Artificial Intelligence
admin
November 19, 2023
Sam Altman, former head of Y Combinator and a notable figure in the entrepreneurial and investment sphere, has been a prominent advocate for generative AI. His world tour this year placed him at the forefront of this technological wave. After OpenAI’s recent announcement, Altman reflected on his impactful tenure at the company through a post on a social platform, expressing gratitude for his experiences and hinting at future endeavors.
Prepared for instructors, administrators, policymakers, educational technology developers,
funders, employers, and learners, the supplement articulates a vision and action plan that responds to an urgent national priority—postsecondary success for all Americans.
Education’s digital infrastructure is officially considered critical infrastructure, and just as we
work to provide physical infrastructure that is safe, healthy, and supportive for all students, we
need to align resources to create digital infrastructure that is safe, accessible, resilient, sustainable, and future-proof.
America has made incredible progress in closing the digital access divide,2 providing an evergreater proportion of students with access to broadband connectivity, devices, and digital
resources. At the same time, we must acknowledge the last frontiers of connectivity can also present the most wicked problems of closing that divide. T
Building and maintaining safe, accessible, resilient, and effective digital infrastructure is a whole-of-community
challenge requiring whole-of-community solutions.
An AI agent is software that can understand natural language, accomplish tasks across applications, and improve over time by learning user preferences and patterns. Agents will be able to have nuanced conversations, provide personalized suggestions and assistance, and complete tasks independently if desired.
As we recover from the pandemic, educators are increasingly leveraging the breadth of active and innovative
learning opportunities made possible through technology. In addition, schools are accelerating the
implementation of whole learner approaches with technology, including connections to social and emotional supports, parent-educator engagement opportunities, tele-health and tele-mental health, and basic needs services. For such opportunities to become equitably and sustainably available at scale, we must do more to ensure all learners, families/caregivers, and communities have access to technology and the opportunities that it unlocks.
Ethan Mollick is a professor at The Wharton School