Creating 1L AI Experts Is The Aim
S Vishnu Sharmaa, INN/Chennai, @Svs037
Efforts to generate one lakh Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Deep Learning (DL) experts have been taken, it looks like. According to sources, two IIT-Madras incubated startups have joined hands to make this possible.
The aim is to create one lakh experts in these fields by 2020. GUVI, a company which provides a platform for students in Tier 2,3 cities to learn vernacular languages is joining hands with One Fourth Labs, a company that is offering advanced AI courses at nominal fees that starts at Rs 1000.
AI is one of the dominant technologies of this generation, which has helped machines reach human-level performance on specific tasks such as identifying faces, classifying images, playing complex strategy games, detecting anomalies in medical images and so on.
There is a huge demand for AI talent in India, but the supply is limited due to a shortage of affordable courses which take students from basics to advanced topics. Sources further point out that GUVI will be the platform partner and One Fourth Labs will be the content partner for this joint initiative.
The course offered by One Fourth Labs is designed based on the Indian context, which enables students to comprehend complicated concepts with relative ease and get skilled in solving AI problems.
The prerequisites to learn this course have been designed to enable as many students in India to learn. It is open to every student who is strong in high school mathematics and Python programming who can now become an AI and Deep Learning expert using this course.
S.P. Balamurugan, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, GUVI, said students can sign up at ‘www.guvi.in‘ to access this ‘Deep Learning’ course. IIT Madras Professors have created the course content in the platform. Coding contests will be conducted periodically with the top performers rewarded through the platform.
The platform is gamified to keep the learners attentive and to ensure the learners complete the course, he said.
Pratyush Kumar, Co-founder, One Fourth Labs and faculty member, department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Madras, said the whole premise of online education is not only to broaden reach but also dramatically reduce the cost of education.
In emerging areas such as AI where there is a large demand for courses, a majority of online education providers charge a huge fees often running into lakhs of rupees. With the intention of addressing this, earlier this year we offered a hands-on course on Deep Learning at a fraction of the typical cost, he said.
The course offered One Fourth Labs is priced at Rs 1,000 for students and faculty and Rs.5,000 for working professionals. It is a 6-month completely online program divided into four stages comprising a total of 15 course. Participants will receive certificates at the end of every stage. Registrations are now open at www.guvi.in/dl
