2017 August 28 | AIVAnet

28

Aug

Apple Stores Hosting Free Star Wars-Themed Sessions Starting Friday

In celebration of Force Friday II later this week, Apple has invited customers to attend free Star Wars–themed sessions and workshops at select Apple retail stores between Friday, September 1 and Saturday, September 9.

Participating countries include the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, UK, France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Netherlands, Spain, Hong Kong, Sweden, Taiwan, and the United Arab Emirates.

Most stores will offer a one-hour session called How To: Build Your Own Star Wars Trailer using an iPad and iMovie:

Explore how to create a Star Wars trailer with authentic footage from the films. You’ll discover signature Star Wars trailer-making techniques in an exclusive video from The Last Jedi director, Rian Johnson. Then you’ll create your own trailer complete with titles, transitions, sound effects, and official Star Wars music using iPad and iMovie.

There will also be Kids Hour: Coding the Droids from Star Wars, in which children ages six to 12 can learn how to program a BB-8 droid:

Join us for an exciting Kids Hour starring the galaxy’s favorite droids. Using the same code developers use every day, kids will bring Star Wars droids to life by programming simple movements, loops, and more. Then they’ll design a maze and navigate their droids through the obstacles. Kids can bring their own iPad and Sphero robot, or we’ll provide them.

At Apple’s flagship Union Square store in San Francisco, Lucasfilm’s VFX and animation studio Industrial Light & Magic will explore how they use animation and 3D modeling to bring the Star Wars galaxy to life.

Force Friday II officially begins at 12:01 a.m. Pacific Time on September 1 and runs through the weekend. The promotional campaign is for the film Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which debuts in theaters December 15.

An earlier report said Apple retail stores may carry some new Star Wars toys or merchandise starting on Force Friday II.

Tags: Star Wars, Apple retail
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28

Aug

Essential PH-1 vs. Google Pixel: Pure Android Showdown

The Google Pixel was hailed as one of the best phones of 2016, if not the best. Although it wasn’t necessarily flashy or innovative from a design standpoint, the device melded Google’s pure vision for Android with quality hardware. We gave it our Editors’ Choice award, and we’re looking forward to finding out what Google is planning for the Pixel’s successor, which is likely to land in the fall.

Before that happens, however, a new contender has emerged on the horizon: The Essential PH-1. It’s a device that resembles the Pixel in many ways, and that’s hardly a coincidence. Essential is a startup founded by Andy Rubin, the man typically considered the “father of Android” during his time with Google. This makes the PH-1 something like a Pixel from another dimension — though they’re hardly the same phone. Read on to find out how the two compare with one another.

Specs

Essential PH-1

Google Pixel

Size
141.5 x 71.1 x 7.8 mm (5.57 x 2.80 x 0.31 inches)
143.8 x 69.5 x 7.3mm (5.6 x 2.7 x 0.2-0.3-inches)
Weight
6.53 ounces (185 grams)
5 ounces (143 grams)
Screen
5.71-inch LCD
5-inch AMOLED
Resolution
2,560 x 1,312 pixels (504 ppi)
1,920 x 1,080 pixels (441 ppi)
OS
Android 7.1.1 Nougat
Android 8.0 Oreo
Storage
128GB
32, 128GB
MicroSD card slot
No
No
NFC support
Yes
Yes
Processor
Qualcomm Snapdragon 835
Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
RAM
4GB
4GB
Connectivity
GSM, CDMA, HSPA, EVDO, LTE
GSM, CDMA, HSPA, LTE
Camera
Dual 13 MP rear, 8MP front
12MP rear, 8MP front
Video
4K at 30fps, 1080p at 60fps, 720p at 120fps
4K at 30fps, 1080p at 30 or 60fps
Bluetooth
Yes, version 5.0
Yes, version 4.2
Fingerprint sensor
Yes
Yes
Other sensors
Accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity, compass, barometer
Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, barometer
Water resistant
No
No
Battery
3,040mAh
2,770mAh
Charging port
USB-C
USB-C
Marketplace
Google Play Store
Google Play Store
Colors
Stellar Gray, Ocean Depths, Black Moon, Pure White
Very Silver, Quite Black, Really Blue
Availability

