Our Next Venture, Sincidium

In the virtual boardroom this morning with my nemesis-turned-friend Oliver Cucanic

We're smiling because we've just launched our next venture, Sincidium.

Sincidium = Sinceritas + Studium

Sincidium's mission is to ensure competency and academic integrity in the age of AI.

That's right. This is not a phase. It's a new age and an exciting time to be alive.

We're well and truly in the next chapter of the human story. This may be our final chapter, but I'll leave that essay for another time.

Since the release of large language models (LLMs), academic institutions have been scrambling to develop assessment methods that are AI-proof.

We believe, that in the long term, there will be no such thing.

Instead, we have conceived of a solution that I think represents a paradigm shift in how academic institutions can ensure the competency of their graduating students whilst upholding the highest standards of academic integrity.

To be clear: the value of the university degree will fall to zero if tertiary institutions fail to ensure the competency of graduating students or fumble in their attempts to safeguard the integrity of the academic process.

At Sincidium, we'd like to help universities prevent that from happening.

We'll be entering the upcoming University of Melbourne StartUp Pitch Competition with the goal of developing our concept, raising funding, and liaising with experts.

Until then, we wish all other participating teams the best of luck.

May the odds be ever in your favour.

And if not participating, please let us know: how do you think universities can overcome the unique challenges posed by OpenAI's ChatGPT-4?

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