How generative AI expands curiosity and understanding with LearnLM (2024)

May 14, 2024

[[read-time]] min read

LearnLM is our new family of models fine-tuned for learning, and grounded in educational research to make teaching and learning experiences more active, personal and engaging.

How generative AI expands curiosity and understanding with LearnLM (1)

Ben Gomes

SVP, Learning & Education

How generative AI expands curiosity and understanding with LearnLM (2)

Generative AI is fundamentally changing how we’re approaching learning and education, enabling powerful new ways to support educators and learners. It’s taking curiosity and understanding to the next level — and we’re just at the beginning of how it can help us reimagine learning.

Building a new family of models for learning

Today we’re introducing LearnLM: our new family of models fine-tuned for learning, based on Gemini.

Grounded in educational research and tailored to how people learn, LearnLM represents an effort across Google DeepMind, Google Research and our product teams to help make learning experiences more engaging, personal and useful. Our technical report presents our approach to improving generative AI for education and highlights how we’re working together with the AI and EdTech communities to responsibly maximize its positive impact and potential.

Working alongside educators and other learning experts, we’re infusing learning science principles, like the following, into our models and the products they power:

  • Inspire active learning: Allow for practice and healthy struggle with timely feedback
  • Manage cognitive load: Present relevant, well-structured information in multiple modalities
  • Adapt to the learner: Dynamically adjust to goals and needs, grounding in relevant materials
  • Stimulate curiosity: Inspire engagement to provide motivation through the learning journey
  • Deepen metacognition: Plan, monitor and help the learner reflect on progress

Bringing LearnLM to products you already love

With LearnLM we’re enhancing learning experiences in products you already use today — like Search, YouTube and when chatting with Gemini — so they can help you deepen understanding, rather than just giving an answer. Here are a few examples:

  • In Google Search, soon you’ll be able to make sense of complex topics by tapping a button to adjust your AI Overview into the format that’s most useful for you — whether you want to simplify the language, or break it down.
  • On Android, Circle to Search can help people get unstuck on math and physics word problems directly from their phones and tablets. Later this year, you’ll be able to solve even more complex problems involving symbolic formulas, diagrams, graphs and more.
  • When chatting with Gemini, soon you’ll be able to use Gems, custom versions of Gemini that can act as personal experts on any topic. Learning coach, one of the pre-made Gems, can support you in building knowledge by providing step-by-step study guidance, along with helpful practice activities like quizzes and games. Learning coach in Gemini will launch in the coming months, and with Gemini Advanced, you’ll be able to further customize this Gem to suit your unique learning preferences.
  • On YouTube, a conversational AI tool makes it possible to figuratively “raise your hand” while watching academic videos to ask clarifying questions, get helpful explanations or take a quiz on what you’ve been learning. This even works with longer educational videos like lectures or seminars thanks to the Gemini model’s long-context capabilities. These features are already rolling out to select Android users in the U.S.
  • How generative AI expands curiosity and understanding with LearnLM (3)

  • A demo of the Circle to Search feature on a mobile device. Circle appears around a math question

  • A demo of the user experience of Learning coach on a mobile device. In response to two queries, Learning coach first explains the photosynthesis equation, then shares a mnemonic device to help the user remember it.

  • A demo of the user experience of asking a question while watching a YouTube video

Applying LearnLM to build generative AI experiences for schools

We’ll also apply LearnLM to inform and enable the generative AI experiences that we build for schools. Through a new pilot program in Google Classroom, we’re working directly with educators to see how we can help simplify and improve the process of lesson planning — a critical, but time-consuming component of teaching. These features will help teachers discover new ideas and unique activities, find engaging materials, and differentiate their lessons and content to meet each of their students where they are. No technology can ever replace the magic of a teacher, but when applied in deliberate and thoughtful ways, AI can help to augment their capacity — giving them time back to invest in themselves and their students.

Introducing two new experimental tools to advance learning

Beyond LearnLM and our existing products, we’re also building entirely new tools and experiences that expand learning:

  • Illuminate is a new experiment that breaks down research papers into short audio conversations. In minutes, it can generate audio with two AI-generated voices in conversation, providing an overview of key insights from these complex papers. And soon, you’ll be able to ask follow-up questions. Visit Labs.google to check out a library of available audio conversations and join the waitlist to generate your own.
  • Learn About is a new Labs experience that explores how information can turn into understanding by bringing together high-quality content, learning science and chat experiences. Ask a question and it helps guide you through any topic at your own pace — through pictures, videos, webpages and activities — and you can upload files or notes and ask clarifying questions along the way. Sign up to be an early tester.

