Artificial intelligence and machine learning are being used to solve society’s problems and create cutting-edge technologies. Once viewed as merely material for our favourite science fiction movies, these technologies are now being used to keep us safer, healthier and happier. Everything from fraud detection and self-driving cars to medical diagnosis and job searching can be done more efficiently with these emerging technologies.
Out of a pool of 500 applicants, School of AI has chosen 10 fellows to utilise artificial intelligence and machine learning research to address the 17 sustainable development goals outlined by the United Nations, such as no poverty, reduced inequality, zero hunger and clean water and sanitation.
Founded by AI researcher Siraj Raval, School of AI is a global nonprofit whose mission is “to offer a world-class AI education to anyone on Earth for free” and is open to all who want to learn.
“I started School of AI just 7 months ago specifically to bring a world-wide community of people together to solve hard problems through AI,” Siraj said in a press release. “We’ve grown our presence to over 400 Deans globally and are reaching our target to create solutions to humankind’s pressing problems for the betterment of all.”
Local chapters of the institution are located in over 80 countries. The dean of each chapter represents the school online and offline and works to inspire and educate developers to use artificial intelligence and machine learning to benefit their local communities.
“Machine learning can help us understand our world in ways we couldn’t otherwise,” Siraj wrote in a Medium post. “It can help us create and discover new things orders of magnitude more efficiently than ever before.”
All School of AI fellow receive 1,000 Google Cloud Platform credits to bring their initiatives to life, donated by the search engine giant itself.
Tariro Chagwiza, a School of AI fellow in rural Zimbabwe who refers to herself as merely an “intermediate level python programmer,” created a mobile phone app using AI to methodically detect cholera. With Siraj as her mentor, she is now bringing her programme to hospitals throughout the country for implementation.
School of AI has also recently held an #AIStartupChallenge, in which participants utilised the technology to solve a problem. The winning solution was created by intelligent automation design firm Zelant Software, who created B2B solutions—consisting of intelligent pricing components, digital media automated bidding systems, front-office chatbots, security solutions and more—-to help businesses monetise their data resources.
Siraj is the #1 AI influencer on YouTube. With a following of over 645,000 people, he makes videos that entertain and educate those who want to learn how to use artificial intelligence to create their own solutions, benefit humanity and earn a living in the process. With videos such as Watch Me Build an Education Startup (and a healthcare, AI, finance and marketing one), Brain Computer Interfaces, Mathematics of Dopamine, 7 Ways to Make Money with Machine Learning, Mathematics for Beginners, and an interview with Dr Alan Baratz – 67 Questions with a Quantum Researcher, the talented researcher has created a free curriculum to AI success that anyone can follow.
“Machine learning has traditionally been a technology that only PhDs and institutions with lots of financial resources could utilise,” he said in a Medium post. But nowadays, there are so many tools out there that allow anyone to get started learning machine learning […] You’ve got the power, use it wisely.”