Unlocked, Sprint

Unlocked, Verizon

Price
$700
$650
DT review
Coming soon
4 out of 5 stars

From a hardware standpoint, there’s no getting around the fact the Essential PH-1 is a generation newer than the Pixel. Google’s smartphone benefited from Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 821 processor. At the time of the phone’s release, it was speedier than the 820 found in other Android flagships, but it can’t compare to the 835 in Essential’s first product.

With the latest generation of Snapdragon processors, Qualcomm has touted performance gains of around 30 percent, along with a marked improvement in power efficiency, thanks to the newer chipset’s 10-nanometer construction. The Pixel is still likely plenty fast for most users, but you should feel a difference between the two handsets, and it works in Essential’s favor.

In another respect, the phones are more similar: Both offer 4GB of RAM. Surprisingly, however, the Essential has an edge in terms of internal storage. Whereas the Pixel comes with a base amount of 32GB, the PH-1 starts at 128GB. The 128GB configuration of the Pixel has been notoriously difficult to track down, and costs more — another reason the newcomer gets the win in this category.

Winner: Essential PH-1

Design and display

This is easily the most significant difference between these two devices, and it all comes down to the Essential’s futuristic, edge-to-edge display. The 5.7-inch LCD panel stretches all the way to the top, curving around the front-facing camera and offering up 2,560 x 1,312-pixel resolution. It nearly fills the entire front of the handset, save for a chin along the bottom edge. It also looks stunning.

Meanwhile, the Pixel’s design is pretty run-of-the-mill as far as smartphones go, with chunky bezels above and below the screen.

The PH-1 bears a unique look many upcoming smartphones — including Apple’s iPhone 8 — are expected to emulate. And, although that notch on the top edge may seem awkward at first glance, it represents a major step toward bezel-free displays. On the back, both phones have rear-mounted fingerprint sensors, and the Essential even has magnetic pins in the upper-right corner for modular components, like a 360-degree camera.

At 504 pixels-per-inch, the Essential’s screen is also considerably sharper than the 5.5-inch, 1080p AMOLED offered in the Pixel. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with the display in Google’s flagship, but both in terms of resolution and usable space, it loses this battle. Neither phone is water-resistant, though that’s something the next Pixel is expected to rectify.

Winner: Essential PH-1

Battery life and charging

We weren’t terribly impressed with the Pixel’s 2,770mAh battery in our testing. Coming from the iPhone 7, which had a significantly smaller battery, Google’s effort was pretty underwhelming. Fortunately, the Essential PH-1 has a larger, 3,040mAh unit. Both benefit from fast charging, though neither supports wireless charging.

While the bigger size may seem promising alongside the Essential’s 835 chipset, it’s important to remember this phone is packing a more pixel-dense display — and displays are the number one enemy of battery life. At least on paper, it’s hard to tell if we’ll see a significant difference when it comes to battery life, though initial reviews have been encouraging. We’ll know more once we test the device for ourselves.

Winner: Essential PH-1

Camera

On the back of the Essential PH-1, you’ll find twice the number of cameras as on Google’s flagship. That’s two to be exact, along with a 13-megapixel image sensor and an f/1.9 aperture. Those are numbers on par with the best phones out there, though the PH-1’s results seem to be a bit of a mixed bag, according to the reviews we’ve seen thus far.

Essential’s method combines a monochrome and full-color sensor, similar to what Huawei and Motorola have done with their dual-lens cameras. You can use the monochrome lens alone for true black-and-white shots, but otherwise, the whole experience seems surprisingly average for such a top-of-the-line device.

