The University of Texas at Austin, one of the nation’s top computer science schools, announced Thursday that it is launching a large-scale, low-cost online Master of Science degree program in artificial intelligence.
The new program is the first of its kind among elite computer schools and could help rapidly expand the AI workforce in the United States as tech giants like Microsoft push for it invest billions in The Field.
The university announced the initiative amid a clamor over new technologies powered by artificial intelligence that can create human-like art and text. And while some of the biggest companies in the tech industry are shedding employees after years of rapid growth, AI hiring is expected to remain strong.
University officials said they plan to train thousands of graduate students in coveted skills like machine learning for a tuition fee of about $10,000 starting in spring 2024. School officials said the cost should make AI education more affordable. In contrast, Johns Hopkins University offers an online MS degree in Artificial Intelligence more than $45,000.
“AI is now becoming an indispensable tool in areas that are well beyond the reach of a handful of tech companies,” said Adam Klivans, a professor of computer science in Texas and director of the online AI master’s program. Noting that AI professionals are in high demand in sectors such as biotechnology and finance, Professor Klivans said the new online degree is “something that working professionals can attend to learn the expertise their businesses need without losing their to leave the job”.
The Rise of OpenAI
The San Francisco-based company is one of the world’s most ambitious artificial intelligence laboratories. Here’s a look at some recent developments.
Funding for the development of the new master’s program came in part from the National Science Foundation. In 2020, the foundation recognized the University of Texas a five-year, $20 million grant found an AI institute in machine learning. This is an area where computer algorithms are learning to make predictions by analyzing large amounts of data — for example, predicting which drug formulations might be best used to treat new viruses.
University officials said tenure-track faculty in computer science and related fields such as computer engineering would teach the online masters courses via recorded video lectures, as well as some interactive sessions. Faculty members involved in an interdisciplinary research program at the university good systemswhich aims to develop AI tools whose potential societal benefits outweigh their harm will also participate.
The online master’s program includes advanced courses in areas such as machine learning; AI applications in healthcare; and natural language processing, which helps voice assistants like Siri and Alexa understand human speech. Each course will also include formal ethics training to provide students with a framework for understanding the societal impact of AI systems.
“In each of the courses, the instructor asks students to think about the potential benefits and potential harms of the technologies they are learning,” said Peter Stone, a Texas computer science professor who teaches a course in ethical robotics. “People developing the next generation of technologies, as well as users, need to have a realistic understanding of what the strengths and limitations of AI are.”
These creative and critical skills could be in increasing demand. Technology companies are scrambling to develop advanced chatbots and other AI tools that can generate images and text in response to brief prompts — though some researchers warn that the rush to deploy these novel systems could carry risks such as political manipulation.
The Texas program was partially inspired by the Georgia Institute of Technology, which launched in 2014 as the first leading computer science school a large-scale, low-cost online master’s degree in this area. Thousands of students have graduated from the program.
In 2019, the University of Texas at Austin launched its own large-scale online master’s degree in computer science, followed by a similar online master’s degree in data science in 2021. Combined, the programs have an enrollment of approximately 2,800 students.
The university plans to open applications for the new AI master’s program in June this year, with a goal of enrolling more than 2,000 students per year, said Don Fussell, the chair of the computer science department. To be accepted into the online program, students do not need to have a bachelor’s degree in computer science, but they must have expertise in a technical field such as engineering or computer science. The AI courses are delivered through edX, a popular learning platform that also hosts the university’s online master’s programs in computer science and data science.
With widespread layoffs at Amazon, Google, and other tech companies, the online program may already have a ready audience: tens of thousands of unemployed technicians looking to specialize in artificial intelligence.
“If these layoffs continue, I think we’re going to see a shift of a lot of people from general computer science and engineering backgrounds to AI,” Professor Fussell said. “This is how the field moves.”
