Everywhere we hear that artificial intelligence (AI) will change jobs. We are starting to see this reality in university training programs to help workers integrate it into their daily lives. A quick overview.
We are seeing more and more intelligent tools arriving in the workplace to make our lives easier. But you still need to know how to use them and, above all, use them well.
The Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) and the Faculty of Continuing Education (FEP) of the University of Montreal (UdeM) have been offering four new undergraduate programs since this fall to meet this need. These are the certificate in artificial intelligence at work: responsible use and three microprograms, namely artificial intelligence at work: responsible use, business optimization and artificial intelligence, then management and integration of artificial intelligence.
These interdisciplinary training courses given remotely in the evening look at AI as such, its tools, the ethical questions they raise and the change management they require in organizations.
If Michel Janosz, dean of the FEP at UdeM, is of the opinion that these programs will be able to help both professionals and managers to properly integrate AI into their work, he also believes that we are laying the foundations of a profession that does not yet exist.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS
Michel Janosz
The changes brought about by AI are so great and rapid that members of management and company managers will increasingly need support to responsibly integrate these new tools. I think that eventually we will create a new type of specialist to carry out this important work.
Michel Janosz, dean of the Faculty of Continuing Education at the University of Montreal
The UdeM FEP also creates programs specific to certain professions which require good use of AI tools. For example, this fall, the certificate in content creation and management was added to the offering.
Also in the second cycle
The School of Continuing Education (EEP) at McGill University also launched several programs this fall related to the integration of AI in workplaces. First, the Master of Applied Science in Multilingual Digital Communication was created to train people capable of bridging strategic communication, translation and AI.
“Generally, people in these three sectors do not talk to each other, but they would benefit from doing so to create more multilingual content and be able to better exploit technologies responsibly,” says María Sierra Córdoba Serrano, director of graduate studies. at the EEP of McGill University.
The interdisciplinary program offers the choice between two components: one specialized in communication within the framework of a global strategy and the other specialized in the integration of language technologies. The master’s degree, which is given part-time online, ends with an internship or research project.
The McGill EEP also offers the graduate certificate in financial technology. This certificate allows you to develop skills to model data, develop financial applications with machine learning and financial technology platforms.
Also new: the graduate certificate in data-driven decision making. It allows you to assume or support leadership functions within organizations increasingly dependent on the digital world, such as those in the field of health technologies, infrastructure maintenance and dynamic management of supply chain. This program aims to acquire advanced skills in the field, such as evaluating data sources and converting data into concrete measures.
Finally, there is the Graduate Certificate in Data Analytics for Complex Systems. It is intended to be more of an introduction to the field. It allows you to apply data analysis techniques to understand the different phenomena observed in fields such as financial technologies, organizational management or digital marketing.
Manage AI projects
If employees and managers from different backgrounds need to adapt to the arrival of AI in their workplace, companies also need people in the field of programming well trained in AI to manage projects .
This is why the Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science at Concordia University launched the graduate microprogram in applied artificial intelligence this fall. It focuses on machine learning and deep learning with lectures and project-based learning that reflects real-world industry challenges. Registrants learn how to manage AI projects, from model selection to implementation to evaluation of results.