Learning Artificial Intelligence (AI)

According to Elon Musk, artificial intelligence will be “smarter” than humans by 2025. Whether you find that thought exciting or scary, one thing is for sure — artificial intelligence is here to stay.

Artificial intelligence is now a part of our everyday lives. It drives online shopping algorithms, web searches, and digital personal assistants like Siri and Alexa. Our cars contain AI-powered safety functions, and smart thermostats automatically adjust the temperature in our homes to save energy.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects computer and IT jobs to grow by 15% from 2021-2031. To prepare for this future growth, now may be a good time to learn about artificial intelligence and pursue an AI career.

You can learn artificial intelligence by taking an online course or enrolling in a data science bootcamp. Many bootcamps provide an introduction to machine learning. Machine learning is a tool that AI uses that involves exposing an algorithm to a large amount of data. It allows the AI to learn faster.

AI courses typically cover machine learning, deep learning, and neural networks. You may create simple chatbots or virtual assistants and publish them on a webpage. Technologies used often include Python, IBM’s Watson AI services, OpenCV, and APIs. Data science bootcamps usually focus on the machine learning aspect of AI.

Artificial intelligence refers to machines being taught tasks or sometimes figuring out how to perform certain tasks on their own. AI can use a number of techniques, including machine learning, data processing, and neural networks, to solve problems and make decisions. It can even tell you what movie to watch next.

Our current level of AI can only generally perform a specific skill set that it was trained on. Siri and Alexa, for example, can understand verbal language and repeat Google results back to you. ChatGPT can predict what word is likely to follow the previous, and the AI in some new fridges can let you know when it’s time to buy more milk.

Artificial intelligence is being incorporated into many types of products. As a result, you can find AI jobs in various industries — not just tech. According to Indeed, some of the most in-demand AI jobs are machine learning engineer (344% increase in job postings from 2015-2018), robotics engineer (128% increase), computer vision engineer (116% increase), and data scientist (78% increase). The average base salaries for these positions — according to Payscale as of March 2023 — are listed below.

Learning AI is difficult for many students, especially those who do not have a computer science or programming background. However, it may be well worth the effort required to learn it. The demand for AI professionals will likely increase as more companies start designing products that use AI.

If you do not have any computer programming experience, make sure you look for courses or bootcamps designed for beginners. It might even be a good idea to take a beginning programming course before you start learning about artificial intelligence.

While it is possible to start learning AI without learning how to code, you may not get far without coding skills. It may be beneficial to learn to code in Python before learning artificial intelligence. The Python programming language is frequently used in AI programming.

AI also requires a strong foundation in math, statistics, and data structures. A good AI course covers all of these topics, as well as programming. You’ll also need to understand and program algorithms to develop a useful AI.

Most of the Coursera, edX, and Google courses mentioned earlier in this guide are free. You can start with beginner courses, such as Coursera’s AI foundations for everyone, and move up to intermediate- and advanced-level courses as your skills improve. There are many free courses out there.

You can even start working toward a professional certificate, such as the IBM AI engineering professional certificate, for free. There is a seven-day free trial for this course. After that, you’ll need to pay $49 per month to continue.

There is no one “best” way to learn AI. Some people learn quickly and easily from online courses, while others need guidance from a teacher. If you are an independent learner, you may do well with the free courses on Coursera and edX. One advantage of trying free courses is that if you do not like one, you can stop and find another one to try.

If you think you will need help from a teacher, a bootcamp might be a better option for you. Some bootcamps, such as the Springboard data science bootcamp, even provide mentors to help you through your classes.

All of the bootcamps profiled in this guide offer quality programs that cover AI basics, such as machine learning and Python. Some are more intensive than others and require many more hours of instruction. You will probably get more out of a bootcamp that requires you to spend more time on the subject.

You should consider the cost of the bootcamp, as well. There can be large variations in price from one bootcamp to another. The most expensive bootcamp is not necessarily the best.

This can greatly vary depending on your background and education. Generally speaking, AI requires a solid understanding of mathematics, statistics, and computer science. Students with a strong background in these areas can probably learn the basics in a few months. As AI is a rapidly developing field, there is often something new to learn.

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