Stephen Downes

So I think we're about to be deluged by a ton of these AI-based learning platforms. They'll be designed along the same lines as the AI-based news services and even the new AI-based browsers - that is to say, they'll insert a layer of AI in between the user and the actual source. Tome Woodward is experimenting with that kind of thing here, as he uses Notebook LM as (shall we say) an 'interpreter' for an OpenStax textbook (is 'interpreter' the right word to use here? I haven't really seen any terminology that describes this, and 'interpreter' works in both an ordinary and technical context). There are many questions - does the AI add value, does it interpret the base text accurately, does it insert its own spin or marketing, does it enclose the public commons of knowledge and information? Woodward doesn't offer answer to these questions, but he's beginning the sort of exploration we need to undertake in order to get a sense of the whole domain.