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If you are an undergraduate in computer science these days, it is very hard to get into advanced AI/ML classes, which are typically reserved for graduate studen
by kendallpark 8y ago
If you are an undergraduate in computer science these days, it is very hard to get into advanced AI/ML classes, which are typically reserved for graduate students. Back before the ML goldrush, a strong CS undergrad interested in AI could elect to take advanced coursework beyond the introductory AI class. Nowadays, good luck getting off the waitlist! Having an official "AI major" does at least tell students, "Hey, we are making it a priority that undergraduates have access to our rich AI curriculum."
- QML 8y agoWhile there may be a lot of demand for AI/ML, I’m concerned to whether there are enough students with the proper foundations in math and stats to do well. New classes such as Data Science seem to just instruct students how to use algorithms and not why.
- fixermark 8y agoLooking at the curriculum CMU has put together (https://www.cs.cmu.edu/bs-in-artificial-intelligence/curriculum https://www.cs.cmu.edu/bs-in-artificial-intelligence/curricu...), I see statistical fundamentals in the Math and Statistics Core. I expect it should handle the why and the how. (... though I get the sense from the outside looking in that a lot of machine learning at this point is still a little bit alchemy, so there may not always even be a firm "why" answer to give. All the more reason to give students firm general fundamental groundings so they can seek out those answers).
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- fma 8y agoI see students that graduate with degrees in CS/IT to fill the demand. Quality has declined... Translating to AI/ML I would assume the same. I think CMU would retain quality, but the local universities will start churning out AI degrees like butter.
- gowld 8y agoAre you talking about undergraduate courses, or non-accredited certificate courses? We've had stuff like A+ / Cisco / Java certifications for decades. They fill an important niche, but they aren't how industry leaders are trained.
- QML 8y agoOnly referring to my experience as an undergrad: most students seemed to be turned away by the mathematics.
- aerioux 8y agoSo in CMU it's quite easy to get into grad classes and you can start doing it as a freshman - there are generally a number of juniors+ in masters/phd classes
- aje403 8y agoHonestly, consider the flip side as well. This is just going to inflate the bubble more and create more unqualified candidates. AI degree means they're going to be churning out candidates who don't know what tcp is or what context switch means. Also, the guy with the (graduate or PHD) AI degree from CMU, before this, handing you his resume, may have studied functional analysis and convex optimization in addition to learning about SVMs. The new guy did not, but he'll be have a checklist of when to use an SVM and when not to, and be pretty good at python. So, in a way, it's deflating the intellectual rigor of the field even further, considering CMU's reputation. Of course, they think it's beneficial to their CS program for whatever set of reasonable reasons we can likely guess at.
- joker3 8y agoHow many people really need to know functional analysis to practice machine learning? How many developers need to know TCP coming out of school?
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- aje403 8y agoYou're reading that into my post. Most do not need to know functional analysis. Some absolutely should. My point is not that one needs to know functional analysis to get a machine learning job, its that one of the top AI institutions is decreasing the intellectual rigor of its "average output" in that domain. I find it scary that you're asking the second question. I think any accredited university handing out CS diplomas should make sure their graduates know what TCP is, especially CMU, which will theoretically be sending its graduates to good companies
- srinivasan 8y ago> candidates who don’t know what TCP is or what context switch means. Nope, look at the curriculum again.
- 8y ago
- exogeny 8y agoI made the mistake my sophomore year at CMU of enrolling in a graduate-level economics class called "Game Theory" because I got my course prefixes incorrect, and assumed it was a CS class about video games. I am now much more versed in Nash equilibria than I ever thought I'd be, but damn, that class took a chainsaw to my GPA.
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- esahione 8y agoHa! Grad school at CMU took a chainsaw to my GPA after 1st year. Studying 16h/day and still didn't have enough time to complete all assignments and understand the material. Awesome school though, would do it again.
- diegoandrade 8y agoI would do it again, too!
- drngdds 8y agoSerious question, from someone who hasn't had to do it: how is it possible to do productively study for 16 hours a day? Controlled substances? I don't last that long even on occasion, much less regularly.
- exogeny 8y agoAll joking aside, CMU does very much have a problem with promoting and fetishizing a culture of stress. I only have anecdotal evidence of this, but more so than just about anywhere else, CMU as a university prides itself on a very difficult workload and a lot of the solutions that students come up with are extremely unhealthy.
- intrasight 8y agoI have personal experience (EE,CE,AM '88). CMU sucks in terms of student experience - at least then it did. At least the physical plan is far superior now. The place was fugly in the 80s. The teaching was weak. I felt that I was paying for a reputation. And on top of that, in our freshman year they had us all come to an auditorium to tell us this: "Sorry, we have to fail half of you out because there are too many of you. Look to your left and then to your right. Those two students will be gone." Any EE in that class can testify to the truthfulness of what I say.
- abvdasker 8y agoDepends on the school. At a good school you can generally always find the classes to learn what you want to learn.
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- greggarious 8y agoCouldn't the same be accomplished with a minor or concentration as is common in many universities? (Registering formally for a minor gives you preference) I don't really have an issue with this degree, but I think it's mostly a marketing ploy to have a "major in AI" versus "AI concentration" or "AI minor" (set of electives alongside the normal CS degree)
- gowld 8y agoWhat's the "ploy"? It's got about 4-6 more on-focus classes than a traditional "minor"
- diiaann 8y agoThis. I think people forget that majors are also an operational consideration.
- gowld 8y agoThe problem with CS education in general is that it's very hard to get teachers, since anyone who can teach CS could earn 2-100x the income in industry.
- netheril96 8y ago> "Hey, we are making it a priority that undergraduates have access to our rich AI curriculum." Maybe these AI classes will be reserved for AI majors, so regular CS majors still have to pray for getting off the waitlist.