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Nicole Hennig

@nic221.bsky.social

4.9K followers 400 following 3.6K posts

E-learning dev & AI educator at U of Arizona Libraries. Former head of UX at MIT Libraries. Winner of MIT Excellence Award. nicolehennig.com. Digital nomad from 2013-17, locationflexiblelife.com. - vegetarian - car-free - universal basic income: yes

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Nicole Hennig @nic221.bsky.social · Nov 13

Generative AI News https://nicolehennig.com/gen-ai-news/ (my free monthly newsletter) #AI #Substack #newsletters

10 Tips for Keeping Up with Generative AI

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Nicole Hennig @nic221.bsky.social · 5h

Cultural heritage institutions can offer trustworthy information, something that commercial AI systems lack – Interview with dr. Ines Vodopivec https://ai4dh.eu/2025/07/01/interview-with-dr-ines-vodopivec/ #AI #HistoricalArchives

Text Shot: One of the most interesting projects I’ve come across recently comes from the National Library of Norway. They undertook the mass digitisation of newspapers. Not just a single year, collection or issue, but everything. A huge amount of scans were created without marking the first and last pages of each newspaper. They used a human-in-the-loop approach, where people tried to identify the first pages. However, the amount of material was simply too large for manual processing. Therefore they developed an AI tool that was able to automatically detect the first pages of the newspapers. This enabled them to automate and accelerate the whole process.
Another good example is the use of a chatbot in the Digital Library of Luxembourg. They have implemented a system similar to ChatGPT, but it is limited to searching within the digital library. This means that it does not hallucinate answers as it only returns information based on verified materials from the collection. Each result is…

Nicole Hennig @nic221.bsky.social · 11h

Data Centers: The Hidden Backbone of Our Modern World: Stepchange https://www.stepchange.show/p/data-centers-the-hidden-backbone (wow, this podcast was super interesting, 4 hours long, but totally worth it) #AI #DataCenters #history #climate #future

Text Shot: Every time you stream a movie, send a text message, scroll a feed, or chat with your favorite AI, you’re touching an invisible, physical empire. We call it the cloud, but it isn’t in the sky. It is astonishingly physical—alive in over 12,000 buildings around the world, consuming almost five percent of U.S. electricity, and running through cables laid across the ocean floor.

This is the story of data centers. From the humming punch-card rooms of the 1930s to the Cold War projects that accidentally birthed the internet, and onward to the gigawatt-scale AI factories of today, data centers have quietly become the industrial engine of our era. Six companies—NVIDIA, Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta—now dominate global markets in part because they command this infrastructure, just as railroads, steel, and oil once defined the fortunes of the last century.

Data centers are the machines behind the modern world. They shape commerce, media, communication, and now…

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Nicole Hennig @nic221.bsky.social · 20h

The Shift Ahead: HBCUs, Artificial Intelligence, and a New Vision for Higher Education. - UNCF ICB https://uncficb.org/survey-finds-near-universal-ai-adoption-at-hbcus-98-of-students-and-96-of-faculty-already-using-it/ #AI #education

Text Shot: Students are confident and optimistic but need institutional support.

84% say AI improves the quality of their schoolwork, 87% are optimistic about AI’s impact on learning, and 82% expect to use it in their careers.
1 in 5 students cited cost and lack of reliable internet as key barriers to usage.
60% want formal coursework on AI; over 40% seek certifications and advanced tools.
AI is viewed as a critical lever for workforce alignment.

Over 90% of faculty identified student use of AI for career planning is likely to grow over the next two years; over 80% foresee increased use of AI by faculty and administrators to align curricula with workforce needs over that same time period.
HBCUs are already embedding AI into curricula and exploring industry partnerships to equip students with job-ready skills.

Nicole Hennig @nic221.bsky.social · 21h

Beyond the Baying Mob https://hybridhorizons.substack.com/p/beyond-the-baying-mob #AI #luddites #history #nuance

The real Luddites were not opposed to all mechanisation. They made careful distinctions between machines used in ways that protected workers' interests and machines used in ways that harmed them.
They had specific, articulable demands: enforce existing quality standards, maintain customary wages, allow workers to organise collectively. They understood that the problem was not the stocking frame as such but the economic system within which it was being deployed.
Contemporary Al critique needs to recover this specificity. Rather than demanding that Al development cease entirely, we should be asking: which applications of Al genuinely improve human welfare, and which primarily serve to concentrate power and profit? What regulatory frameworks could ensure that Al development serves broad social interests rather than narrow private ones? How can we structure labour markets and social policy to ensure that productivity gains are shared rather than captured entirely by capital? What forms of

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Nicole Hennig @nic221.bsky.social · 21h

FROM THE INNOVATION LAB - Designing a Robotic Personality: A Conversation With Kyle Camuti http://www.infotoday.com/cilmag/oct25/Mairn--Designing-a-Robotic-Personality-A-Conversation-With-Kyle-Camuti.shtml #AI #libraries #makerspaces #robots (by my colleague, Chad Mairn)

Text Shot: Ambit is more than a technical achievement; it is a conversation starter about the future of personalized AI and the creative potential of student innovation. In the past year or so, Ambit has undergone several iterations, spoken before an audience of more than 250 at Nerd Nite St. Pete, co-hosted a video podcast, participated in St. Petersburg College’s undergraduate research experience, and traveled to Washington, D.C., to demonstrate its capabilities at the Computers in Libraries conference. Kyle Camuti has built a system that challenges our assumptions about desktop assistants, and his work exemplifies the kind of interdisciplinary curiosity that library makerspaces should foster.

