#CYB 52: AI, Acceptable Use. and Escapes from Reality
Coping with election dread
Sea Ranch, June 2024
How about that post by Seth Abramson about corporate media and the debate in Atlanta? If you subscribe, are YOU thinking about canceling your New York Times subscription, or not? I am on the fence, with attachment and habit on one side and fury and disappointment on the other. What a mess.
Books and Things to Watch
The fear and dread I have been experiencing around the presidential election and our pending fascist overlords are coloring what I am reading (and watching).
HILD: I am halfway through Hild by Nicola Griffin. This long, brilliant novel, published in 2013, is set in 7th century Britain and imagines the story of Hilda of Whitby, an actual figure, starting when she is about seven and keeps going. The book has vivid writing and vibrant characters; their sagas remind me of Game of Thrones by George R R Martin and The Once and Future King by TH White. I will read Memewood, the next book in this series, when I finish this one (which I love).
GAME OF THRONES: I read the book but didn’t watch the series the first time. I am watching now and hoping all the cruelty feels cathartic.
AI BITS
The U.S. Department of Education has released a clear and comprehensive guide on AI in K-12 education, and I’ve got a summary and links to related resources. In the blog post, I explore:
The innovative "dual stack" approach
Five key recommendations for implementing AI in education
Critical issues like bias, privacy, and equity
How to promote transparency and AI literacy
It’s very well done, and I am so impressed.
AI Acceptable Use Policies: Types and Examples
I’ve been researching Artificial Intelligence Acceptable Use Policies created for organizations, nonprofits, K-12, and universities. There are a range of approaches (and I am generalizing here):
Higher education policies offer general guidelines for faculty and staff and ways to think about incorporating AI into teaching and learning around specific use cases: citations in a student paper, lesson plan and syllabus development, intellectual property and attribution,
K-12 policies are more generalized, focusing on ethics and protecting students from bias and inappropriate content,
Nonprofit AI AUPs go deeper, with more details for staffers about usage, attribution, prohibited behaviors, data security, and incident resolution(what to do if there is an issue),
Corporate AI AUPS are sector-specific frameworks providing generalized guidelines for larger organizations.
Irrespective of the sector, the role of an AI Acceptable Use Policy is pivotal. It serves as a robust framework, establishing baseline expectations for AI usage in an organization. This not only reassures all stakeholders but also instills confidence in the responsible and ethical use of AI, making it a critical tool for acknowledging and supporting AI usage within an organization.
In a recent blog post, I discussed the importance of AI Acceptable Use Policies for organizations. If you haven’t seen it and this is interesting, have a look.
Also AI:
500,000 JPGS and No Plans, Eryk Salvaggio,
This essay, song, and video give my heart joy, make my brain race, and make my body laugh in all the best ways.
“I have generated well over 200,000 images, and I have no clue what I am supposed to do with them? There has to be a use for that many images except I wouldn’t know what it is. Seems like I just like to generate images to just collect them then do nothing with them after that.”--Reddit, via Eryk Salvaggio
2024 Work Trend Index Annual Report from Microsoft and LinkedIn, May 2024: AI at Work Is Here. Now Comes the Hard Part
Somebody else's cat: A study in the protohistory of the internet cat meme, Dr LopLop, 2018 (via friends @ The Flickr Foundation): Great fun and history with cat memes
Thank you for joining me on this journey! I hope CYB #52 was fun. If you know someone who might enjoy this mix of personal stories and ideas, please forward this newsletter to them. And if you're new here and have found value in this content, subscribe to Cover Your Bases to receive future issues in your inbox.
As always, I’m grateful for your readership and engagement. Your input motivates me to share my knowledge and experiences. I look forward to our continued conversation!
Warmly,
Susan