On the other hand, the Pixel offered perhaps the best camera of any smartphone released last year, despite it only using a single lens. It produces vibrant, detailed shots, and Google’s HDR+ mode worked reliably well with no noticeable processing lag. Although the 12.3-megapixel, f/2.0 shooter lacks the depth-of-field tricks you’ll find in most dual-lens cameras, it was excellent in every other respect — making the Pixel one of the leading handsets to beat when it comes to photography.

Winner: Google Pixel

Software

Both of these devices offer a straightforward and bloat-free Android experience. That’s refreshing compared to the sea of phones pushing heavy customizations to Google’s operating system, though it does mean there isn’t much separating them from a software standpoint.

There are small differences, however. Essential’s camera interface isn’t quite as feature-packed as the one in the Pixel, and Google has provided 24/7 tech support for its phone in the form of a dedicated app. Otherwise, you should expect the same fast, fluid, and user-friendly rendition of Android in both phones. Pixel users are in the early stages of receiving updates to Android 8.0 Oreo, while Essential’s device is launching with 7.1.1 Nougat. There’s no word on when Oreo may arrive for the PH-1, but given the stock nature of the software, hopefully it won’t take very long.

Winner: Tie

Price and availability

You’d think, given the Pixel has been around for nearly a year, that it would be easier to find and buy than any new phone on the market. Unfortunately, this hasn’t been the case. For a long time, some configurations — usually the larger XL model with the 128GB storage option — were available in extremely limited quantities. Manufacturer HTC faced supply issues throughout the phone’s lifespan, though, now it seems as though there’s plenty of stock available.

The 32GB Pixel retails for $650 direct from Google, while the 128GB model normally goes for $750. If you’d rather not go unlocked, the device is also available on contract from Verizon.

The 128GB version of the Essential, meanwhile, runs for $700, and can be purchased either unlocked or through a carrier — in this case, Sprint. Considering how new the phone is, it’s hard to say how the supply will shake out. For now, the Essential gets the nod as it offers significantly better specs for nearly the same price.

Winner: Essential PH-1

Overall winner: Essential PH-1

As excited as we are for Google’s next flagship, the Essential PH-1 beats the current Pixel on paper. The Essential’s innovative design, state-of-the-art silicon, and larger battery look to improve in a few key areas where Google’s phone was lacking. Still, no matter which you choose, you’re certain to have one of the best Android devices on the market right now.

28

Aug

Windows 10 Fall Creators Update news — everything you need to know

Microsoft has settled on bi-annual updates for Windows 10, with the first update arriving in the spring and the second in the fall. Accordingly, the first update for 2017, dubbed Creators Update based on all of its new features and functionality for creative types, arrived in April. The second update, which is a little more derivatively titled Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, should arrive early this fall and likely in September. Here’s an up-to-date accounting of all of the most important Windows 10 Fall Creators Update news.

If you’re a Windows Insider on the Fast Ring, then you already know what Fall Creators Update will add to your Windows 10 PC. If you’re not, then read on to learn what Microsoft is bringing to the table, as well as some features that were promised at the company’s Build 2017 event that won’t be making it into Windows 10 this time around.

What’s new in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update?

As its name implies, some of the new features in Fall Creators Update are once again focused on people who use their PCs for creative purposes. But that’s not all that Microsoft promised for the update. Here are some of the highlights of what you can expect when you hit that update button.

New Windows 10 Photos app (once known as Story Remix)

Microsoft made a decent sized splash at Build 2017 when it introduced a new Story Remix app that promises to make it easy to create video productions that mix photos and video and offer tools for cool 3D animations and captioning effects. As time went on, some uncertainty arose as to whether or not the app would make it in time for Fall Creators update and just how much of the promised functionality would arrive.

Now, it seems like some of the functionality will arrive in an update to the Windows 10 Photos app — and so no more standalone Story Remix — but that the update won’t necessarily arrive along with the update itself and not every highlighted effect will be available immediately. Rather, it could come as a Photos app update in the Windows Store soon after Fall Creators Update is pushed to Windows 10 PC. Check out this tweet from Microsoft corporate vice president Chris Pratley:

Story Remix will be in the Store when RS3 launches (auto-updates the existing Photos app). RS2 minimum, but RS3 for full functionality.

