Examples of AI in the community. When posed the question for this section I wanted to think about an example of AI that I have used in class before. In 2019 Woodside presented to a STEM conference I attended and talked about Willow, an AI that was created to assist Woodside workers access information in a Natural Language way.

After trying to remind myself of the project I found this article that indicates that Willows scope and interface has changed as the project progressed and that the people using it didn’t always recognise it as AI.

I don’t think it is the most exciting implementation of AI, however, I do think it indicates a movement toward an AI of some sort that will assist us in many ways. Siri, Alexa and the Google Assistant are now common digital assistants and are starting to be proactive in their support of their users, often telling me the time it will take me to get home from work and the best route when I connect my device to my car bluetooth, before I even ask.

I wouldn’t be surprised if we start seeing digital assistants in the school, always analysing data available and offering suggestions or flagging opportunities for some intervention before we are able to see the pattern. Would this result in better outcomes for students or is it too invasive?