Real power of AI

Madan Mohan Pant

The discourse on artificial intelligence and its allied technologies has moved away from whether it is a friend or foe to vying for a leadership position in the field. Countries such as Russia, China and US are investing in the AI field to either maintain or attain leadership through research, patents, education and applications. 

Getting better with time

The field of AI was almost written off around 1984 and in about three years, investments in AI began to collapse. But in the last few years, amazing developments have taken place. Speech recognition has made remarkable advances. Machine translation, too, has gone from terrible to usable for getting the gist of a text, and may soon be good enough to require only modest editing by humans. Computerised personal assistants, such as Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa, Google Now and Microsoft's Cortana, can now take a wide variety of questions, structured in many different ways, and return accurate and useful answers in a natural-sounding voice.

The government funding for research and development as well as private capital infusion in AI start-ups have been stepped up.  While there was a high demand for coding skills in the recent past, AI is  increasingly taking over routine coding tasks.

Knowledge is the key

To implement AI, data science is a prerequisite and computational thinking develops the knowledge, mindset and dispositions necessary to successfully apply AI to solve real-world complex problems. 

The longer term and larger employment and impact opportunities lie in data science, which is a subset of computer science that deals with assembling, scrubbing and analysing big data sets.  Data scientists find meaning in vast amounts of what may appear to the non-trained just a mass amount of data. Data analytics is the discovery, interpretation and communication of meaningful patterns in data. 

Creating opportunities 

“Many people fear that AI will take away many existing jobs. But AI will be a net job creator starting in 2020," said Peter Sondergaard, Gardner's research chief at a recent Gartner Symposium. Songergaard stated that by 2020 AI will automate 1.8 million people out of work, but it will create 2.3 million jobs. So, AI will drive a net gain of 5,00,000 new jobs.

What is important is that for the young, here is a two- year opportunity to equip themselves with the knowledge, and technical qualifications to be ready for the new opportunities. Thus, the demand for AI and Data Science courses is high these days. In view of the growing interest in this field, Punjabi University, Patiala, has launched two courses from this session —MTech in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, (equivalent to MTech. CSE) and BSc (Hons) in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Science (DS), equivalent to BSc(CS) or BSc(IT).

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Courses

In India, major institutes IIITMK-Kerala Gujarat University, IIIT Hyderabad, etc. are offering similar courses. But MTech in AI & DS is not offered anywhere other than Punjabi University, Patiala. The university has established Center for Artificial Intelligence and Data Sciences from this academic session. This centre will be equipped with high-end latest technology labs comprising Super Computer and Workstations with GPUs. Punjabi University is in talks with major companies like Google, Flipkart, Amazon, Infosys, TCS etc. for signing MoU for this course so that students can be prepared as per industry needs and be placed as they complete their course. They will also be able to pursue their internships in various companies.

Eligibility

For MTech in AI & DS: Master's degree in mathematics/statistics/IT/ICT/computer science/AI/DS/AI&DS or MCA or equivalent degree with 60 per cent (55 per cent for SC/ST and differently-abled persons) marks from recognised university/ institution. Or BE/ BTech in computer science and engineering/ computer engineering/ IT/ information communication technology/ software engineering or equivalent degree in engineering with 60 per cent (55 per cent for SC/ ST and differently-abled persons) marks from recognised university/institution. Or BSc in computer science/ IT/ software engineering or equivalent degree of four-year duration with 60 per cent marks from recognised university/institution. 

For BSc (Hons) in AI&DS: A candidate will be eligible to join first semester of BSc (Hons) in AI and Data Science course, if he has cleared Plus II examination with 50 per cent marks (45 per cent for SC/ST and differently-abled persons) marks (or equivalent grade point) in any stream with mathematics as compulsory subject from a recognised board or any other examination recognised as equivalent. 

Note: BSc course will run at Mohali, Talwandi Sabo Campus and Rampura Phul University neighbourhood/ regional campuses only.

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Job prospects

All existing applications will be AI enabled and the transition will require manpower. While many processes will get automated, there will be need for a variety of technical specialists who understand and can implement the best learning algorithms for the context.  Any IT company  working in this field will require persons having this skill set. Companies like Google, Flipkart, Amazon, Infosys, TCS, Cognizant, etc. have separate sections for this research.

Earning

Highly paid skill at this time. You should have practical knowledge in these technologies. Approximately Rs 30,000-Rs 1,00,000 and even more. It is sometimes said that the best time to learn AI was five years ago. The second best time is now. So don't wait and get started.

Check out

For more details on Punjabi University course visit:  http://craids.punjabiuniversity.ac.in

For admission: http://pupadmissions.ac.in

Last date for applying: 

July 10, 2018.