— chris pratley (@chrispr) August 15, 2017

We’ll have to wait for the shipping version to see exactly what’s in store. However, check out the following video for an overview of what Microsoft ultimately hopes to bring to Windows 10 users.

A more Fluent Design

Next, Microsoft announced some significant enhancements to the design language that developers — inside and outside of Microsoft — can use to make new Windows 10 apps. Called “Fluent Design” and formerly codenamed “Project Neon,” the new design language integrates touch, ink, voice, gaze, and gesture controls with five design elements including light, depth, motion, material, and scale. The net result will be more visually exciting apps that are optimized for a given device.

Microsoft has used Fluent Design to spice up a few of its own first-party apps and the Windows 10 user interface (UI) in general, so it’s actively in the process of rolling out Fluent Design out in Windows Insider preview updates. One small example is the Calculator app, which as you can see from the following screenshot has incorporated a nifty transparency effect. Another is a flat-color design to the Action Center that adds some refinement to the user interface.

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Microsoft has promised more extravagant uses for Fluent Design, such as its Edge browser recognizing when an active pen is in use on a screen, and morphing the app to enable intelligent pen input. Check out the following screenshot for an example:

Fluent Design will be a major part of Windows 10 going forward, and while its effects have only been scattered here and there in the latest Fall Creators Update preview builds, we’re likely to see more apps adopt its principles once the update has officially rolled out. Check out the introduction video for a better idea of what Microsoft hopes to achieve with Fluent Design.

Microsoft Edge gets a face lift

Microsoft has introduced a number of new features and enhanced functionality through the Windows Insider program, that weren’t specifically introduced at Build 2017. Microsoft Edge is one key Windows 10 component that’s received quite a bit of attention. Some of the changes to Edge coming with Fall Creators Update include:

Improved EPUB support: Reading EPUB ebooks in Edge will be a more pleasant and useful experience, with new copy and “Ask Cortana” support along with the ability to add notes via the keyboard or Windows Ink. Ebooks acquired via the Windows Store will also sync reading progress, bookmarks, and notes across devices.
Enhanced favorites: Working with Edge favorites will be easier, with a new directory tree view when saving favorites, and the ability to expand and collapse folders. A favorite URL can also be added from within the menu or the Favorites Bar.
Better PDF support: Viewing and working with PDFs in Edge will be much improved in the Fall Creators Update. PDF form support has been added, along with the ability to view PDF table and contents, and ink directly on PDFs from within Edge.
Pin web pages to the desktop: Edge will now allow you to pin web pages to the Task Bar, including using the website’s icon to identify the page. You’ll be able to simply select “Pin this page to the taskbar” to make a page immediately and easily accessible.
Go Full Page: Finally, there’s an easy way to make Edge fill the entire screen. Just hit F11 (as with most browsers) to enter and leave full screen mode, or use the icon in the menu.

My People finally arrives

Microsoft promised a new way to manage contacts for Windows 10 Creators Update, and it never materialized. The My People feature is arriving with Fall Creators Update, however, bringing with it a My People Hub icon on the Task Bar, the ability to pin up to three users for easy access, and new ways to to start communicating with people without needing to open an app first. The My People functionality is rather limited at this point, but it’s nevertheless a welcome feature that makes keeping in touch a bit easier.

Link your phone to Windows 10

Microsoft promised a number of new ways to integrate your smartphone with Windows 10, and unfortunately, most of those won’t be making their way in the Fall Creators Update (see below). One new feature that did make the cut is a new ability to link your Android and iOS smartphone to your Microsoft account and send web pages to from your phone to your PC to pick up where you left off.

