Open Source: ChatGPT has colleges cautious (and curious)
North Carolina joins the TikTok ban party. ChatGPT has Duke and UNC professors abuzz. Durham Tech is getting its largest donation ever. That and more in this week’s Open Source.
First up…
Cooper gets on board the TikTok ban train
North Carolina is now among the crowd of states outlawing TikTok on state employee devices. On Thursday, Gov. Roy Cooper signed an executive order prohibiting the social media app. The move has bipartisan support; two GOP legislators asked the governor to make this move a few weeks ago.
Why have NC and more than 20 states (plus the federal government) banned TikTok on employee phones and computers? TikTok is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, and U.S. officials are concerned the Chinese government could obtain data and perhaps disseminate propaganda through the app.
On Thursday, North Carolina also banned the Chinese messaging app WeChat from state employee devices.
Something to follow: Cities and towns are also beginning to set their own TikTok bans. Charlotte recently removed TikTok on city employee devices. Will more follow?
More like CheatGPT?
ChatGPT burst onto the scene at the tail end of the last semester, and the viral AI-powered platform now has college professors and TAs discerning its implications on scholarly integrity. Plagiarism in college isn’t new, but instructors at Duke, UNC, and other local schools are now taking steps to ward off ChatGPT cheating.
At the same time, they marvel at the new technology though note it remains far from flawless. But this is likely just the first version as AI-backed language models seem poised to reshape learning.
Down a rabbit hole: I asked ChatGPT to write a newsletter about this week in Triangle tech news. What it produced was factual but also showed the programs’ limitations:
Durham Tech’s largest gift
Durham Tech celebrated the largest donation in the school’s 60-year history this week when the global health care firm Novo Nordisk, which has three facilities in the area, announced it would give $6 million. The money, among other things, will help the school build a new 35,000-square-foot Life Science Training Center.
The donation comes at a time when companies are hurting for skilled workers. Novo Nordisk, which already employs 1,800 in the Triangle, is perhaps being strategic in its philanthropy.
Spiffy teases IPO
Local entrepreneur Scot Wingo had a busy week. On Wednesday, his Triangle Tweener Fund released the latest local startups to join its portfolio, a list which included his mobile car service company Get Spiffy. And the next day, Wingo teased a potential IPO in Spiffy’s future when he announced the company’s new CFO was “IPO-ready.”
National Tech Happenings
Flight fiasco: An issue with a federal pilot-alert system sparked gridlock at U.S. airports Wednesday, grounding thousands of flights and stranding travelers.
CEO’s don’t often take pay cuts. Apple’s Tim Cook just did.
Gas stoves might be dangerous to your health, new studies show, and they’re now a, uh, hotly-contested political issue.
Thanks for reading!
This story was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work.
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