Newsletter N3, Fall 2025
Dear AI discussion group:
Hope you’re doing well and your semeter is starting with a lot of energy!
Ready for your monthly AI spark? In our next AI Discussion Group session—on Friday, August 29—we’ll explore “AI Tutoring Tools and What They Mean for Learning” with Prof. Prashnna Gwali. Plus, we’ve packed this edition with WVU news, global AI developments, and fresh research in AI and education. Let’s dive in!
AI Discussion Group meeting
When: Last Friday of the month, 10:00 AM
Where: Zoom – https://wvu.zoom.us/j/98847800543pwd=dpcg86SMak0wrws4cZakcjA3jXTIb0.1
Featured Speaker: Professor Prashnna Gwali
Topic: AI Tutoring Tools and What They Mean for Learning
Check our website for next speakers: https://aldoromero.sandbox.wvu.edu/home/ai-wvu-discussion-group
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WVU News (Please send email to alromero@mail.wvu.edu if you want something to be included)
• Newly Accepted Paper“
Assessment of Deep Research for Dermatology Literature Reviews: Deep Concern Over the Hype” was recently accepted by the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology. Co-authored by Michael Hu and his team, the study finds strong performance in reference list generation but problematic claim–citation alignment.
• Upcoming Event
Media Disrupted: How AI is Transforming Creative Arts and Journalism Practice
AI is revolutionizing decades of practice in the arts, media and society, with disruptions impacting every aspect of practice. This panel will provide a provocative overview of some of latest disruptions across our fields and pose new questions about how we will create, produce and disseminate creative arts, media and journalism in the future.The event is hosted at the Media Innovation Center on the 4th floor of the Evansdale Crossing Building from 4-7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept 10The keynote presentation and panel discussion are free and open to the public. The workshops following the panel are also free, but registration is required; space is limited.More Info and registration links here: https://creativeartsandmedia.wvu.edu/events/media-disrupted
Please share registration links and panels with interested faculty and students across the university.
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News of AI around the World – Recent Highlights
1. Google Project IDXIDE, but in the Cloud. Forget local IDE lag—Project IDX brings a cloud-based, Gemini-powered VS Code experience. Instant setup, blazing load times, and smooth emulation make heavy IDE use feel effortless.
2. DeepSeek V3.1 Update in ChinaThe AI startup DeepSeek quietly rolled out V3.1—boosting context to 128k tokens—while removing references to its R1 reasoning model, prompting speculation about delays or changes in its R2 roadmap.
3. Meta Launches DINOv3 for Universal, Label-Free Image ProcessingTrained on 1.7 billion images via self-supervised learning, DINOv3 (7B parameters) handles diverse image tasks—like satellite imagery—without needing labeled data. Pretrained models and code are available under a commercial-friendly license.
4. Alibaba Introduces Qwen-Image-EditEnhancing their 20B-parameter Qwen image model, Qwen-Image-Edit supports both semantic tweaks and localized visual edits—including changing text, rotating objects, or applying styles—while preserving consistency.
5. Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet 4: Now with 1 Million Token ContextThe public beta of Claude Sonnet 4 now handles up to 1 million tokens on Anthropic API and Amazon Bedrock, with Google Vertex AI coming soon. Ideal for full codebase analysis, multistep agents, and document synthesis—with a tiered pricing model and early customer successes using code-heavy workflows.
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AI Research in Education – Fresh Insights
• Generative AI Boosts Learning Efficiency (but with Nuance)A 2025 study among Chinese engineering students found that 88% reported improved learning efficiency using generative AI. Most also noted gains in motivation, creativity, and independent thinking—though a minority felt their academic performance or independent thinking decreased. Concerns remain about accuracy and over-reliance.https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.09208
• AI-Powered Adaptive Learning & FeedbackA systematic review highlights how AI tools can analyze student performance in real time, giving educators timely feedback and enabling adaptive instruction—improving both teaching quality and student outcomes.https://www.ijirss.com/index.php/ijirss/article/view/7961
• “Agentic Workflows” in AI Education SystemsA recent arXiv review introduces AI agents in education that can “reflect, plan, use tools, and collaborate.” A proof-of-concept multi-agent system for essay scoring showed promising consistency compared to standalone language models.https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.20082
• Rethinking AI Literacy for Learners and InstitutionsA February 2025 integrative review examined 124 studies and developed a framework of AI literacy—spanning functional, critical, and indirect benefits, alongside technical, tool-based, and sociocultural dimensions—emphasizing the need for nuanced AI literacy definitions and interventions.https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.00079
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Selected AI research breakthroughs
• AI-Designed Fluorescent Protein Simulating 500 Million Years of Evolution. Researchers at EvolutionaryScale and the Arc Institute leveraged ESM3, a large protein language model trained on 770 billion sequences, to simulate half a billion years of molecular evolution and design a novel fluorescent protein—esmGFP—that does not exist in nature. This AI-created protein was synthesized and shown to emit fluorescence, offering new avenues in synthetic biology and medical imaging. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ads0018
• Agentic AI for Scientific DiscoveryThis comprehensive review covers AI systems capable of autonomous reasoning, planning, and execution in scientific research. It surveys tools across chemistry, biology, and materials science, discussing frameworks, datasets, and evaluation approaches for agentic AI. https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.08979
• “The AI Scientist” – Toward Fully Automated Research AgentsAfully automated research agent that ideates, writes code, runs experiments, visualizes data, drafts a full paper, and simulates peer review—all at under $15 per generated paper. Demonstrated across areas like diffusion modeling and transformer learning dynamics.https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.06292
• AI-Assisted Tools for Research Ideation & SensemakingThis paper maps the design space of AI-assisted tools focused on ideation, sensemaking, and scientific creativity. It analyzes 13 research tools—spanning traditional AI and GenAI-supported systems—highlighting how they support researchers in forming and refining ideas. https://www.arxiv.org/abs/2502.16291
• Generative AI for Research Data Processing: Real-World Case StudiesFocused on practical use of generative AI (Claude 3 Opus) in complex research data tasks: (a) extracting plant species from seed catalogs, (b) retrieving health data from EU reports, and (c) classifying Kickstarter projects. Offers lessons on accuracy, consistency, and suitability of AI for research workflows.https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.15829
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Upcoming: Proposal Calls
NSF & NVIDIA – Open Multimodal AI Infrastructure (OMAI)A $152 million joint investment to build open-source multimodal AI models for scientific research, led by AI2. Supports researchers across domains such as materials science, biology, and energy.https://www.nsf.gov/news/nsf-nvidia-partnership-enables-ai2-develop-fully-open-ai
Spencer Foundation – AI & EducationThis initiative supports research in AI and education via existing grant programs (Vision Grants, Racial Equity, Small & Large Research Grants, etc.), emphasizing equity, learning, policy, and ethics.https://www.spencer.org/initiative-on-ai-and-education
NEH – Humanities Research Centers on AIThe National Endowment for the Humanities is accepting proposals to establish new humanities-focused AI research centers starting May 2026.https://www.neh.gov/program/humanities-research-centers-artificial-intelligence