AI Advancements in 2023
Katherine Stewart - December 9, 2023
Recently, actor and writer Stephen Fry discovered that his voice had been stolen by AI.
Fry, who also narrates audiobooks, has read aloud seven volumes of the Harry Potter series for audiobooks, and was surprised to find that from these audiobooks AI was able to learn the nuances and modulations of his vocal style. His voice was then repurposed for a historical documentary.
“I said not one word of that — it was a machine. Yes, it shocked me.”
All of this was done without his knowledge or consent, and raised at least one burning question: what need would there be for a human voice with this type of machine learning?
Artificial Intelligence has been with us for a while, and has sat alongside daily tasks, for example, using Siri to open an app, or using spellcheck. Now, in 2023, ChatGPT has meant that more complex tasks can be expedited using the technology, such as lesson plans, marking and grading comments, and of course, essay writing. You can get ChatGPT to write your curriculum vitae; ironically, I could have used it to write an overview of AI using the Hail Assist function for this article (I promise I didn't).
The presence of AI poses a serious problem for authenticating work, but the conversation around this is not moving fast enough for educators to keep up. It has forced teachers to become even more detective-like in assessing work, especially in distance or online learning modes, where observing student work practices is more challenging to do.
There is more to come. From Fry's experience of a mimicked voice, to what Frances Valintine, founder and CEO of academX, has demonstrated recently as a "better version of herself" in AI where she delivers a short message as AI speaking in Hindi (a language she has never learned), we can assume that deep fakes will be rapidly rolled out.
As educators in online platforms, it's imperative that our PLD focus should be in proportion with this exploding technology.
This year, Nex Kōtuitui ran two sessions exploring ChatGPT. In the time between the first and second - and now - the theoretical discussion about whether we should use AI is a moot point. The practical ways we can mitigate the threat of this technology is critical to our growth as teachers and support staff.
We will be keeping you in the loop in 2024 about AI events in the education sector. In the meantime, take some time to view the resources from our sessions this year here: