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Featured AI Events
Overview of the Current AI Reasoning Landscape
Tuesday, November 12th, 4:30 – 5:30 pm – CHI Think Tank, Lyceum
What is meant by AI Reasoning? Join us for a presentation by Professor Andrew Wu, Computer Science, for his perspective on Automated Reasoning research and what it means for teaching and learning at Amherst College. An open discussion will follow, facilitated by current Amherst students.
Featured AI News
It’s hard to keep up with all the AI-related News these days, but here are a couple stories that have us thinking and discussing. Let us know what AI News stories have you riveted!
What Does Trump’s Election Win Mean for AI?
Likely Repeal of Biden’s Executive Order on AI
In October 2023, President Joe Biden passed an Executive Order on AI that established new standards for AI safety and security. The Executive Order put forth an effort to protect Americans’ privacy, advance equity and civil rights, and support workers while promoting innovation and competition, advancing American leadership abroad, and ensuring responsible government use of AI. Trump promised to repeal this Executive Order on a campaign trail in December 2023 and recently reaffirmed this position in July. Speculation is that Trump will likely change the left-leaning section of the order focused on inequality and discrimination while strengthening the sections on national security.
AI Race Against China
Trump’s previous comments indicate that maintaining the U.S.’s lead in AI development over China will be a priority. This may mean decreasing regulations to accelerate AI research and development. In particular, the export of semiconductor chips is a leading issue, and it seems like Trump will try to further restrict China’s access to advanced semiconductors.
How AI helped Country Singer Randy Travis to find his voice again
Yet he was determined to remain in the country music world. In May 2024, he released “Where That Came From,” his first new song in over a decade, produced using AI technology. This innovation has sparked discussions about the ethical implications of AI in music, particularly concerning artistic identity and authorship. While some view AI as a tool to preserve and extend artists’ legacies, others express concerns about its potential misuse and the authenticity of AI-generated performances.
In 2013, Travis suffered a near-fatal stroke that resulted in aphasia, a disorder that took away most of his ability to speak and sing.
Don’t forget to check out some of our latest blog posts and leave your comments and reflections to keep the conversation going!
AILA Recommended Reads
Looking for a new read? Here are some recommendations from the AILA staff of novels that might give you a new perspective on Artificial Intelligence.
Klara and the Sun
by Kazuo Ishiguro
| Klara and the Sun is set in near future United States, a place riven by tribal loyalties and fascist political movements where technology has rendered many as “postemployed.” Klara is a Solar Powered AF (artificial friend) who observes the passerby from her place in the store where she is on sale. Until one day, she is chosen by Josie, and her circumstances change forever… |
| Klara and the sun explores themes of love, loyalty, and loneliness through the eyes of an android and, according to an NPR review, “is a masterpiece about life, love and mortality.” |
The Inevitable
by Kevin Kelly
| Kevin Kelly provides an optimistic road map for the future, showing how the coming changes in our lives—from virtual reality in the home to an on-demand economy to artificial intelligence embedded in everything we manufacture—can be understood as the result of a few long-term, accelerating forces. Kelly both describes these deep trends—interacting, cognifying, flowing, screening, accessing, sharing, filtering, remixing, tracking, and questioning—and demonstrates how they overlap and are codependent on one another. |
| These larger forces will completely revolutionize the way we buy, work, learn, and communicate with each other. By understanding and embracing them, says Kelly, it will be easier for us to remain on top of the coming wave of changes and to arrange our day-to-day relationships with technology in ways that bring forth maximum benefits. |
Featured AI Tool
Our AI Mentorship and Tools team is always exploring new applications of AI. Here we feature some of our favorites. Please explore these tools freely with your personal account, but be mindful of bias, accuracy, content ownership, and use of personally identifiable information with these tools. Institutions are evaluating the use and configuration of AI-based tools, so please check with your IT department before using these tools with college or institutional systems or data.
| Talk to Books is an AI tool developed by Google that provides an innovative way to explore books. Created as a part of Google’s Natural Language Understanding research, the tool uses advanced natural language processing techniques to enable interactive conversations with a vast database of books. As one of the best free AI websites, Talk to Books is free to use. All you have to do is type your query or question into the search bar, and the tool will automatically generate a list of relevant book excerpts — complete with source and publication information. |
| Midjourney is a powerful AI website used for image creation. With text-to-image AI, users can instantly generate stunning digital art and images. All you have to do is enter a text description, and Midjourney will generate a series of images based on your specific text prompts. Midjourney offers several subscription tiers, which include access to the Midjourney member gallery, the website’s official Discord, commercial usage terms, and more. Prices range from $10/month for basic subscriptions to $120/month for the platform’s Mega Plan. |
The Artificial Intelligence in the Liberal Arts initiative at Amherst College aims to engage a broad, interdisciplinary community of participants in discussions and activities related to artificial intelligence, exploring and facilitating multi-way interactions between work in artificial intelligence and work across the liberal arts. Our newsletter contains the latest AI-related events, tools, scholarship, and news in AI.