Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria : What should be studied to work with Artificial Intelligence?

Artificial Intelligence is no longer considered science fiction, and gradually, it has transformed into a job market for professionals with a solid knowledge of STEM.

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Drone operator, nanorobot driver, smart factory engineer: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is starting to revolutionize the job market. 'And you, what do you want to be when you grow up?' According to data from the Observatory for Employment in the Digital Age, 80% of Spanish people between 20 and 30 years of age will hold a profession during their careers that has recently been created or is still in gestation.

The current situation is less optimistic and even worrying. The global deficit in professions with higher education in this regard will be 40 million in 2020. However, AI is a field in which there are increasingly more possibilities to get trained, both a basic and a specialized education in areas like big data, robotics, and computer intelligence.

AI is a cocktail of disciplines and applications. The demand for professionals is so cutting-edge that a solid combined knowledge of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), that is practically evolving in real time, can help you carve out a spot in these recently formed positions.

People trained in different branches of science, with a good base in mathematics, or people with a degree in technical engineering have it easiest to guide their training.

The best offer is provided by countries that have introduced computational thinking into their primary and secondary education. 'Students of the future need to know this language, even if they end up studying any other branch of science, like medicine, biology, architecture and economics,' recommended Andrés Pedreño, the dean who converted the University of Alicante (UA) into a reference point for technology in the world of academics, and is also one of the greatest Spanish experts in the digital economy. 'It is important to complete the information with knowledge of computer science for programming and design,' agreed Manuel Martín Molina, professor of the Artificial Intelligence Department of the Technical University of Madri d.

For the former dean of the University of Alicante, and current president of the laboratory of ideas, It&Is Siglo XXI, 'The issue is of the utmost urgency and significance,' because from his point of view, 'There is no future position for our country, nor training of human capital without a good educational base in computational thinking.'

For Martín Molina, it is also important to break some stereotypes associated with computer science. Certain images of computer scientists are unhelpful, as he pointed out, 'For example, generalizing the image of computer scientists as being freaks, who are generally males, is damaging to this profession and may block people from participating who have great potential talent for artificial intelligence.'

The university takes the lead

The university has already started to offer scientific training in AI. The first step is a university undergraduate degree with an important base in mathematics and engineering, such as, for example, computer science, mathematics, physics and engineering for telecommunications or industrial engineering purposes. Later, it's ideal to have a post-graduate specialization (master or doctorate) in areas of Artificial Intelligence. 'For example, there are high-quality official master's degrees related to artificial intelligence in Spanish public universities (to learn automation, robotics, etc.),' explained Martín Molina.

These studies tend to include content showing the knowledge and reasoning (to automatically plan, diagnose…), automatic learning, cognitive robotics, computational perception (for example, artificial vision or speech recognition) and processing natural language (such as text comprehension and text generation).

'In any case, mathematicians and computer engineers have an excellent base to pivot toward the fields of machine learning, and deep learning,' Pedreño stated. In his view, hybridizing data and science amounts to a more competitive training.

Online education options

In parallel, online degrees and MOOC's provide excellent AI training. After completing the basic curriculum, one can specialize in a specific domain: big data, robotics, computational intelligence.

Online training is highly recommended and in-person training has started to become a growing offer that is increasingly competitive. In the opinion of experts, Udacity, Coursera and Edx, among other platforms, are offering excellent courses in the MOOC format, which cover from automatic driving, introduction to AI, Machine Learning, Neuronal Networks, systems like TensorFlow, the AI library that Google has made open-source, and Microsoft's Cognitive Toolkit, which bring the learning platforms within the reach of practically anyone.

There is also officially regulated AI-specific training provided by remote universities on e-learning platforms, such as the case in Spain of UNED (Master's in Advanced Artificial Intelligence), or the most recent initiative promoted by the Spanish Association of Artificial Intelligence (AEPIA) and UIMP, a Master's in AI research. Also, the University of La Rioja (UNIR), with several courses and Master's programs, it offers online training about AI.

'The faster we advance in quality education on all fronts, the better,' Andrés Pedreño stated in Alicante. 'The important thing,' he pointed out, 'is to be able to work and understand specialists in AI.' For the expert, the first step should pass through a conceptual approach to the matter, which contributes to breaking down the language barriers of this field.

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Perhaps more than other disciplines, continuous training is fundamental in this profession, whose techniques evolve very quickly. Given the degree of innovation expected, future collaborators must be able to design a very solid training strategy. 'Today, international networking is surprising. Apart from identifying the best talent, it provides very valuable networks for complimenting knowledge and designing new developments,' commented Pedreño, who dared to undertake the challenge that universities have ahead of them in this regard.

'Professionals who work in AI should be capable of teaching themselves, efficiently handle publications in English about technical and scientific reviews and other online resources and social media.'

2018 will be another very good year for AI. '80% of large organizations will invest in this area, 60% will carry out concept tests,' according to Joseph Reger, Head of Technology at Fujitsu, 'and all of them will suffer a lack of trained workers. This year will be the beginning of the end of the job market as we know it. AI is not just the future, it's the immediate present.