It’s easy enough to set up and it works, but it’s only a hint of what’s to come. Eventually, more apps will be supported and hopefully, the feature will be easier to use. In the meantime, it’s obvious that Microsoft wants to make sure that Windows 10 users running Android and iOS devices remain tied closely to Microsoft platforms.

OneDrive Files on Demand

Microsoft’s OneDrive cloud storage service is a great fit for anyone who is tied in closely with Windows 10 and the company’s Office productivity suite. OneDrive also became a source of frustration for users when Microsoft changed how it handles really large amounts of storage. In the past, OneDrive used a placeholder feature that allowed users to see everything that’s stored there but only download files as needed. That saved space on machines with limited local storage but maintained the ability to access any file on OneDrive.

Microsoft changed OneDrive a couple of years ago to only sync certain files and folders locally, meaning that while users could save space they also couldn’t access all of their OneDrive files from the Windows Explorer. What a pain. With Fall Creators Update, however, Microsoft is bringing OneDrive Files on Demand, which is an enhanced version of the placeholder concept and allows users to save local storage space while retaining access to any OneDrive file. Users will see all of their files in Windows Explorer and a new cloud status icon will show whether a file is stored in OneDrive or locally.

OneDrive Files on Demand has been available to Windows Insiders for a few builds now, and it works well. It’s also voluntary — users can elect to turn the feature on or keep things the way they’ve been.

A whole bunch of little things

Finally, Microsoft has made a number of behind-the-scenes improvements that will roll out in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update:

Input has been improved for mouse, keyboard, touch, and pen users, with a new touch keyboard with shape writing added in, enhancements to the handwriting panel, and easier ways to access emojis.
There’s information on GPU status and utilization in the Task Manager Performance tab that lets gamers and video editors keep tabs on how that shiny new GPU is being used.
And, as usual, a slew of performance and stability improvements are on their way to make Windows 10 a generally faster and more reliable operating system. For example, the Power Throttling feature will reduce the CPU resources used by background apps to help make laptop battery life last a little longer — up to 11 percent longer, in fact.

Microsoft is also bringing some new security and privacy functionality in Fall Creators Update. New ransomware protections are on the way with the ability to protect folders from unauthorized changes, for example. In addition, Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) will be enhanced to provide advanced protections with tools like Windows Defender Exploit Guard, Windows Defender Application Guard, and significant updates to Windows Defender Device Guard and Windows Defender Antivirus.

What’s not coming in Fall Creators Update

Some of the more exciting functionality that Microsoft teased at Build 2017 involved the enhanced integration of Windows 10 with Android and iOS and new ways to go back in time to pick up tasks, apps, and files where you left off. Those features, summarized below from our coverage of Build 2017, won’t be making their way to Fall Creators Update.

Timeline: Users will be able to move through a timeline that displays what they were doing, and when, moving back in time to access previously used files, apps, and websites. The timeline will allow users to go back over a long period of time and return to a past task as if it was still open. In addition, the feature will work across devices, allowing a user to see what was done no matter which device or platform was used.
Pick Up Where You Left Off: Cortana will provide the means to access previously used apps, documents, and websites across Windows, iOS, and Android. Users will be able to log off of their PCs, for example, and then pick up a doc where they left off on an iOS or Android device.
Cloud Clipboard: The Clipboard will now be shared between PCs and smartphones via the cloud, allowing users to copy photos, map links, paragraphs, images, or other content and then paste it into apps on other devices.

Who will receive Windows 10 Fall Creators Update?

As far as we’re aware, if you’re running Windows 10 Creators Update, then you’re eligible to receive Fall Creators Update when it arrives in September (or so). Microsoft hasn’t published any special requirements for the latest version.

28

Aug

Remastered ‘Secret of Mana’ coming to PS4, Vita, and PC in February 2018

Why it matters to you

Classic 16-bit RPGs are finally getting the recognition they deserve with next-generation remakes.

