The Department of Information Technology, National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NIT-K), Surathkal, will introduce a new 4-year B.Tech. course in Artificial Intelligence from 2021-22.
The Academic Senate, Board of the institute and the Union Ministry of Education have approved the course. The admissions will be through JEE (Main) score.
Karanam Uma Maheshwar Rao, Director, NIT-K, said in a release on Thursday that this degree would prepare students for industry or further study by offering specializations in different areas of AI like data science, human-centred computing, cyber-physical systems, and robotics. “Its curriculum will focus on the use of inputs such as video, speech, and big data to make decisions or enhance human capabilities,” he said.
Prof. Rao added, “This specialization empowers students to build intelligent machines, software, or applications with state-of-the-art technology using machine learning, data analytics, and data visualization technologies.” Earlier, AI was a subset of Computer Science, but in recent years it has grown enough to qualify as a distinctive and a bigger unit. As a result, job opportunities for the undergraduates of B.Tech (AI) courses are different from conventional IT jobs.
He added that the new course is in conformance with the National Education Policy 2020, which stresses the need to improve the skilled workforce involving mathematics, computer science, and data science, in conjunction with multidisciplinary abilities.
