AICTE plans to upskill in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, focuses on ‘ethics’

Along with the skilling programmes on AI and data science, a need to dedicate at least 10% to ethics in AI

The All India Council For Technical Education (AICTE) has directed colleges and technical institutions to widely disseminate the report ‘National Program on Artificial Intelligence’ to promote upskilling in the technical sectors, with a renewed focus on ethics in AI.  

The report was prepared by the committee constituted by the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MieTY) and was issued in June 2023 as a part of MieTY’s ‘National Program on Artificial Intelligence’ (NPAI). The committee listed several programmes on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Sciences and other measures to promote upskilling. 

Recommendations of the committee included skilling of youths in AI and data science should start from the early school levels. Further, the report has suggested a basic curriculum for different levels aligned with the National Higher Education Qualifications Framework (NHEQF) and the National Credit Framework (NCrF).  

The union government aims to establish a comprehensive programme for leveraging transformative technologies to foster inclusion, innovation and adoption for social impact under the NPAI.  

As per the NPAI, the ministry focuses on four pillars of the AI ecosystem – skilling in AI, responsible AI, data management office and setting up the national centre on Al. The report, along with the skilling programmes on AI and data science, has also stressed the need to dedicate at least 10% of each course to ethics in AI. “Every course, small or big, must have a module on ethical AI for a minimum of 10% of its duration. Ethical considerations, transparency, fairness, and privacy must be integrated into AI training programs to ensure that AI systems are developed and deployed responsibly,” the report mentioned. 

Source: https://www.educationtimes.com/article/newsroom/99734187/aicte-plans-to-upskill-in-artificial-intelligence-and-data-science-focuses-on-ethics