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Nicole Hennig @nic221.bsky.social · 21h

AI generated video for social justice, surreal art, and creative human use docs.google.com/document/d/1... #AI #video #SocialJustice #surrealism #creativity

AI generated video for social justice, surreal art, and creative human use

AI generated video for social justice, surreal art, and creative human use (It’s not all AI-slop)Nicole Hennig, https://nicolehennig.com September 19, 2025 Many people criticize AI generated videos...

docs.google.com

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Nicole Hennig @nic221.bsky.social · 22h

This Data Scientist Sees Progress in the Climate Change Fight (Hannah Ritchie) https://e360.yale.edu/features/hannah-ritchie-interview #AI #climate #environment

Text Shot: Ritchie is the author of a new book Clearing the Air, which uses data to tackle common misconceptions about climate change. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, she explains why she isn’t worried about China’s coal-building spree, why she believes the impact of A.I. on electricity demand is largely overstated, and why the U.S. reversal on clean energy may do little to slow global progress on climate.

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Nicole Hennig @nic221.bsky.social · 22h

Microsoft has seized on healthcare as a lane in which it believes it can deliver a better AI offering than any of the other major players and build the brand of its Copilot assistant https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/microsoft-healthcare-ai-harvard-health-36aca862 #AI #HarvardHealthPublishing #medical

A major update of Copilot scheduled for release as soon as this month will be the first to reflect a
new collaboration between Microsoft and Harvard Medical School, people familiar with the matter said. The new version of Copilot will draw on information from the Harvard Health Publishing arm to respond to queries about healthcare topics. Microsoft will pay Harvard a licensing fee, one of the people said.

Nicole Hennig @nic221.bsky.social · 1d

How Northwestern University built a multilingual generative AI search tool with AWS | Amazon Web Services https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/publicsector/how-northwestern-university-built-a-multilingual-generative-ai-search-tool-with-aws/ #AI #libraries #search

Text Shot: Since launch, the tool has gained attention from academic institutions worldwide. Northwestern’s early work led to an Institute of Museum and Library Services National Leadership grant to further the work. The team has fielded consulting calls from dozens of universities and museums exploring similar projects.

Key outcomes include:

Improved accessibility: Users can search by concept, not just keywords—making collections more approachable for non-experts.
Multilingual support: The tool responds in the user’s language even when the metadata is in English—breaking down barriers to research.
Enhanced discovery: Semantic search surfaces content related to emerging and underrepresented topics, which may lack standardized metadata.
Flexible formatting: Users can request results in tables and other structured formats to enable faster research and analysis.
The NUL team is now developing an open-source tool called Treetop Discovery that uses key concepts and lessons learned from…

Nicole Hennig @nic221.bsky.social · 1d

What a data center is https://andymasley.substack.com/p/what-a-data-center-is #AI #DataCenters #sustainability

This is why I think it's such a terrible idea for people interested in the environment to attack data centers specifically. Each data center is a miracle of energy efficiency and uses way less energy per user than any other physical structure we have ever been able to build. Concentrating such huge demands in a specific location can create problems local, but the issue is only that the surrounding grid wasn't built for these huge demands, not that the data centers themselves are somehow
wasteful with the energy they use.

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Nicole Hennig @nic221.bsky.social · 2d

Seeing Like a Language Model https://every.to/chain-of-thought/seeing-like-a-language-model (interesting ideas) #AI #worldview #philosophy

Text Shot: Meaning as contrasts rather than definitions
The old Western worldview sought to define things. It sought to reduce them to their essence—to make them explicit in order to understand them.

But when language models see something different: Meaning emerges through contrast and relationship.

When they process text, they don't isolate words like carbon atoms under a microscope. A carbon atom in a leaf is identical to a carbon atom in a trunk, but that tells you nothing about what makes a leaf a leaf, or a trunk a trunk. Instead, language models see how words work together in the larger patterns of meaning. The word "dark" means something different when it's part of "dark chocolate" versus "dark thoughts" versus "dark matter," just as a carbon atom means something different when it's part of chlorophyll versus cellulose. What matters isn't the atomic unit, but its place in the whole: how it connects, what patterns it forms, and what larger structures it helps create.