With any emerging technology, there are still risks and new questions that will arise as AI advances and its uses evolve. To us, building AI responsibly means both addressing the risks and maximizing the benefits for people and society. Reimagining learning and education with AI will require collective effort. We’ve collaborated with MIT RAISE to develop an online course to help educators better understand and use generative AI in the classroom. And as we work to extend LearnLM beyond our own products, we will partner with experts at institutions like Columbia Teachers College, Arizona State University, NYU Tisch and Khan Academy to test and improve this technology. We want to build for you and with you, so please let us know if you’re interested in working together to help define educational benchmarks, improve academic capabilities and ultimately explore the possibilities when it comes to applying advances in generative AI to teaching and learning. These possibilities — much like our curiosity — are endless.

Collection Collection I/O 2024 Here’s a look at everything we announced at Google I/O 2024. See more

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How generative AI expands curiosity and understanding with LearnLM (2024)

FAQs

How can generative AI be used in education? ›

Generative AI can assist in creating new teaching materials, such as questions for quizzes and exercises or explanations and summaries of concepts. This can be especially useful for teachers who need to create a large amount and a variety of content for their classes.

Which technology helped generative AI create convincingly authentic media? ›

Generative AI was introduced in the 1960s in chatbots. But it was not until 2014, with the introduction of generative adversarial networks, or GANs -- a type of machine learning algorithm -- that generative AI could create convincingly authentic images, videos and audio of real people.

What is the primary advantage of using generative AI in content creation? ›

The primary advantage of using generative AI in content creation is speed and originality. AI as the ability to generate quality content in large quantity.

What is important to understand about how generative AI models work? ›

Generative AI models studies patterns in existing data using smart machine learning algorithms. It then makes new things that look real, almost like how humans would create. This technology saves time by doing creative jobs automatically and creates many exciting opportunities in different areas.

How AI can help in understanding educational needs? ›

AI facilitates student access to high-quality educational resources, regardless of economic status or geographic location. AI can assess each student's progress and provide real-time feedback, helping them identify their strengths and areas for improvement.

How will generative AI change higher education? ›

Generative AI will encourage improved learning outcomes that are accompanied by extensive data and course-enhancement recommendations provided to instructors so that they can improve their lectures, assignments and assessments. All of this will be provided by the apps in the blink of an eye.

How generative AI is transforming the creative process? ›

In conclusion, generative AI is transforming creative workflows in the advertising industry by enhancing creativity, enabling customization at scale, redefining roles and skills, and raising important ethical considerations.

What is a best practice when using generative AI? ›

Generative AI algorithms need proper oversight to prevent data breaches, unauthorized access, and misuse of proprietary information. Creating a data governance framework to mitigate risk is an important best practice for companies that plan to use generative AI technology.

How are modern generative AI improving user interaction? ›

In recent years, Generative AI has emerged as a transformative force in reshaping user interaction across various technological landscapes. By harnessing machine learning algorithms, these systems create new content—be it text, code, or visual media—leading to innovative user experiences.

What are the positive effects of generative AI? ›

Generative AI excels in data analysis. So it is especially valuable for companies working with large datasets. It can identify trends, patterns, and anomalies. Such data enables data-driven decision-making and a deeper understanding of operations, customer behavior, and market dynamics.

What are the interesting facts about generative AI? ›

Generative AI could have an economic impact of up to $7.9 trillion per year (McKinsey) According to a report by McKinsey, generative AI could have an economic impact of $6.1-7.9 trillion each year. For context, the World Bank estimates that the gross domestic product of the entire world was just $7.33 trillion in 1977.

How is generative AI changing the world? ›

Generative AI's ability to simulate and model scenarios is revolutionizing research and development across industries. From pharmaceuticals to automotive design, AI algorithms can predict outcomes, model scenarios and generate innovative solutions to complex problems.

What is the primary goal of a generative AI model? ›

The main goal of generative AI is to autonomously create new content like text, images, audio, and video, enhancing content production in the metaverse and driving industry innovation.

Which technique is commonly used in generative AI? ›

Generative AI utilizes deep learning, neural networks, and machine learning techniques to enable computers to produce content that closely resembles human-created output autonomously. These algorithms learn from patterns, trends, and relationships within the training data to generate coherent and meaningful content.

Will generative AI boost productivity? ›

There is evidence that generative AI can improve the productivity of less-skilled employees within an occupation or organization. Case studies show that genAI increased productivity of call center customer support agents, software developers, and mid-level professionals.

What are generative strategies in education? ›

Generative learning strategies are intended to improve students' learning by prompting them to actively make sense of the material to be learned.

What is generative thinking in education? ›

Generative Learning is the process of making meaningful connections between new information and pre-existing knowledge. In short, your students can use what they already know to help them learn new content.

Why should ChatGPT be used in schools? ›

“ChatGPT teaches students to ask better questions and then defend those questions, which could help them become real scientists.” ChatGPT can also be used to incite classroom or lab discussion, said James W. Pennebaker, PhD, a professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin.

How can AI transform education? ›

AI is well-positioned to surmount these traditional barriers by providing an unprecedented level of personalized learning. Intelligent tutoring systems and digital platforms powered by AI can meticulously analyze data on students' strengths, weaknesses, and learning styles.

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