IIT-Hyderabad is all set be the first premier engineering institute in India to offer a full-fledged B Tech course in Artificial Intelligence (AI), beginning from the 2019-20 academic year, reports Indian Express.

“The basic aim is to create a complete ecosystem for artificial intelligence academics and research at IIT Hyderabad. This involves B Tech, M Tech and different minor programs in AI. Moreover, R&D will be strongly entwined with academics,” said Prof U B Desai, Director, IIT Hyderabad.

The course at IIT Hyderabad, with a student intake capacity of 20, will be the third such initiative globally. US-based Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) was the first one to offer such a course, followed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Though AI has applications in diverse fields like healthcare, crop and soil management, weather prediction, surveillance and security, and defence, there has not been a concerted effort to train professionals in it.

“The demand for professionals trained in this area far exceeds the current supply. The BTech program in AI is a step in the direction of addressing this highly skewed demand-supply scenario,” said Dr Sumohana Channappayya, Dean (Research and Development), IIT Hyderabad to Hindustan Times (HT).

Microsoft To Help

To bridge the skills gap and enhance employability, Microsoft India has announced that it will skill over ten thousand developers, set up artificial intelligence labs in ten universities and train over five lakh youth across the country over the next three years.

Also Read: The Indian Judicial System Needs An Artificial Intelligence Revolution

BTech in AI

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