Latest news with #ChrisHess
Yahoo
21-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New Goodwill Donation Center opens in Bellevue
BELLEVUE, Wis. (WFRV) – Goodwill North Central Wisconsin (NCW) has opened a new Donation Center in Bellevue, expanding its network of convenient drop-off locations across the state. Located at 2409 Monroe Rd. in Green Bay, the center is designed to make donating gently used items easier for local residents while supporting Goodwill NCW's mission to eliminate barriers to employment through job training and skill-building programs. Having this many convenient locations also enables our community to help extend the life of items for responsible stewardship of the planet's resources. Chris Hess, President and CEO of Goodwill NCW Green Bay native Tony Shalhoub to host global food docuseries on CNN The grand opening and ribbon-cutting event took place on Friday, June 20 at 10:30 a.m., which included remarks from local chamber leaders and Goodwill representatives. Goodwill NCW operates 27 stores and donation centers plus one outlet store throughout Wisconsin. To learn more, visit Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Axios
25-04-2025
- Business
- Axios
What chatbot mentors can't give you
Workers and students are turning to AI for answers — and to avoid judgement from teachers, managers and mentors. Why it matters: Students and less experienced workers who need practice in the art of asking the right questions at the right time may not get what they need from compliant bots. The big picture: Increasing numbers of early-career employees and students depend on chatbots for answers because they have 24/7 access and because they see AI as a judgement-free zone. "Most of the interactions we're having with AI-enabled tutors are happening after 5pm, when a professor isn't even monitoring office hours," says Chris Hess, a former assistant professor at Butler University in Indiana and now the director of AI strategy at Pearson. Harvard computer science professor David Malan pioneered an AI tutor program in his classroom and says his students describe the chatbot as having "an infinite amount of patience" and "there's no question too dumb" for it. Yes, but: The ability to ask endless questions without judgement or pushback isn't a proven way to learn. Most managers would prefer that an employee asked advice before making critical mistakes that could have been avoided. Managers claim to value curiosity in employees. If workers are secretly querying bots, they could be seen as lacking that critical skill. "Turning to bots for mentorship poses a paradox," Julia Freeland-Fisher, director of education at the Clayton Christensen Institute, told Axios in an email. "Students and young professionals may gain more access to resources and support, but have less access to social and professional networks." "In a labor market where an estimated half of jobs and internships come through personal connections, underinvesting in networks has real costs," Freeland-Fisher said. Zoom in: Chatbots are often confidently wrong in their answers, and advanced models are now hallucinating more, not less. Earlier chatbots refused to answer many sensitive questions, but that's changing, too. The intrigue: A 2024 study showed that chatbots don't challenge our opinions, they reinforce them. "Even if a chatbot isn't designed to be biased, its answers reflect the biases or leanings of the person asking the questions," lead researcher Ziang Xiao, an assistant professor of computer science at Johns Hopkins, explained in an interview accompanying the study. "So really, people are getting the answers they want to hear." Between the lines: Bots are efficient, but they can't replace human connection. "AI remains far less adept at navigating more interpersonally complicated communications in ways that are truly aligned with relationships," psychologist and University of Massachusetts professor Jean Rhodes writes in the Chronicle of Evidence-Based Mentoring. Bots are "limited in their ability to consistently promote the sense of belonging and connection that contribute to mentees' wellbeing," "While one-off conversations with bots may sound trivial, even one-off human connections are crucial to unlocking opportunities," Freeland-Fisher told Axios in an email. "Research has long shown that we are more likely to get jobs through our 'weak-tie networks ' than through our strong ties with close friends and family." "I just think we have to be really wary of the second order effects of all the conversations that [people are] not having with other humans," Freeland-Fisher told Axios. Zoom out: Some educators and experienced workers could also learn to be less judgmental of their students and direct reports.