This isn…

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Nicole Hennig @nic221.bsky.social · 2d

AI Competencies for Academic Library Workers https://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ai (Here is the result of a committee I was on for a year. I enjoyed working with everyone on this) #AI #libraries #competencies

Text Shot: Just as the Framework encourages reflective engagement with information, these mindsets promote thoughtful exploration of AI tools and consideration of their broader impacts. These mindsets are not fixed traits. Rather, they are guiding orientations that help individuals navigate the evolving role of AI in higher education and librarianship.

Curiosity: Remain open to exploring the potential and limits of AI tools.
Skepticism: Approach AI critically, questioning results, and representations.
Judgment: Balance evidence, institutional context, and community impact when making or advising on AI-related decisions.
Responsibility: Recognize the importance of thoughtful evaluation and ethical consideration as acts of care and stewardship for your community.
Collaboration: Seek diverse perspectives when assessing AI tools.
Readers are encouraged to reflect on and adapt these mindsets and use them as a foundation for responsible, human-centered engagement with AI technologies.

Nicole Hennig @nic221.bsky.social · 2d

AI Tools for Academic Libraries: AI Programming and Coding Tools - Choice 360 https://www.choice360.org/libtech-insight/ai-tools-for-academic-libraries-ai-programming-and-coding-tools/ #AI #libraries #coding

Text Shot: While the AI coding landscape is maturing and continuously evolving, academic libraries have a unique opportunity to serve as both facilitators and educators in this space. Whether through offering access to powerful local models or integrating AI into digital scholarship services, libraries can foster innovation and empower users to engage with AI in meaningful, ethical ways.

Everyone in academic libraries should be aware that while this article discusses particular models, the major companies developing AI tools provide a variety of models under their service umbrella. New models and updates are released frequently, which indicates that continued monitoring of development in this area is prudent.

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Nicole Hennig @nic221.bsky.social · 3d

The Sora App: Forget about plot-based media! https://intelligentjello.substack.com/p/the-sora-app-forget-about-plot-based (good points) #AI #video

While plot-based media has dominated mainstream culture, a totally plotless media based on vibes, memes, and sound bytes has thrived on the Internet. This dichotomy is useful for understanding the scattered media landscape.
• The Legacy Establishment (movies, television, & books) pursues plot-based media.
• The Internet pursues vibes, memes, and what we might call feed media.
In the last two years, there's been much consternation over Al invading the first category. But increasingly, it feels like Al may pass over Hollywood and the traditional entertainment industrial complex. Al is useful around the edges of production, but video models are clumsy tools for long-form storytelling. Al is much better suited to the second category. With the release of the Sora app on Sept 30, it leaves no doubt in my mind.
OpenAI has created a platform that leans into the natural strengths of Al models and it really works.

Nicole Hennig @nic221.bsky.social · 3d

Introducing apps in ChatGPT and the new Apps SDK https://openai.com/index/introducing-apps-in-chatgpt/ #AI #apps

Text Shot: Apps in ChatGPT fit naturally into conversation. You can discover them when ChatGPT suggests one at the right time, or by calling them by name. Apps respond to natural language and include interactive interfaces you can use right in the chat.
For ChatGPT users, apps meet you in the chat and adapt to your context to help you create, learn, and do more. For developers, building with the Apps SDK makes it possible to reach over 800 million ChatGPT users at just the right time.
Apps will be available today to all logged-in ChatGPT users outside of the EU on Free, Go, Plus and Pro plans. Our pilot partners–Booking.com, Canva, Coursera, Figma, Expedia, Spotify and Zillow are also available today in markets where their services are offered starting in English. More pilot partners will launch later this year and we expect to bring apps to EU users soon.

Nicole Hennig @nic221.bsky.social · 3d

Introducing AgentKit - OpenAI https://openai.com/index/introducing-agentkit/ #AI #agents

Nicole Hennig @nic221.bsky.social · 3d

western-qwen-ibm-wows-with-granite-4-llm-launch-and-hybrid-mamba-transformer https://venturebeat.com/ai/western-qwen-ibm-wows-with-granite-4-llm-launch-and-hybrid-mamba-transformer #AI #IBM

Text Shot: One of Granite 4.0’s defining features is its ability to significantly reduce GPU memory consumption compared to traditional large language models.

IBM reports that the hybrid Mamba-transformer design can cut RAM requirements by more than 70% (!!!) in production environments, especially for workloads involving long contexts and multiple concurrent sessions.

Nicole Hennig @nic221.bsky.social · 3d

Embracing the parallel coding agent lifestyle https://simonwillison.net/2025/Oct/5/parallel-coding-agents/ #AI #agents #coding

Text Shot: Despite my misgivings, over the past few weeks I’ve noticed myself quietly starting to embrace the parallel coding agent lifestyle.

I can only focus on reviewing and landing one significant change at a time, but I’m finding an increasing number of tasks that can still be fired off in parallel without adding too much cognitive overhead to my primary work.

Here are some patterns I’ve found for applying parallel agents effectively.

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Nicole Hennig @nic221.bsky.social · 3d

Sora 2 prompt injection https://simonwillison.net/2025/Oct/3/cameo-prompt-injections/ (fun with friends who use your image) #AI #video #Sora2