Two IIT Madras Startups Will Train One Lakh AI & Deep Learning Experts By 2020

Artificial Intelligence is probably the biggest thing in tech right now. You can't walk two steps without finding either a new form of Ai being developed, or a new application for it.

So it's about time India started focusing on training our engineers for the new age.

Two startups incubated at the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras have announced a new partnership. They're aiming to train scores of new experts in artificial intelligence and deep learning within the next year or so.

GUVI is a startup that offers programming courses in vernacular languages for students in Tier 2 and 3 cities. They're collaborating with One Fourth Labs, founded by an IIT Madras faculty, which offers advanced AI courses at nominal fees starting at Rs 1,000.

These two startups have a new joint mission. They're going to create 1 lakh new AI and deep learning experts in India by 2020.

GUVI will reportedly be the platform partner in this case while One Fourth Labs will be providing the content. Any student is eligible, though those better at math and Python have a better chance.

"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," said GUVI co-founder SP Balamurugan. "Coding contests will be conducted periodically with top performers rewarded through the platform. Periodic assessment will be conducted in the GUVI platform to issue the certificates upon course completion. The learning history of the individual will be maintained as part of his GUVI profile, which users can share with employers. The platform is gamified to keep learners attentive and to ensure learners complete the course."

The idea here is to teach promising students AI, with no one being blocked by their demographic.

And it's incredibly important for Indian engineers to upskill for artificial intelligence. After all, that's what will help them keep their jobs in the coming age of full automation. Not to mention it's how we can contribute to fixing so many of the world's problems by applying the technology to building solutions. So far however there have been too few courses and even fewer takers. Perhaps this initiative will help turn things around.