VEG 115: How AI and Communicators Can Be Friends. New Tools and More

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NEWSLETTER 115

VIRTUAL EVENTS GROUP

ChatGPT took only 5 days to reach 1 million users (Statista). Instagram took 2.5 months and Spotify took 5 months (askwonder).

February 16 | 12PM EST | Zoom

A Virtual Love Fest

We’ve added Joe Federbush from Evolio Marketing. We fondly call him the data doctor in our Valentine’s Day lineup. He’ll answer all of your love/hate relationship questions about you and your data. Then we’ll head off for virtual romance in a Paris Cafe with Room3D; it’s what would happen if Zoom had a flair for romance. Sign up today.

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Should You Confess to Using AI? Why Wouldn’t You?

We have penalties for plagiarism. If you’re a student, it can result in suspension or expulsion. If you’re in the workforce or a creative field, it can result in fines and legal actions. While it’s true that anyone who’s ever created a piece of art or an essay probably got a whiff of their ideas from others before them, we have some fair-use cases in the legal world that are well documented. And anyone who’s completed school past the 6th grade knows how to cite a borrowed concept or image. Grammarly, the popular spell and grammar checker, has a paid version with an automatic citation generator and a plagiarism checker that checks your work against 16 billion web pages.

Academics have become apoplectic over students' ability to use AI to generate essays and papers, and even pass exams. Every university and most high schools are thinking about what role AI should play in education. The Seattle, LA, and NYC school districts have already banned ChatGPT in the classroom. (Remember that calculators were once banned from classrooms, too.)

Ultimately cooler heads will prevail. Academics realize that AI is going to be part and parcel of any student’s experience and the sooner they create the rubric for exploring it with students the better they’ll be prepared for life’s work.

To me, an easy start would be to take the same old rules we used in the real world and start applying them to AI. Citing that a paragraph was created by ChatGPT in your footnotes should become common practice. And an end-statement of every written work should begin to include a list of AI tools that helped formulate the paper. It may not be the full answer, but it’s a start.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about how AI should be used and attributed in schools (and in your own work, of course). Leave your thoughts on our community board.

Tool of the Week

Arti AR
Sometimes adding a little sprinkle of AR magic to your presentations is all you need to raise the bar on engagement. Avner Vilan, the CEO of Arti AR caught my attention at CES because Arti makes it damn easy to include AR in most presentations. No QR codes or pointing your phone over objects; the AI is simply part of the presentation and works with Zoom, MS Teams or any other video conferencing system you use.

Arti’s team of computer vision, computer graphics, video, and UX experts have done the heavy lifting by creating a library of 3D AR objects. Templates include things like charts and graphs that can be placed in the palm of your hand during a meeting (all you need to do is add your data). Flags and banners can come out waving with your logo. And professors like this one can bring molecules to life. (Extra credit if you can name the molecule.) The program is still in early access mode but sign up and get first dibs. Long-time readers of this newsletter will see definite similarities between Arti and Mmhmm.

Image credit: Arti AR

Simulacra
Event creators might get a real kick out of Simulacra. It’s a suite of AI creator tools, but the one we found most interesting was the text-to-architecture tool that lets you play with walls, flooring and artwork to create 3D spaces. It’s still somewhat primitive but I created a quick photo of an exhibit hall, then played around with the floor’s texture and wall colors. It’s not hard to imagine this suite allowing you to create a virtual event in the metaverse that is easily customizable for every exhibitor or attendee.

Image credit: Simulacra

Entertainment vs. Engagement

Our technical editor, Alfred Poor, turned us on to We!, the creation of Chad Littleton, a guy who knows that connection is what happens between content sessions at events, and that it’s the most important ingredient. His website has some great tips for ways to invite interaction and make people feel seen and heard, even in large settings. While I confess I did a little bit of eye-rolling, We! is onto something. You can start with the merch like We! Connect cards and see if they help you spark true connections.

Scuttlebutt

The NBA is Going Full Alternate Reality
Meta and the NBA announced a virtual experience and clothing store and even more exciting, Niantic released NBA All-World, an AR basketball game. It’s a free-to-play geolocation AR basketball game where players can find, challenge, and compete against today’s NBA ballers in their neighborhoods. Love it when games get you out and about!

What Do You Get When You Cross Google With ChatGPT?
Take a look at Andi. Like ChatGPT, you supply a prompt and then get great answers from multiple sources. The difference is that they cite their sources. Fast Company wrote an interesting review.

Davos Does Metaverse
The World Economic Forum, the creators of the Davos soiree, allowed delegates to experience the forum in 3D immersive digital sessions called the Global Collaboration Village. The experience launched with help from Accenture and Microsoft. Will the platform be as exclusive as the live event? Let’s hope not.

Dive into the Global Collaboration Village ocean experience.
Image credit: Accenture

Remio Launches Engagement Platform in Meta Store
Once upon a time, co-workers bonded by playing foosball together. Now they’re engaged in playful new metaverse communities. Remio, a virtual reality platform, was built for creating fun, playful meetings. It just launched on the Meta store. You’ll play puzzles, figure out escape rooms, and solve mazes with your colleagues. Whether remote workers need this new type of employee activity remains to be seen. If not, try Pickleball.

Remio gives forced fun a whole new meaning by encouraging group collaboration amongst co-workers in the metaverse. Figure credit: Remio

One Workplace, Many Generations
I had to LOL when I saw this post from Peppercomm, a PR firm, on LinkedIn.

Admit it: you lurv the monkey covering its eyes

We were texting with our FIL the other day (we know…sigh), when he sent one of his classic lines: “Totally agree!” Don’t get us started...but, seriously, intergen communications can be wicked hard. With five generations occupying the same workspace today for the first time since Noah’s family DIYed the ark, organizations need to bring humor onto the scene to smooth over any rough spots. Check out Harvard Business Review’s latest take on bridging the divide. Their advice? Try a little self-deprecating humor. Remember that time you chatted your co-worker that you wanted stir-fried for lunch and got a call from HR?

I suspect we’ll soon have an intergenerational translation device.

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VEG Events

A Virtual Love Fest

February 16 | 12PM EST

It’s never too early to start thinking about February. If you love events, you’ll love our romantic interlude with Room3D.

RSVP NOW

The End of Events, The Dawn of Engagements

March 15 | 11:30AM-12:303PM CT

To succeed in the new world of data, experiential gatherings, and the element of delight, traditional events are due for re-invention. We have come not to praise Caesar, but dust him off a bit.