Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad is already offering a full-fledged B.Tech Programme in Artificial Intelligence from the academic year 2019-20. It has become the first Indian Educational Institute to offer B.Tech Programme in AI and likely the third institute globally, after Carnegie Mellon University and Massachussets Institute of Technology (MIT), both of which are in the U.S. However, IIT Hyderabad is already offering an M.Tech. Programme in Artificial Intelligence – Machine Learning.
The course will have an intake of around 20 students who can take the Programme through the JEE Advanced, the entrance exam used for admission to graduate courses in IITs.
The aim of Department of Artificial Intelligence for setting up the course is to produce students with a sound understanding of the fundamentals of theory and practice of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
The Programme also aims to enable students to become leaders in the industry and academia nationally and internationally and meet the pressing demands of the nation in the areas of AI and Machine Learning.
“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 Programmes in AI. Moreover, the R&D will be strongly entwined with academics,” Prof U.B. Desai, Director, IIT Hyderabad, said while speaking about the importance of this course.
It is envisaged that students graduating from these Programmes will apply their training to become leaders in the industry and academia and contribute to building a better future for India and the world.
The ethical impact of AI and its technologies on areas such as privacy, bias and related issues will also be a key component of this B.Tech. Programme.
“AI solutions are particularly promising for India (given the availability of a large corpus of data) where it can have a major positive impact on several critical domains such as healthcare, crop and soil management, weather prediction, surveillance and security, and defence. Long term and robust solutions to problems in these domains require a systematic and disciplined approach that is rooted in the fundamentals of AI. However, the demand for professionals trained in this area far exceeds the current supply. The BTech Programme in AI is a step in the direction of addressing this highly skewed demand-supply scenario,” said Dr. Sumohana Channappayya, Dean (Research and Development), highlighting the features of this course.
