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Ask Slashdot: How Can Programmers Move Into AI Jobs?

Posted by EditorDavid on from the opening-the-pod-bay-doors dept.

"I have the seriously growing suspicion that AI is coming for us programmers and IT experts faster than we might want to admit," writes long-time Slashdot reader Qbertino. So he's contemplating a career change -- and wondering what AI work is out there now, and how can he move into it? Is anything popping up in the industry and AI hype? (And what are these positions called, what do they precisely do, and what are the skills needed to do them?) I suspect something like an "AI Architect", planning AI setups and clearly defining the boundaries of what the AI is supposed to do and explore.

Then I presume the requirements for something like an "AI Maintainer" and/or "AI Trainer" which would probably resemble something like an admin of a big data storage, looking at statistics and making educated decisions on which "AI Training Paths" the AI should continue to explore to gain the skill required and deciding when the "AI" is ready to be let go on to the task... And what about Tensor Flow? Should I toy around with it or are we past that stage already and will others do AI setup and installation better than me before I know how this thing really works...?
Is there a degree program, or other paths to skill and knowledge, for a programmer who's convinced that "AI is today what the web was in 1993"? And if AI of the future ends up tied to specific providers -- AI as a service -- then are there specific vendors he should be focusing on (besides Google?) Leave your best suggestions in the comments. How can programmers move into AI jobs?

3 of 121 comments (clear)

  1. deja vu by religionofpeas · · Score: 3, Informative

    https://ask.slashdot.org/story...

    1. Re:deja vu by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Informative

      Yes, this is a dupe. Here is a brief synopsis of the previous discussion:
      1. Many people do not think AI today is analogous to the "web" in 1993.
      2. Machine learning is much harder than editing HTML. You aren't going to learn it in a 21 day "bootcamp".
      3. If you are serious this is what you should do:
        a. Learn plenty of linear algebra
        b. Learn how to program GPUs using CUDA and OpenCL.
        c. Learn basic theory, like backprop and autoencoders.
        d. Write some code, read some books, write more code.

      Here are some good resources:
      MIT Artificial Intelligence Course
      Deep Learning by Ian Goodfellow and Yoshua Begino
      Geoffrey Hinton's 2006 Science Paper that triggered the "deep learning" revolution.

      That will get you started.

  2. Secondary question by raftpeople · · Score: 4, Informative

    Can we develop AI to prevent duplicate slashdot stories?