AI: Robot Overlord, Replacement or Colleague?
Many students attend university to accelerate their career and to obtain the skills they need to pursue the job that they desire. Increasingly, however, these skills are becoming obsolete as robots are entering the workplace in increasing numbers. Coupled with the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), a graduate’s future employment prospects are therefore more uncertain.
This is one of the central themes of the world’s first unit which looks to demystify AI, explaining how it works, and demonstrating its limitations.
The lead on the course is Dr Iliada Eleftheriou.
“We need people from across disciplines to come together to understand the science behind the headlines. We need them to foresee the implications that AI can have on our society to ensure that AI will be used in the future to save lives. This is what we hope to achieve in this unit.” Says Iliada.
The unit, which is delivered in partnership with the University College for Interdisciplinary Learning (UCIL) of UoM, starts this semester and is open to all undergraduate university students. The course is delivered fully online using Blackboard and is made up of online modules, which will be released at intervals. Blackboard is the University’s online learning platform that houses all of a student’s course material.
Reusability and collaboration
The unit fully encompasses the aims of I3HS – reusability and collaboration. I3HS is the Faculty’s new research hub. John Owen, lecturer in Technology Enhanced Learning , Division of Population Health and member of I3HS says
“The i3hs Hub is a multidisciplinary project to promote teaching and research across disciplines for population health benefit through data sciences. We collaborate with a range of internal and external colleagues over many topics. We’re excited by the Robot Overlord course because it really is a unit that spans across many disciplines.”
“I’m so excited by the online learning nature of this course. This is not a traditional, dry, online experience – but it is full of video lectures, virtual reality sessions and great discussion groups where students get to interact and respond with one another”
The course is brought together and delivered by the School of Health Sciences and the School of Computer Science. It features case studies that span the disciplines of law, biomedicine, engineering and theology. The case studies are hand chosen and look at examples, including the role artificial intelligence may play in social care (robots helping the elderly) and how artificial intelligence is being used in economics to predict business outcomes.
Working with industry
One of the case studies on the course looks at the work the University has done with a local leading company in the automotive industry.
We looked at how the company is using artificial intelligence in its daily practices. What we found is that the tools they implemented have not only transformed their services, but also the culture of their company. AI actually created the need for a new profession in this business – someone who would understand the technology of the new tools with the ability to disseminate these ideas to their colleagues. It wasn’t just programmers who needed to know about AI, but all levels of the company. “comments Iliada.
Interactive and engaging case studies
The unit is all-encompassing and so prior background knowledge is not assumed and is built up over the duration of the course by interactive and engaging case studies.
With the course itself examining new technology, delivery of the material is equally modern.
“Using a virtual reality suite, the course provides a 3D VR video of the cognitive robotics lab of our University under the school of computer science featuring a variety of robots, ranging from humanoid, hexapods, tiny bee like robots, and robots for extreme environments. “ continues Iliada.
With the exciting course now underway, students are hopeful that the skills they learn in the course will put them in good stead in an increasingly AI future.
With the exciting course now underway, students are hopeful that the skills they learn in the course will put them in good stead in an increasingly AI future.