NKU to offer a new minor in AI this fall
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated Northern Kentucky University has the first artificial intelligence program in the region. University of Cincinnati had a program first.
Northern Kentucky University announced Tuesday that it is launching Kentucky’s first artificial intelligence degree program this fall. Artificial intelligence is commonly referred to as AI.
NKU’s program is one of the first in the region. University of Cincinnati Blue Ash College launched an associate degree program in AI this spring. University of Cincinnati offers a master’s degree in AI, too, within the university’s Engineering department.
These programs have grown in popularity at other universities in the United States over the last several years. DePaul University in Chicago, Ill., offers a degree in AI, as well as Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pa. Ohio State University offers an AI summer boot camp.
“Not long ago, artificial intelligence was just a branch of computer science. It’s now, above all, about communication – how we learn to work with a new kind of non-human intelligence, to get our jobs done and to make our world better,” Kevin Kirby, dean of NKU’s College of Informatics, said in Tuesday’s news release. “At NKU we want students majoring in everything from nursing to business to education to consider getting an ‘AI edge’. By taking this minor, they’ll learn how AI works, how it is both promising and dangerous, but above all they will learn to use it expertly in their chosen career.”
The university says the new minor will provide students with a basic foundation in computing, machine learning and prompt engineering. The degree will also expose students to the societal, ethical and legal implications of AI.
