Amazon made a step in advancing artificial intelligence (AI) education, announcing its “AI Ready” initiative with eight free AI and generative AI courses.
Aiming to provide free AI skills training to 2 million people worldwide by 2025, the move comes in response to findings from an AWS study highlighting “strong demand” for AI talent and the potential for higher salaries for workers skilled in AI technologies.
Amazon’s commitment to AI education addresses a crucial gap in the current job market. It will ultimately help businesses utilize generative AI advancements, such as the new Amazon Q chatbot.
What Is The AI Ready Initiative?
The AI Ready initiative comprises several key components, including free courses for non-technical audiences, a high school and university students scholarship with Udacity, and a partnership with Code.org.
The courses available in the new AI training series are as follows:
- Introduction to Generative Artificial Intelligence – Offers a basic understanding of generative AI, its applications, and essential concepts.
- Generative AI Learning Plan for Decision Makers – A series of three courses on planning and building a generative AI-ready organization.
- Introduction to Amazon CodeWhisperer – Teaches the use of Amazon’s AI code generator for producing complete lines of code.
- Foundations of Prompt Engineering – Covers the essentials of prompt engineering for generative AI tools, including advanced techniques.
- Low-Code Machine Learning – Focuses on data preparation, training machine learning models, and deployment with minimal coding.
- Building Language Models – Teaches using Amazon SageMaker for building and fine-tuning language models.
- Amazon Transcribe—Getting Started – An introduction to using Amazon Transcribe to convert speech to text.
- Building Generative AI Applications Using Amazon Bedrock – Guides learners on using Amazon Bedrock to create generative AI applications.
Growing Demand For AI Skills
According to a study by AWS and Access Partnership, 73% of employers prioritize hiring AI-skilled talent, but three-quarters of these employers struggle to find the necessary AI expertise.
Employers expect workers with AI skills to earn up to 47% more in salaries, highlighting the financial benefits of such training.
Moreover, 93% of businesses foresee using AI solutions across their organizations within the next five years, signaling AI’s growing influence in various industries.
The growing emphasis on developing AI skills reflects an evolving digital landscape where AI-driven strategies will become increasingly critical for success in various sectors.
Making AI Education Accessible
By democratizing access to AI education and training, Amazon’s initiative addresses immediate industry needs and shapes the future landscape of AI and its applications in business and society.
Google launched its own free AI courses in September.
Featured image: Tada Images/Shutterstock
