I recently attended an amazing conference in Phoenix, AZ at the largest community college in the US (afaik), Maricopa Colleges. Specifically, the event was a first-of-kind AI/ML summit for educators and workforce trainers from almost exclusively 2yr institutions. (https://info.maricopacorporate.com/en/ai-summit)
I met many amazing people, both at Maricopa who were the first to have an AI/ML program at the 100-200 level in the US, as well as faculty and administrators from across the country (half the States were represented).
Intel is a key partner to Maricopa and its program, having made it possible to go from concept to implementation of a full associate’s degree in AI inside a six-month window. Such a timeframe is unthinkable in my system (VCCS), as it took 3+ years just to get a certificate program in data analytics/ML approved. Not sure how much longer the applied associate’s degree will take… :/ That’s just not fast enough given the break-neck pace of development and the IMMEDIATE need for a workforce with the skills from a data analytics/AI/ML program.
Whether or not you are ‘on board’ with the use of AI/ML, it is already here–and will only continue to seep into every aspect of business operations and daily life. The key is to understand its benefits and drawbacks (some of them critically important [i.e., potentially dangerous] to our democratic society)–and as ethically as possible, integrate the tools into our workflows to improve our productivity and quality of life.
There’s so much more I want to discuss, both in general and specifically about this summit. I’ll expand this post soon…