Square-Enix has announced some details and a release date for the 3-D remastered Secret of Mana, one of the most popular role-playing games ever made. The new version, with improved visuals, online multiplayer, upgraded gameplay, and an enhanced musical score, will be available soon for PlayStation 4, Vita, and Steam users.

The original Secret of Mana is included as one of the games in the Super NES Classic, but the new version will launch in February 2018, just in time for the game’s 25th anniversary.

Any dedicated gamer’s list of best Super NES games will undoubtedly include Secret of Mana among the top ten. The beloved 16-bit role-playing game, released in 1993, was a huge hit for Nintendo and spawned a raft of sequels. It followed the adventures of Randi, Primm, and Popoi (although the characters didn’t have names in the original SNES release) in a quest to defeat the evil Thantos in the flying Mana fortress.

Fitting somewhere in the fractured Final Fantasy family tree, Secret of Mana was actually a follow-up to a spinoff named Final Fantasy Adventure for the original Game Boy. A 3-D remake, Adventures of Mana, made a surprise appearance on PS Vita last year.

The Secret of Mana sequel was never released in the U.S., although the recent Japanese launch of the Mana trilogy collection for the Nintendo Switch has fans hopeful for a localized version.

The game was originally developed as a launch title for the SNES-CD peripheral, but after the deal between Nintendo and Sony fell apart, parts of the storyline and graphics were cut out due to space limitations on the SNES cartridge. Many of the featured introduces in Mana, such as real-time battles, were later expanded and used in landmark RPGs like Chrono Trigger and Secret of Evermore.

If you’re a dedicated Square-Enix fan, there will also be a Collector’s Edition available in Japan for the PlayStation version. In addition to the game, the Secret of Mana Collector’s Edition includes a pop-up storybook, three figures, and the soundtrack.

28

Aug

Littlstar VR might be the best app you can add to your PlayStation VR

psvr-headphone.jpg?itok=YeGkl0Lz

Having access to your favorite content is now as simple as using a USB stick.

Littlstar VR isn’t a new app to enter the PlayStation VR sphere. It’s been here for months already, delivering some awesome videos. Now the developers have gone above and beyond to bring you the type of features that are pretty exciting. They’ve increased their versatility in which videos can be played from within the app, along with adding USB support. You read that right, you can now load up your favorite VR movies on a USB stick, and then open and watch them from inside Littlstar VR.

Apple Watch will soon support a huge variety of workouts

Apple already mentioned that watchOS 4 will do more to accommodate fitness fans, but it’s now clear that there’s more coming for the exercise crowd… a lot more. Thanks to some sleuthing in the latest iOS 11 beta’s code, iHelp BR has found assets hinting that the Apple Watch will support virtually every workout under the Sun. Some of them are common sports or fitness activities, such as boxing, football, core training and pilates, but others aren’t what you’d normally expect in a fitness-savvy watch. Ever wanted to monitor your bowling or sailing? Your Apple Watch will help.

The question is just who’ll get to use these activities. Some of the workouts are available right now to watchOS 4 beta users, but others aren’t. There’s a chance that Apple might save some of these for the next Apple Watch, which could launch alongside watchOS 4 in September. However, we wouldn’t assume that this is the case — you likely don’t need a sensor upgrade to track a fishing trip or a round of golf. There’s a good chance that Apple just isn’t ready to make these workouts available, and is holding off until the official launch of watchOS 4 (or possibly later) before revealing them to the world.

Via: 9to5Mac

Source: iHelp BR (translated)

28

Aug

Demand for Mayweather-McGregor fight crashed pay-per-view servers

Did you pay for an expensive pay-per-view or streaming pass to watch the hyped-up boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor, only to boil with rage as your access went down? You’re far from alone. Numerous reports have revealed that servers across the US crashed or buckled under demand for the fight, creating outages serious enough that organizers delayed the fight to make sure people could tune in. Mayweather himself said that pay-per-view servers in California and Florida crashed, while Showtime and UFC failed to load, ran into login trouble and otherwise couldn’t keep up with interest.

