Using AI to teach truth

Newsletter for June 17, 2024

Whether you spent the weekend celebrating Baltimore Pride, the Os-Phils series, Maryland Fleet Week or some combination of the above, I hope you're going into this week rehydrated and reapplying sunscreen. It's gonna be a scorcher.
Today, we highlight perspectives on AI, searching for information and the future of education from a leader at a University of Baltimore center. In addition, this year's Juneteenth on Wednesday coincides with a Black entrepreneurs-focused conference in DC metro, put on by an HBCU center that includes our very own Morgan State as a partner. Check it all out, plus more highlights from our recent coverage, below.

— Sameer, Technical.ly editor for Baltimore and DC

For the University of Baltimore's Jessica Stansbury, recent evolutions in generative artificial intelligence are just the latest technological change to shape how we search for information and learn, especially in educational settings.

"My engagement with AI isn’t just about leveraging new tools," writes the director of teaching and learning excellence at the school's Center for Excellence in Learning, Teaching and Technology. "It reflects a deeper evolution in how we perceive knowledge and expertise."

Stansbury draws from her own history, going back to navigating her elementary school's cart catalog system, to explore the assets and challenges this new tech offers both educators and students. Her perspectives can especially help those of you trying to help young people use this tech responsibility and with an eye for verification.

➡️ Learn more about what AI can do for teaching and learning in Stansbury's guest post.

One of Morgan State University's visible commitments to supporting student entrepreneurship is its involvement in the PNC National Center for Entrepreneurship, which launched last year to support entrepreneurship from throughout the country's historically Black colleges and universities. In pursuit of its mission, the center partnered with its lead educational institution, Howard University, to host the second annual Black Commerce Conference in National Harbor this week.

Kicking off on Juneteenth this Wednesday, the conference brings founders, boosters, celebrities and a myriad of others together to connect over all things related to business and Black communities. The center's director said that this year's conference will essentially double the scale of last year's.

"People heard and saw what we did last year and are really connecting the dots to the difference," said leader Erin Horne McKinney to Technical.ly's DC reporter Kaela Roeder, adding: There's so much interest in the work that we're doing.”

➡️ Learn more about the conference and its organizers here.

• Teresa Hodge draws on her own experiences with incarceration while pursuing her mission — across a nonprofit, tech company, podcasts and more — of ending digital and opportunity divides for those with criminal records. [Technical.ly]

• While healthcare might be highly regulated, innovation across the sector matters to localized economic growth. [Technical.ly]

• Maryland government leaders made three major recent announcements for equity-concerned actions. First, Gov. Moore plans to issue pardons for over 175,000 low-level cannabis convictions. In addition, the attorney general's office unveiled a new online portal for people to further report hate crimes after calling 911. Lastly, the IT department announced a new initiative to place officers monitoring accessibility to services, including digital ones, across various state agencies. [PBS/Office of the Attorney General/Dept. of Information Technology]

• Baltimore police identified mace as the "chemical agent" at Baltimore Pride on Saturday night. It spurred an incident that involved a crowd rush and three injuries. [Baltimore Sun]

• For the third year running, fintech company Hello Alice teamed up with Baltimore Gas and Electric to offer $00,000 in grants to small businesses, primarily with founders from underrepresented groups. [Baltimore Banner]

• ICYMI: Meta is not backing a suit to challenge Maryland's landmark children's online safety law. [Washington Post]

• Fells Point investment firm Brown Advisory named Shannon Pierce its first new CFO in 27 years. [Biz Journal]

• Now that the Port of Baltimore is open again, officials are trying to assess how much cargo will come back. [Supply Chain Dive]

• Local assistive vision tech company and former RealLIST Startup ReBokeh partnered with the San Antonio African American Community Archive & Museum to provide its tech to all the museum's visitors. [ReBokeh/Technical.ly]