Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to grow as a prevalent tool in our everyday lives. From Face ID on IOS devices to social media algorithms, AI is used daily, whether we realize it or not. With the technology developing at an exponential rate, it has quickly become a desirable and necessary area of study at schools around the Main Line.
At Bryn Mawr College, computer science professor Deepak Kumar teaches a course called “Artificial Intelligence: An Introduction to AI.” While AI studies isn’t a major at Bryn Mawr, students can major in computer science and focus on AI courses and electives.
Kumar taught the class at Bryn Mawr College for the first time in 1994. Since then, he notes, the field has evolved significantly. His class focuses on the history and foundations of AI. What many fail to realize is that forms of AI were first developed over 60 years ago. The course explores how the technology has grown from those early days and how it is used today. Kumar adds that he frequently has to update the syllabus to accurately depict the foundations of AI, including what has happened in the past 10 years.
“The one constant in the field is that it is always changing. The challenge for professors is to identify the foundations of relevant emerging technology and modify existing courses or create new ones,” Kumar explains. “That said, there are durable bones that form the core foundations of computer science. Many formative courses focus on laying these foundations. It is in the design of advanced elective courses where most shifts happen, both in content as well as in the topics.”
Though computer science is one of the smaller departments at Bryn Mawr College, it offers further classes in AI. For instance, a new course for undergraduate students interested in this field is “Machine Learning.” In order to take AI courses such as this at Bryn Mawr, computer science students must complete a number of prerequisites and will usually be able to enroll in their junior or senior year.
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The goal of the AI classes offered to computer science majors at Bryn Mawr College is to train students to create these systems to achieve a certain goal, as opposed to working with them.
Locally, students also have the opportunity to take similar courses at Haverford College and Swarthmore College. Since the computer science programs at those institutions aren’t as robust, some specific AI classes may not be offered every semester. These classes are all electives, but students have the option to focus specifically on AI.
Regardless of where students study, Kumar notes that a degree in computer science can provide more jobs than people may think.
“The reality is almost every company is a technology company,” he observes. “The biggest technology company I know that nobody thinks about is John Deere, for instance, the guys who make tractors. Most of their machinery has tons of technology including AI.”
In the next decade, Kumar points out that computer science will continue to advance in hardware, size, speed and energy efficiency, as well as in terms of how we use computers, services, workflows and more.
“Today’s computer science students are trained to use and create technology that doesn’t exist today. All of these [technologies] also come with new ethical challenges to privacy, security, identity, etc.,” he says. “It is important to ensure that graduates are also well versed in ethical implications and uses of emerging technology and the role it plays in society.”
As artificial intelligence continues to develop and serve as a fundamental part of dozens of areas of expertise, these courses will be essential for student development and professional advancement. It’s only a matter of time before more Main Line area schools follow suit.
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