Tech-Neill-ogy #58 - 28 July 2024

Welcome to Tech-Neill-ogy #58!

Happy Monday!

Well, the summer is over for me officially, with work meetings having begun yesterday. I hope all of you still on break make the most of all of your remaining time!

This week, the big news is that OpenAI has released SearchGPT, which could threaten the dominance of Google. You have to sign up to get on the waitlist, so I’ve not been able to experiment with it yet, but the feedback suggests it is a lot like Perplexity, another of my favorites.

A busy week ahead… in addition to work resuming after the “summer” holiday, I’ll be delivering a handful of webinars:

• Tuesday, 9pm Brazil time - My conversation with Jon Boekenstedt about the current state of things in college admissions… with some talk about AI! (Register here for free!)

• Thursday, 1:30pm Brazil time - As part of the College Board Summer Institute, I’ll be delivering a session entitled “Navigating AI for School Counselors.” (Register here for free!)

• Friday, 3pm Brazil time - I’ll be joining Cyndy McDonald for a Friday Forum on AI called “The New Frontier of AI and Counseling.” (Register here for free!)

Now, this week, I have been thinking a lot about this non-tech article entitled “10 Studies Every Teach Should Know About,” which reminded me of how much research is out there that educators often overlook (or forget about). Worth a read!

In any case, enjoy this week’s newsletter!

This week, as I’ve been easing back into “work mode,” I’ve been obsessed with Email Triager, which essentially reads your incoming emails and uses AI to review previous answers to draft a reply, which conveniently sits in your inbox until you review it and send. Here’s a simple example I gave it, imitating the countless emails I receive regularly:

Hi Dr. Neill,

I apologize for the bother, but I am wondering if you can help answer a handful of questions for me…

1. I would like to sign up for the August SAT, but there appears to be no spaces left at Graded. How can I get to sit for the SAT?
2. I am close to finalizing my college list, but I was wondering what universities are coming to Graded to visit us in the first semester. Has this information been made available yet?
3. Would you be willing to read through and critique my college essay?

Thank you!

Larry

Within a few seconds, I had the following email reply queued up in reply to it:

Hi Larry,

Thanks for reaching out. Here are some answers to your questions:

1. While Graded is full for the August SAT, you can still register at other nearby test centers. Check the College Board website for available spots.
2. We haven't finalized the list of university visits for the first semester yet. But I can tell you we have our college fair scheduled for August 26, 2024. I'll share more info about visits soon.
3. I'd be happy to review your college essay. Could you book a time with me through my Calendly link? We can discuss it then.

Let me know if you need anything else!

Best,
Dr. Neill

The reply, which was developed from the training data of past emails including my tone and style, is 100% accurate. I have had some replies that needed editing and modifying, but it learns from each email, ensuring that future replies are more accurate.

The obvious concern is about confidentiality of the data of my inbox… I’ve reached out and researched, and I’ve been assured that it is not shared unless you choose for it to be, which is a pretty clear setting.

In any case, I’d be curious to hear others’ thoughts and questions about this amazing time-saving tool. Send me a note at [email protected].

I hope you all have a great week, and I hope to see some of you at some of the various webinars I’m delivering this week.

That’s it for this week. Enjoy the summer!

Happy counseling,

Jeff