A bit of a lightbulb moment from yesterday’s Jisc AI roundtable – we don’t talk about joy enough! It started in the context of data and what we’d really like to know about students when they join, and one participant (we aren’t naming individuals, just themes) said it was what brings the learner joy. What…

  • ‘Ghibli-inspired’ AI images

    OK, an interesting one for a Friday morning. You’ve probably seen some of the so called ‘Ghibli-inspired’ images flooding the news and social media today. If you’ve not, here’s one of the many stories about it. The basic premise is that ChatGPT is ripping off Studio Ghibli’s style. I’m sure most of you know this,…