The pay-per-view issues at a minimum are known to have affected TV providers like Comcast, Atlantic Broadband and Frontier, although it’s not clear how large the scope of the failures was at this stage.

Problems like this aren’t completely unprecedented — Mayweather’s fight against Manny Pacquiao created hiccups of its own. However, the sheer range of failures suggests that networks still haven’t created infrastructures that can keep up with huge viewership spikes. At the same time, it also says something about how much sports viewing has changed in just a few years. You’re now quite likely to hear people griping en masse about access to legal online streams where they might have resorted to bootleg streams or (gasp) conventional TV just a few years ago. And with networks like ESPN rushing to stream boxing to everyone, not just cable diehards, the importance of online access is only going to increase in the near future.

Source: ESPN, SB Nation, UFC (Twitter)

28

Aug

That’s ‘Professor Bot,’ to you! How AI is changing education

There didn’t seem to be anything strange about the new teaching assistant, Jill Watson, who messaged students about assignments and due dates in professor Ashok Goel’s artificial intelligence class at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Her responses were brief but informative, and it wasn’t until the semester ended that the students learned Jill wasn’t actually a “she” at all, let alone a human being. Jill was a chatbot, built by Goel to help lighten the load on his eight other human TAs.

“We thought that if an AI TA would automatically answer routine questions that typically have crisp answers, then the (human) teaching staff could engage the students on the more open-ended questions,” Goel told Digital Trends. “It is only later that we became motivated by the goal of building human-like AI TAs so that the students cannot easily tell the difference between human and AI TAs. Now we are interested in building AI TAs that enhance student engagement, retention, performance, and learning.”

AI will alter both the face and function of education.

AI is quickly integrating into every aspect of our lives and, like the students in Goel’s class, we’re not always aware when we’re engaging with it. But AI’s influence on education will be clear in the coming years as these systems ease into classrooms everywhere.

Like computers and the internet, AI will alter both the face and function — the what, why, and how — of education. Many students will be taught by bots instead of teachers. Intelligent systems will advise, tutor, and grade assignments. Meanwhile, courses themselves will fundamentally change, as educators prepare students for a job market in which millions of roles have been automated by machines.

AI in education — or AIEd — sounds like something from a far-off future, but it’s already a topic of interest for academics and businesses alike. AI-powered educational toys have flooded the market over the past few years, many of them via crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo, where they often exceed their financial goals.

BSIP/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

Professor Einstein, for example, teaches kids about science via goofy facial expressions and a robotic German lilt. Developed by Hanson Robotics and supported by IBM Watson and Microsoft’s Xiaobing chatbot, the company’s Kickstarter campaign raised nearly $113,000. Meanwhile, the startup Elemental Path offers CogniToys, an array of educational smart dinosaurs designed to play games, hold conversations, and help kids learn to spell. Their Kickstarter campaign raked in a whopping $275,000 from backers in 2015.

“Big things are in store for AI-powered educational toys,” Danny Friedman, director of curriculum and experience at Elemental Path, told Digital Trends. “I foresee them in every classroom, as a supplemental learning tool that is not only integrated in a teacher’s curriculum but connected to a student’s personalized data, such as preferred learning methods and areas of interest. I also foresee them in every home, not only to help answer questions, but to help instill pro-social interactions. AI-powered toys will be as ubiquitous households as the cell phone.”

“Big things are in store for AI-powered educational toys.”

A student’s engagement with AI will only increase as he/she graduates through the school system. Educational AI toys will be replaced by tutors whose job it will be to identify subjects of weakness and facilitate additional training.

Teachers will be freed from the humdrum task of grading papers, in subjects from science to social studies. Systems like Wolfram Alpha can already answer complex math equation and queries in language that’s informative and accessible. Integrating an engine like this into an automated grading system – particularly for quantitative problems — would be a breeze. Educators will rejoice as they’re empowered to focus on the more personal aspects of education.

