The Department of Information Technology, National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NIT-K), Surathkal, has decided to start a new four-year B.Tech. course in Artificial Intelligence from the academic year 2021-22.
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The Academic Senate, Board of the institute and the Union Ministry of Education have approved the course. 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 specialisations in different areas of AI such as 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.”
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Prof. Rao added: “This specialisation empowers students to build intelligent machines, software, or applications with state-of-the-art technology using machine learning, data analytics, and data visualisation technologies.”
The Director said that earlier Artificial Intelligence was a subset of Computer Science, but in recent years Artificial Intelligence 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 across the sciences, social sciences, and humanities.