Blog Posts About: artificial intelligence

Chatbots are a primary way that people use artificial intelligence. These simple tools provide an easy way for us to harness the power of AI. By understanding how they work and what’s possible, we can learn to use them responsibly.

Most people have used a chat tool that involves sending and receiving digital text-based messages. This simple format has become a common way to work with artificial intelligence. This video explains the evolution of chatbots, how to use them, and what makes them work. You’ll learn:

    •    Why chatbots matter in online communication
    •    How chatbots have evolved over time
    •    How AI has changed our use of chatbots
    •    How Natural Language Processing works with chatbots
    •    How Large Language Models work with chatbots
    •    Why users of chatbots should evaluate and edit chatbot responses

Watch this video in full​ (3m 49s)

All Common Craft videos come with Lesson Plans that help you engage students with learning objects, discussion questions, quiz questions, further reading, and more. Curious? Download this video's Lesson Plan: ​Common Craft Lesson Plan - Chatbots and AI.pdf​

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Common Craft videos are used in libraries, school districts, universities, and organizations around the world. Our unique approach to explanation and education has delighted students since 2008.

If you're interested in making Common Craft videos available to your students, I invite you to evaluate the videos in our library​.

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One of the most surprising elements of today's artificial intelligence tools is the ability to create original works. With a few words, anyone can have AI create stories, images, music, video, computer code, and more. It seems like magic, and generative AI is powerful. However, there are also valid concerns about its use.

Common Craft members can download the file and grab embed codes in the video library.

This new video explains:

• How humans and AI are different when it comes to consuming online media
• How AI gathers the data it needs to generate responses
• The role of data and patterns in helping generative AI provide accurate responses
• How prompts and Large Language Models help generative AI
• What’s possible with generative AI
• Why people should be cautious in using media that generative AI creates
• Concerns about Generative AI’s use of copyrighted materials

Watch it in full​ (3m 35s)

All Common Craft videos come with Lesson Plans that help you engage students with learning objects, discussion questions, quiz questions, further reading, and more. Curious? Download this video's Lesson Plan: ​Common Craft Lesson Plan - Generative AI.pdf​

Do You Teach Technology?

Common Craft videos are used in libraries, school districts, universities, and organizations around the world. Our unique approach to explanation and education has delighted students since 2008.

If you're interested in making Common Craft videos available to your students, I invite you to evaluate the videos in our library​.

All videos are available with open captions and can be embedded, downloaded, and streamed. We offer a ​variety of plans​ and options for integrating the video library into your systems.

Bottom line: if you want to use the videos, we'll make sure it works for you. ​Contact us.​

When a human asks artificial intelligence (AI) how to slice bread, the response sounds human, as if the AI knows about bread and knives. But does AI actually know anything? Can we trust the information it provides?

This succinct video explores how AI uses a ​large language model​ to generate original responses that sound human. It teaches:

• How AI gathers the data it needs to generate accurate responses
• What kinds of media snapshots are collected by AI
• How AI can assemble human-sounding responses
• Why humans should be diligent about evaluating and editing AI response

Watch it in full​ (2m 35s)

All Common Craft videos come with Lesson Plans that help you engage students with learning objects, discussion questions, quiz questions, further reading, and more. Curious? Download this video's Lesson Plan: ​Common Craft Lesson Plan - Large Language Models.pdf​

Do You Teach Technology?

Common Craft videos are used in libraries, school districts, universities, and organizations around the world. Our unique approach to explanation and education has delighted students since 2008.

If you're interested in making Common Craft videos available to your students, I invite you to evaluate the videos in our library​.

All videos are available with open captions and can be embedded, downloaded, and streamed. We offer a ​variety of plans​ and options for integrating the video library into your systems.

Bottom line: if you want to use the videos, we'll make sure it works for you. ​Contact us.​

This post was published in the Common Craft Newsletter. Subscribe here.

Using a tool like ChatGPT can feel like chatting with an omniscient human. It appears to know virtually everything and is able to communicate clearly. It can understand what we want with minimal input.

You may wonder: Does ChatGPT learn and understand all the subjects? Does it truly know anything?

The answer to these questions lies in something called a Large Language Model or LLM. The model is created by computers that attempt to capture every word on the internet; around 1 trillion words. Then, massive computers analyze the context and connections between words and use that information to respond to chat requests.

A big part of understanding ChatGPT means understanding LLMs. And that was my challenge. I set out to explain LLMs in a two-minute video with a couple of constraints:

1. It needed to be a Readable Video
2. The video needed to work as an animated GIF

Large Language Models Explained

The video below is available on ​YouTube​.

Video Workaround for Email

One of the problems with online videos is that they don't play in most email programs. We're forced to link to a website in order to see the video play. And of course, most people don't click the links.

But all is not lost. Animated GIFs DO play in email. It's possible to include an animated gif that explains an idea right in the body of the message. For this to work, the GIF needs to be small in file size and consumable without sound.

This is a perfect situation for ​Readable Videos. I converted the video above to an animated gif that's two minutes long and under 2mbs in size. I converted the video above into a GIF using the free tool ​gifski​.

Animated GIFs aren't perfect for every situation, but they offer a way to share an idea in the form of an animated video. This is one of the many skills we teach in the ​Readable Videos course​.

Our course on ​Readable Videos now has a new chapter: Using Artificial Intelligence and ChatGPT. In the course, I explain the foundation of ChatGPT: Large Language Models. This chapter also includes a video walkthrough of what's possible with ChatGPT. One commenter summed it up: "Yes. Mind blown."

The free mini-course on Readable Videos is new and improved. It's now called ​Readable Video Essentials​ and it includes best practices for using animated text, accessibility guidelines, and lots of examples and inspiration.

This article was published in an issue of the Common Craft Newsletter. Subscribe here.

I believe AI chatbots, like ​ChatGPT, will become a part of most white-collar work. Whether you are an accountant, architect, or attorney, artificial intelligence will soon become part of your work and for some, a competitive advantage. Those who choose to experiment may find that AI can take their work to new and more efficient levels.

Tools like ChatGPT can play a valuable role in creating explainer videos. How? By helping you through one of the most difficult phases in the creative process: establishing a creative direction.

It's a common challenge. You have the idea and the major points for a video, but packaging the information can seem like a hurdle. Do you tell a story? Use an analogy? A walk-through? Is it a first-person narrative? What about visuals?

ChatGPT is an amazing tool for identifying a creative direction. With a few requests, it can generate examples and ideas that may never occur to you otherwise. Let's look at some examples:

ChatGPT Examples

I asked ChatGPT (free version 3.5) for 5 story ideas for explaining phishing scams.

"I want to create a video that clearly explains phishing scams. Please provide 5 ideas for short stories."

Here's what it generated in seconds:

​See the full version of these results​

This is the spark. ChatGPT easily provides titles and directions for a new video. If you don't like these ideas, you can ask for five more.

Let's take this a step further. I like story idea #1: "The Suspicious Email" and want an example script. So, I ask it:

"Let's focus on #1. Write a 300-word script for this story. Include a person named Chris."

Here are the results:

​See a full version of these results​

This is only a taste of what is possible. In this way, ChatGPT is a creative partner. It can get you down the creative road much faster than you can brainstorm. It can surface ideas and directions that aren't obvious.

Of course, ChatGPT has limits. It may be inaccurate or biased. It doesn't know your audience or situation. That's why it's a partner. You are required to evaluate, redirect and edit what it provides. You are required to shape it for your audience and include what you feel is important. You are the flame.