“When it comes to AI in teaching and learning, many of the more routine academic tasks (and least rewarding for lecturers), such as grading assignments, can be automated,” write researchers Mark Dodgson, director of the Technology and Innovation Management Centre, University of Queensland Business School, and David Gann, Imperial College’s vice president, in a recent report on AI and higher education for the World Economic Forum.

Pepper, a multipurpose human-shaped robot design by Softbank, is the first humanoid robot to be adopted in Japanese homes.

Once a student reaches high school, she may well enter freshmen year alongside what AIEd experts of a Pearson report call a “lifelong learning companion.” For the past nine-plus years, this digital companion would have accompanied her in class, helped her with homework, and learned along with her.

The learning partner — which might manifest as a robotic T. rex or, more likely, something subtler, like a smartphone application — would even occasionally act as a pupil itself, allowing the human student to teach it what she’s learned and help reinforce her knowledge.

“This companion would be accessible to the student throughout [his or her education],” Wayne Holmes, co-author of the Pearson report and lecturer at The Open University’s Institute of Educational Technology, told Digital Trends. “At any one time, it might suggest work they can be doing or support them with work they’re finding difficult. It will also be providing information to the teacher so the teacher can engage … The idea is that over time the learning companion can build this profile of the individual that can be used to support them moving forward.”

These digital learning partners are meant to support teachers rather than replace them, Holmes insisted. Indeed, he expects educators will have AI assistants of their own to make their jobs easier and more effective.

These digital learning partners are meant to support teachers rather than replace them.

“Teachers would have their own companion, they’re own AI teaching assistant,” he said, adding that a student’s companion and a teacher’s AI assistant “would be communicating so the teaching assistant would know what’s going on with the individual student’s profile and would be able to interact with that.”

By the time a student enrolls at a university, she’ll be the product of two “minds,” if you will: the one contained in her brain, and the AI that she’s developed as a learning partner. And at the university itself AI will be everywhere — as TAs in the classroom, support in the enrollment office, and even as academic counselors. This year, the Technical University of Berlin employed a chatbot named Alex to help students plan their course calendar.

“I think the advantages of the chatbot system are the completeness and availability of the information,” said Thilo Michael, currently a PhD student at TU Berlin who designed the system as a part of his master’s studies. “The chatbot tries to translate the questions of students into searchable queries, just like a human counselor would, but it has all the information available at once. Human counselors would need to search in different online systems and would maybe even provide an incomplete set of information.”

Michael emphasized that the system is not designed to replace humans. “The system is able to answer pragmatic questions about the courses and majors available, but is not able to answer questions on a broader level,” he said. “I think the system could very well be used in combination with counseling to have the best of both worlds.”

Outside of conventional learning institutions, AI has the potential to make education accessible for more people. In developing regions, where teachers are few and far between, a robust AI system may be used to teach students with minimal or no engagement from a human educator.

The XPrize Foundation, which designs moonshot competitions to encourage “radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity,” is currently offering $10 million to the team that develops the best basic learning application capable of replacing a teacher for children with access to a tablet but no human educator. In June, XPrize chose eleven semi-finalists from almost 200 teams that entered the Global Learning competition. It’s likely that the winning system will be supported by AI in order to provide more personalized and dynamic lessons.

Still, there is no shortage of ethical issues to address before fully implementing AI in education, something Holmes and his colleagues are quick to recognize. For one, educators will have to consider the privacy and confidentiality of the data collected, especially when this data pertains to children. Who will own the information, for example? And who will have access to it?

“There isn’t an obvious answer to this problem but it’s a problem that must be taken into account,” Holmes said.

And, before raising a generation with AIEd companions, psychologists should have some understanding of their implications on development. Will students become dependent on the technology? And what happens if the system malfunctions or fails? Similarly difficult questions but ones that are worth the challenge to answer for the future of our greatest resource — the minds of the next generation of humanity.