Middlebury Tool Updates
Gemini
Gemini continues to add features. The current Gemini interface provides the following options:
- The + icon is for adding files. It allows you to upload files, link to files in Google Drive, and connect to your NotebookLM Notebooks.
- The tools selector enables you to modify Gemini’s behavior and interface.
-
-
- Guided Learning – open-ended questions and discussion rather than answers
- Create Image – image creation using the Nano Banana 2 model
- Canvas – code and longer, more complex text generation like reports (Not our LMS!)
- Deep Research – research tasks across web sites and data to generate report
- Create Music – 30 second audio clips using the Lyria 3 model
-
- The model selector enables you to select different AI models.
-
- Fast – answers quickly
- Thinking – more complex problems
- Pro – advanced math and code
NotebookLM
NotebookLM now enables you to create the media items (audio overviews, slide decks, etc.) from the chat interface. The chat context is taken into account when creating the media item. You can also use a prompt interface to edit individual slides in slide decks.
AI in the world
AI audio transcription options
If you’re handling research interviews or other sensitive data, cloud-based AI isn’t always a desirable option. Beyond privacy, local tools also help you bypass processing limits and subscription costs if you have high volumes of audio to process.
For faculty looking to keep transcription strictly on their own hardware, here are some options:
- aTrain (Windows): An easy, “one-click” install via the Microsoft Store. It’s the most user-friendly option for PC users.
- OpenVINO plugin for Audacity (Cross platform): For those of you already using Audacity, this is a good option to explore.
- PrivateScribe.ai (Cross platform): A great middle-ground for those who want a visual interface but are ok with a terminal-based setup process.
- Whisper (Cross platform): Promises accuracy across 90+ languages. Best for technical users comfortable using the terminal/command line both for installation and usage.
Our Microsoft educational contract provides 300 minutes of cloud-based transcription a month and is approved for private data. Cloud-based transcription is going to be much faster than what you’re able to do on your computer.
DLINQ is here to help you with these and other digital workflows (with or without AI).
AI and human agency
- Anthropic, the creator of Claude and one of the more safety-conscious major AI companies, is loosening its safety commitments citing a highly competitive, anti-regulatory environment. In a separate and coinciding development, the US Department of Defense gave Anthropic an ultimatum to remove guardrails preventing Claude from being used for mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons, or lose a $200 million contract.
- The Greatest Risk of AI in Higher Education Isn’t Cheating — It’s the Erosion of Learning Itself (The Conversation, Feb. 19): Two professors from UMass Boston argue that the deeper concern isn’t academic dishonesty but the gradual offloading of vital cognitive work (wrestling with confusion, revising, spotting your own errors) that actually builds competence. The research in To Trust or to Think (2021) adds a design dimension for consideration. The interventions that successfully reduced overreliance on AI were the ones people liked least.
- rentahuman.ai allows people to make themselves available for rent . . . to AI agents who need a human to do something in the real world. Over 500,000 people were available for “rent” when I checked on Feb. 26.
