You would possibly know him from his medicine firm Cost Plus Drugs or from beforehand proudly owning the Dallas Mavericks. In any other case you’re sure to know him from his deal-brokering on Shark Tank.
However for a lot of college students, Mark Cuban is the rationale why they’re in a position to find out about arguably some of the vital rising expertise proper now: AI.
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This 12 months, in additional than 18 cities throughout the nation, highschool college students will be capable to study the newest developments of AI, together with ChatGPT, solely without cost via the Mark Cuban Foundation AI Bootcamps Initiative.
“There are two sorts of firms on the planet proper now—those who perceive AI and those that don’t,” Cuban tells Fortune in an e mail.
“I wish to see extra youngsters prepared and excited to study extra about AI and be a part of the best way it’s altering society. By democratizing AI training, we empower these youngsters to form their futures and contribute meaningfully to the digital economic system.”
Bringing free AI training nationwide
Based in 2019, 1000’s of scholars have AI coaching in topics like machine learning, pure language processing, and AI ethics.
The necessities to use for 2024’s bootcamps are easy. The truth is, no coding or tech information is required. College students simply have to be in ninth–twelfth grade subsequent faculty 12 months and dwelling inside driving distance of one of many camps. The areas embody:
- California: Pasadena; Mountain View
- Florida: Fort Lauderdale; Miami; Palm Seashore Gardens
- Georgia: Atlanta
- Illinois: Chicago
- Indiana: Indianapolis
- Michigan: Detroit; Pontiac
- Minnesota: Minneapolis
- Missouri: St. Louis
- Nebraska: Omaha
- Pennsylvania: Philadelphia
- Texas: Addison; Houston; Plano
- Washington D.C.
For 2024, every bootcamp will happen over three Saturdays on November 2, 9, and 16 and can host 20 to 25 college students. The academics include volunteers from native companies and firms. Beforehand, AI consultants from Walmart and McDonald’s have been amongst them.
“It’s not a lot that we’re addressing gaps within the training world, however we acknowledge that educating youngsters about cutting-edge applied sciences is just not the energy of most public colleges. We’re eradicating as many boundaries as doable to offer our college students a hands-on method to find out about AI and really get to make use of the expertise to construct functions that clear up issues of their day by day lives,” Cuban says.
Many universities have taken comparable approaches to educating in regards to the quickly rising area of AI. Faculties like Columbia, Caltech, and the College of Houston supply AI bootcamps. And even firms like Google and IBM have methods to study AI topics, prompt engineering for instance, on-line. However, many choices vary by way of worth and are largely solely digital.
Cuban’s emphasis on training
This isn’t Cuban’s first foray into the training area. For years, he has been vocal about making faculty extra reasonably priced and easing the burden it locations on college students—particularly in relation to pupil mortgage debt.
In 2014, he launched a U.S. student loan debt clock (it at present reads at over $2.1 trillion—which exceeds bank card and auto mortgage debt, mixed). Extra lately, he expressed his support for President Joe Biden’s preliminary proposal to forgive $10,000 in pupil mortgage debt per borrower.
However above all, Cuban has famous that having liberal arts education—and making use of it to the world of tech—could be extraordinarily beneficial.
“AI must be taught in regards to the world because it occurs and given totally different views in regards to the output of fashions. So attempt to discover methods to use your liberal arts training to AI, and I feel you’ll be extra valued than individuals count on,” he notes.
AI is broadly anticipated to remodel the character of the workforce within the coming years, with some jobs possible to get replaced and lots of extra complemented by the brand new expertise. In accordance with the IMF, about 60% of jobs in superior economics could also be impacted by AI.
Cuban’s bootcamp hopes to play an element in getting ready college students for college and jobs of the long run.
“I hope college students will use their newfound expertise to innovate, create, and in the end disrupt industries,” Cuban says. “The purpose is for them to use what they’ve realized to construct profitable companies and clear up issues of their communities. And we hope the camp will probably be simply the beginning of their AI journey they usually’ll proceed to study.”