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LLM-Integrated Multivariable Calculus Course

calculus.academa.ai

31–40 of 50 posts

Re: LLM-Integrated Multivariable Calculus Course

#31
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LLM-written clones of free software into proprietary seem to be a growing trend now. With manim, it's probably legal (I think MIT license?), but in general, it makes the world a worse place.

All we want to do is innovate. We simply can't open source this because we're rewriting and rebuilding it every day.

Why can’t you do that in the open? Normally I don’t think people have a moral obligation to open source, but if you’re using AI to reimplement an existing open source library I think you do.

Re: LLM-Integrated Multivariable Calculus Course

#32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are some incorrect premises here. "The videos are LLM slop." - No, they're not. Watch them. "It's dogshit that no one can understand." - That's not true. Try it.

I watched some snippets, and would like to put forward some points in support of the former: - The voice is clearly TTS, which I think really loses something. Not having variation or stressing particular parts with intonation is a big deal in teaching. The beginning of lecture 5 has a pause in a weird spot (surface). - The intro to the first lecture is already unnatural: "And that's of course now we're going to start…

These are 14 hours of video, so it's easy to find mistakes. We've probably made plenty of them. But this isn't AI slop.

We created the technology so that the content can be updated and improved over time. If we make mistakes, we'll fix them and continue maintaining the material. These aren't static MP4 files recorded once with a camcorder.

Re: LLM-Integrated Multivariable Calculus Course

#33
post #16

I think a lot of this is the inevitable (and good) direction teaching must go. As someone who has self-taught most of my skills both before and after AI, some deep feedback: I don't want a fixed piece of content when learning with AI, like a video or blogpost or book—unless I'm completely new to the subject, and even then maybe not. The reason is that some parts of the topic will be naturally easier or harder for me.…

The impact of LLMs on learning is also something I am keen on, both for myself and for my children and how I should guide them along. The tech is undeniably useful but useless/harmless if employed without care for first principles of learning.

Most literature seem to indicate that whatever the manner of use, "friction" while learning ultimately still helps. My first "experimental" touchpoint is using LLMs as a called "socratic tutor".

Edit: because fat fingered submit while typing this on a split keyboard

Re: LLM-Integrated Multivariable Calculus Course

#34
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LLM-written clones of free software into proprietary seem to be a growing trend now. With manim, it's probably legal (I think MIT license?), but in general, it makes the world a worse place.

All we want to do is innovate. We simply can't open source this because we're rewriting and rebuilding it every day.

Is cloning Manim "innovation" now?

Plenty of open source is updated every day.

You had no problem taking advantage of Manim to profit, but when it comes to returning the great favor done to you by Manim being open source, you don't care?

Okay.

Re: LLM-Integrated Multivariable Calculus Course

#35
post #18

This sort of thing makes me depressed. The videos are LLM slop. You're a confused student. You do a web search. You run into something like this. It looks high-quality and professional. It is dogshit which no one can understand. The result is a confused learner who feels bad about themselves. At the same time, thousands of low-quality resources overwhelm good content. Integrating with an existing resources like MOOCu…

Most textbooks are bad too. It's worth looking at some sample content to find the good ones.

Re: LLM-Integrated Multivariable Calculus Course

#36
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All we want to do is innovate. We simply can't open source this because we're rewriting and rebuilding it every day.

> All we want to do is innovate. That's very clear. That's why we have spyware, ad tech, WWII-era German chemical weapons, the East India Company, Oracle's business model, fintech, ... Ask anyone 40 years older. Regrets focus on time with family and meaningful work. Few people think: "Did I innovate enough?" > We simply can't open source this because we're rewriting and rebuilding it every day. I don't quite see the…

First, I need to make my startup successful so I can continue innovating over the next 15 years. Open-sourcing our work could be a distraction at this stage. Maintaining an open-source project requires significant time and effort.

It would also make it easier for competitors to build products that compete directly with us, such as https://studio.academa.ai. That would make it harder for my startup to succeed.

I'm not building this for the sake of making money. I simply need enough protected space to innovate competitively and give the company the best chance to succeed. If it does, I'll be able to keep building and pushing education forward for years to come.

Re: LLM-Integrated Multivariable Calculus Course

#37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All we want to do is innovate. We simply can't open source this because we're rewriting and rebuilding it every day.

Is cloning Manim "innovation" now? Plenty of open source is updated every day. You had no problem taking advantage of Manim to profit, but when it comes to returning the great favor done to you by Manim being open source, you don't care? Okay.

Everything I do is driven by a single goal: to make my startup successful so I can innovate in edtech. Nothing else.

You may not believe me, and you may think I have ulterior motives, but I don't. My only goal is to build technology that meaningfully advances education.

Re: LLM-Integrated Multivariable Calculus Course

#38
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, not yet. It's something we may do in the future.

LLM-written clones of free software into proprietary seem to be a growing trend now. With manim, it's probably legal (I think MIT license?), but in general, it makes the world a worse place.

It's the AI frontier ethos. "I get mine." That's the culture now.

Speaking of which, it happened before, too, in the 1970's with personal computer software.

Re: LLM-Integrated Multivariable Calculus Course

#39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I watched some snippets, and would like to put forward some points in support of the former: - The voice is clearly TTS, which I think really loses something. Not having variation or stressing particular parts with intonation is a big deal in teaching. The beginning of lecture 5 has a pause in a weird spot (surface). - The intro to the first lecture is already unnatural: "And that's of course now we're going to start…

These are 14 hours of video, so it's easy to find mistakes. We've probably made plenty of them. But this isn't AI slop. We created the technology so that the content can be updated and improved over time. If we make mistakes, we'll fix them and continue maintaining the material. These aren't static MP4 files recorded once with a camcorder.

To give a more precise indication, I watched maybe the first 5 minutes of lecture 1 and 5 for this.

I highly encourage you to take "didicatically useful" as a bar to aim for, rather than "not making mistakes".

I think it's a cool tech demo, but if you're positioning this as a course that's ready to be consumed by students, I think doing the quality control is not optional.

Re: LLM-Integrated Multivariable Calculus Course

#40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All we want to do is innovate. We simply can't open source this because we're rewriting and rebuilding it every day.

Is cloning Manim "innovation" now? Plenty of open source is updated every day. You had no problem taking advantage of Manim to profit, but when it comes to returning the great favor done to you by Manim being open source, you don't care? Okay.

Well, OpenAI was "not for profit" and still has "open" in the name. It's the age of transparent doublespeak.
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