ReadingAStephenHawking,amongothers,hassaidthatartificialintelligence(AI)isthebeginningoftheend.Theendforus,anyway.ImustsaythatIaminclinedtoagree.Recently,afuturistwastellingmethatD-Wave,thequantumcomputingsystemfromGoogleandNASA,isonemilliontimesfasterthanthefastestcomputertoday.AndthatIBM’scognitivelearninglabsareself-learningwithoutanyhumandirectionneeded.Theywillbethefutureoftradingandagreatmanyotherthings.1ReadingAButitwaswhenIsawavideoofarobot,designedbyBostonDynamics,runningthroughthesnowwithnotrailingcablesthatTheTerminatorbecamealittlebittooreal.Knowingallthis,ourmindsthengotoChina.Whataretheydoing?Andofcourse,Chinaisdesigningallthesekindsofthingstoo.Beyondourexpectation,China’sWeChatshowsusawholenewsideofAI—onethatiscute,playful,evenflirty.2ReadingARightnow,voicerecognitionisoneofthebiggestareasof‘everydayAI’inactioninWeChat.ThecompanybehindthetechnologyiscalledChumenWenwenanditwasfoundedbyabunchofformerGooglerockstarengineerswholefttojoinlocalrivals.TheconceptworksinasimilarwaytoApple’sSiributwithabuilt-inappthatrespondswithmorewords.3ReadingAForexample,youcanaskChumenWenwentofindveryspecificthingsforyou,likeaddressesforrestaurants,whereaparticularmovieisshowing,ortheclosestplacetogetamassage.AndwithtypicalWeChatintegrationthatstillleavestheWestfordead,theservicelinksdirectlywiththird-partyappslikeDianping,enablingyoutoevenuseyourvoicetobookarestaurant...evenordertakeaway.Notbad.4ReadingAFacerecognitionisanothermajor“node”ofAIonWeChat.We’veseenFacebookusingthisinasimilarwaytoApple’sapproach,torecogniseyourfriendsandfamilysotheycanbefiled“accordingtoface”.ButWeChathasamorefunapplication.Whenyoutakeaselfieandaddittoyouraccount,thetechnologywillgoandfindanimageofacelebritythatitthinksyoulooklikeanditwillsendthatimagetoyou.It’snotveryuseful,butlikealotofsocialmedia,it’sjustfun.5ReadingAIfthatisn’tfunenough,howaboutWeChatgirlfriend?It—orrathershe—iscalled“Xiaobing”(whichsoundsquitecuteinChinese).DevelopedbyMicrosoft,Xiaobingcanhaveaconversationwithyou.AndunlikefacelessSiri,Xiaobinghasalittleicontotypewith.Andyoucanplaya“guesswhoIam”gamewithherwhereyouthinkofsomeoneandXiaobingasksyouquestionsuntilsheguesseswho’sinyourhead.It’sallprettysimpleatthisstage,butsoonitreallycouldbe...Her.6ReadingAAmoreproductivebranchofAIonWeChatistheincredibletranslationcapability.TranslatingChineseistricky.Forexample,it’salotharderthantranslatingEnglishandtheRomancelanguages,whichusesingle-bytescript,becausetheChinesedataisalldouble-byte.Thisisthereasonwhyittookalotlongerforthetechcompaniestocomeupwitheffectivereal-timetranslationengines.Thefirstfewwerelaughablebutnowtheyworkwellenough.Touseit,youjustopenupthetranslationaccountandpasteortypeinwhatyouwanttranslated,nomatterwhetherEnglishorChinese.Secondslater,itgivesyoutheanswer,includingalternativetranslationsincaseyoudon’tagreewiththeAI’srecommendation.7ReadingASofar,notmanybrandshaveleaptintoAIwithgusto.However,therewasoneveryexcitingprobonocasethatshowedthedirectionofhowthingsmaydevelop.TheVoiceDonorwasaninitiativetohavethousandsofbooksvoice-recordedfortheblind.QRcodeswereputinblankpagesofbooksandthereaderwasinvitedtoreadapassage