Responding to the “Arrival”: Essential Background Information and Strategies for Language Instructors in the Age of Human-Like Language Technologies (Machine Translation and Large Language Models)
Dr. Joel Walsh
Software Engineer, Privateer Space
Machine translation (MT) systems were once clunky and error-prone but have improved greatly in the last decade. Within the last two years, large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT have achieved state of the art performance at translation and multilingual text generation. The proliferation of LLMs and MT tools has created an existential crisis for K-16 educators, as they are capable of producing plausible sounding texts in a variety of languages with minimal prompting. This talk aims to equip language instructors with relevant background knowledge on the history and technical details of modern language technologies. This will include an intuitive description of transformers and neural networks, as well as a summary of the latest research on the limitations of LLMs. Lastly, we will discuss and share best practices for creating language tech-proof and language tech-assisted curriculum.
Thursday, October 12, 2023
B-4 Dwinelle & via Zoom, 3-5 pm
This lecture is sponsored by the College of Letters and Science.
Creating Instructional Materials to Develop AI Literacies
Dr. Joel Walsh
Software Engineer, Privateer Space
In this workshop, participants will apply concepts from Thursday’s talk by Dr. Walsh (Responding to the “Arrival”: Essential Background Information and Strategies for Language Instructors in the Age of Human-Like Language Technologies (Machine Translation and Large Language Models) to the creation of instructional materials that can be used in the language classroom. Specifically, participants will create materials that develop students’ AI literacies in relation to machine translation and to large language models (e.g., ChatGPT). Development of instructional materials will combine collaborative and independent work and will be guided by Dr. Walsh and Dr. Hellmich/Dr. Vinall.
Friday, October 13, 2023
B-21, 10-12 pm
This workshop is sponsored by the College of Letters and Science.
BIO:
Joel Walsh is currently a Software Engineer at Privateer space, where he develops machine learning software for a number of vision and language systems. Prior to this, he was an AI research intern at Finetune Learning where he worked on integrating knowledge graphs into Large Language Models. He received his Phd in STEM Education and M.S. in Computational Science, Engineering, and Mathematics at UT-Austin. Both his dissertation and masters thesis explored applications of knowledge graphs and natural language processing in educational and space situational awareness contexts. Prior to returning to graduate school, he spent five years as a public high school teacher in South Los Angeles.