AI42: Guiding Newcomers Toward AI Careers

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is such a heady topic that it is hard for beginners to know where to start.

After all, it is an incredibly broad field that in 2020 alone took major leaps forward in everything from producing high-quality text to discovering new drugs and forecasting heat waves. While these are impressive advances, they can be daunting to newcomers without an idea of where to start in their journey toward a career in AI.

Uniting scattered educational resources and presenting a holistic overview of the topic to the next generation is exactly what AI MVPs Eva Pardi, of Denmark, and Håkan Silfvernagel, of Norway, are looking to do with AI42. The AI and Machine Learning academy aims to spread the word on all things data science between professionals and school students.

“We are starting with mathematics, statistics and probability theory and continue with languages for machine learning such as Python, R and Scala," the duo says.

"Then, we build up the knowledge bit by bit and go gradually from an introduction to machine learning and data science through to deep learning and up to more advanced topics such as Reinforcement learning and Explainable AI.”

AI42, with the “42” referring to AI as the answer to all questions, provides live lectures held by experts, some of whom are Microsoft employees, every second week on Wednesday at 5 PM (CET) through its social media channels on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Twitch. 

In addition, the academy provides workshops so that participants can put their theory into practice, with the end goal being to best prepare the AI professionals of tomorrow with the right starting point today.

“We believe that AI and ML will become more and more ingrained into the products and services that we use in everyday life and, in addition, they will also affect the way that decisions are made in various fields ranging from healthcare, insurance, education, policy-making and environmental concerns,” Eva and Håkan say.

“It is important that as many people as possible can have a general understanding of AI and ML so that they can make informed decisions and also be able to understand ethical implications of using these sorts of technologies.”

Next, the academy founders are set to launch their own website to provide a knowledge base where students can get additional resources for practising what they have learned, and gain easy access to teachers for mentorship.

“Our vision for AI42 is that it will be a lively community including both students and teachers and that we will be able to have a positive impact on people’s lives in terms of starting new careers, getting more knowledge and finding a community of people with similar interests,” the pair of MVPs say.

For more, check out Eva’s Twitter @EvePardi and Håkan’s Twitter @agrevlis