.AIthenintelligentlyeditedallthepassagestogetherand200,000people’svoiceswereputtouse.AIisstillscary,becausethepotentialpowerofitishardtosee.ButWeChathasperhapsgivenuscauseforoptimism.89ReadingBTechnologyandStudentDistractionInmanyways,theubiquityoflaptopsandmobiledevicesinlectureshasbeenaboontohighereducation—studentscannowrespondinstantaneouslytoonlinepolls,collaborateinrealtimeonwrittenwork,andengagewitharangeofmediamoreflexiblythaneverbefore.Withthoseadvantages,ofcourse,comeanequalandoppositesetofpossibledisadvantages,andformanyinstructorsthelatteroutweightheformer.Asaresult,anincreasingnumberofinstructorsnowincludespecificpoliciesregardingtechnologyintheclassroom,manyofthemoptingtobanlaptopsandmobiledevicesoutright.Otherinstructors,however,opttoembrace—oratleastresignthemselvesto—thesetechnologiesasmeansofrethinkingthedynamicbetweenstudentandinstructorinteachingspaces.Thedebatehasardentproponentsonbothsides,andbelowwelayoutthecaseforeach.1ReadingBIfyou’vebeenanywherenearacollegecampus,you’veprobablynoticedtheextenttowhichstudentsaregluedtotheirmobiledevices.Whatdotheydowiththemwhentheywalkintotheclassroom?Inonesurveyatsixdifferentuniversities,collegestudentsreportedusingtheirphonesanaverageof11timesperdayinclass.Inanotherstudy,92%ofcollegestudentsreportedusingtheirphonestosendtextmessagesduringclass.2ReadingBRecently,afacultymemberaskedusforadviceaboutpoliciesregardingmobiledevicesinclass.Indeed,thisisahottopiconourcampusandatuniversitiesacrossthecountry.Wewereabletopointhimtoanumberofstudiesexaminingmobiledevicesinthecollegeclassroom.Notsurprisingly,theevidencesuggeststhatcellphonesgenerallyareadistractionforstudents.3ReadingBBroadly,wearenotwiredtomultitaskwell,andusingcellphonesduringclassisnoexception.Severalstudieshavecomparedstudentswhotextedduringalectureversusthosewhodidnot.Thosewhotextedfrequentlytooklowerqualitynotes,retainedlessinformation,anddidworseontestsaboutthematerial.Studentsthemselvesrealizethatcellphoneusagedoesnotpromotelearning;inonesurvey,80%ofstudentsagreedthatusingamobilephoneinclassdecreasestheirabilitytopayattention.4ReadingBWhatisworseisthatmobiledeviceusageisdistractingtoneighboringstudents.Inseveralsurveys,studentshavereportedthattextingisdistractingtonearbystudents.Astudyonlaptopsinasimulatedclassroomfoundthatstudentsinthevicinityofanotherstudentwhowasmultitaskingonalaptopduringclassscoredworseonatestthanthosewhowerenotnearmultitaskers.Whilecellphonescreensaresmaller—andthusperhapslessdistracting—thanalaptop,onecouldreasonablyexpectthatasimilarphenomenonofdistractionappliestocellphones.5ReadingBOntheotherhand,smartphonesandothermobiledevicescanbeusedforpositivepurposesintheclassroom.Forexample,instructorsmightchoosetoemployavarietyofapplications,includingPollEverywhereandLearningCatalytics,whichcanbeaccessedbymobiledevices.Theseapplicationsencourageclassparticipationandprovideinstructorswithinstantaneousfeedbackaboutstudentlearning.6ReadingBWhetherlaptopsshouldbeallowedintheclassroommaybeabitmorenuanced,assomestudentsprefertotakenotesontheircomputer.However,thetemptationfordistractionislarge.ProfessorFayerfoundthatmoststudentsus