Nearly 600 students register for UI's new AI certificate

With the demand for artificial intelligence expertise on the rise, the University of Iowa recently introduced a new HawkAI certificate program aimed at elevating AI skills and knowledge on campus.

The courses to earn a Level 1 HawkAI certificate will be offered online from Sept. 25 to mid-November, and is free of charge for UI faculty and students. To obtain the certificate, participants must complete four individual classes out of seven choices.

Milan Sonka, professor of electrical and computer engineering and director of the Iowa Initiative for Artificial Intelligence, said the entry-level courses are designed to provide basic information.

“The level one courses which are being offered this fall are for everyone. No computational background required, no AI experience required,” Sonka said. “It’s informational classes about one hour to three hours.”

Tyler Bell, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering who will teach the level one courses, said his classes will provide education on AI tools that all participants can utilize.

“Level one is for everyone to learn about AI and using it in their day to day,” Bell said.

Over 550 people have registered for the Level 1 courses so far, and that number is growing, Bell added.

After completing level one, three consecutively advancing levels of certification will be offered. The level two certificate is designed for interdisciplinary researchers to enhance their AI knowledge and collaborate with AI experts, according to the website.

Sonka told the DI that level three courses will be specified for developers of AI.

The courses are offered through the Iowa Initiative for Artificial Intelligence and Information Technology Services and facilitated with funding from the Provost Office, Sonka said.

“The university is understanding that AI is here, that AI is going to be a part of everyone’s job and daily activities,” Sonka said. “Students, as well as faculty and staff, have to understand what AI can do to help them.”

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Sonka also said the initiative plans to offer an experiential hands-on AI course in the spring to 20 select students who will assist in 10 research projects in varying fields of study.

“We are trying to make the university more competitive for the era of artificial intelligence in research,” Sonka said.

Manda Marshall, senior IT consultant for the ITS Enterprise Services AI Productivity Solutions group and AI support team manager, said participants will also be required to attend a panel on AI ethics.

“Ethics is extremely important when you’re working with AI because there are so many ways to potentially misuse it or potentially get information that is incorrect,” Marshall said. “So, we need to make sure that we have humans in the loop when we are using AI.”

She said that AI users must also be aware of bias within the coding itself.

“I think it’s important for those users to understand bias that might be built into the models that we need to be on the lookout for,” Marshall said.

A 2022 publication from the National Institute of Standards and Technology explains the issue of encoded bias in AI.

Bell emphasized that AI is another iteration in the evolution of technology and could become as influential to everyday life as the smartphone.

“I think about it in terms of any new technology. Twenty or thirty years ago, the idea of sitting at a computer doing work was really foreign, but now that’s how all work is done,” Bell said. “AI is potentially this next medium of life.”

Sonka urged people to seek education on the topic as AI is still in an exciting stage of new development.

“I heard a beautiful phrase that the AI you are using today is probably the worst AI you are ever going to use,” Sonka said. “Because next month it will get better, next year it will get better.”