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M.I.T. Plans College for Artificial Intelligence, Backed by $1B

nytimes.com

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Re: M.I.T. Plans College for Artificial Intelligence, Backed by $1B

#131

Post by clintonb »

WhitneyLand wrote: post #116
clintonb wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MIT and Harvard are co-founders of edX. What about edX is half-hearted? * I'm an MIT alum and former edX engineer.

You can’t get a full undergrad or masters at either school based on your ability. You can get a “certificate” or some asterisked form of diploma, or you can enter the traditional applicant lotto where a significant number are rejected yet go on to do great work. The old lotto model is based on the legacy of having enough seats to put students into. Some newer programs, including one from MIT are experimenting with a…

I somewhat agree with you.

MIT has done a lot to expand access to content in the form of OpenCourseWare (https://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm) and edX (https://www.edx.org/).

The issue you have identified is finding scalable method of accreditation. Other schools have certainly tested online-only degree programs and produced many graduates. As an alum, I do struggle with the question of, "would an online-only graduate be 'real' alum"? That's my own personal bias. I imagine the institute does think about brand dilution to some extent.

That said, while colleges may be gatekeepers to degrees, it is employers that require the degrees to get jobs. Why bother with degrees in the first place if the candidate can prove they have the necessary skills for a job despite not holding a degree?

I realize I'm deflecting, but it's worth pointing out that there are multiple parties in play here, not just universities—MIT or otherwise.

Re: M.I.T. Plans College for Artificial Intelligence, Backed by $1B

#132

Post by therealmarv »

ever searched for a job in AI? They ALL (at least in Europe) want senior developers with 5-8 years experience in all sort of areas and no junior AI devs. Anybody is offering AI jobs (international) for people who got out of college and specialized in that? Looking for my brother, he is specialized in AI and looking for months for an AI job in Germany.

Re: M.I.T. Plans College for Artificial Intelligence, Backed by $1B

#133

Post by [deleted] »

nopinsight wrote: post #56
randcraw wrote: post #46

This sounds like a direct response to two things (mostly): 1) CMU establishing a 'department' of AI (where MIT had merely an AI track within the CS program), and 2) Kai-Fu Lee's recent book on the rise and inevitable domination by China of all things AI-related -- inviting a new 'space race' between the superpowers. (A 'brain race'?) Yet I can't imagine why an entire 'college' of AI is needed. AI simply isn't a field…

> AI simply isn't a field that's deep or broad enough to warrant an entire college with a handful of distinct majors, like an engineering college or medical school. The current field of AI might not yet be as broad or deep as the fields you mentioned. The science and engineering of intelligence , however, holds potentials to be even deeper and more impactful than those fields. Intelligence underlies most human endeav…

[deleted]

Re: M.I.T. Plans College for Artificial Intelligence, Backed by $1B

#134

Post by codekilla »

ryanmarsh wrote: post #98
YeGoblynQueenne wrote: post #79

I wish top-rated institutions stopped pretending "AI" means "the last 6 years in statistical machine learning". But I guess we all have our pet peeves, eh?

I wish top-rated institutions stoped pretending "Physics" means "the last 6 years in Electricity/Chemistry/etc..." - Someone circa 18-hundred-something shrugs The two things people dislike the most, the way things are, and when they change.

The success of statistical machine learning is more limited than may be obvious. Try to think of problems these methods can't solve, then try to think of problems they can solve. Which stack is thicker? Then ask yourself, for the problems they can solve--can they really solve them as well as humans? Machine Translation, I'm looking at you, Image Recongition--I'm also looking at you. If they can solve them as well as humans, ask 'how much human intelligence is imprinted into this machine artifact?' Yes, AlphaGo, I'm looking right at you.

Re: M.I.T. Plans College for Artificial Intelligence, Backed by $1B

#135

Post by sgt101 »

WhitneyLand wrote: post #116
clintonb wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MIT and Harvard are co-founders of edX. What about edX is half-hearted? * I'm an MIT alum and former edX engineer.

You can’t get a full undergrad or masters at either school based on your ability. You can get a “certificate” or some asterisked form of diploma, or you can enter the traditional applicant lotto where a significant number are rejected yet go on to do great work. The old lotto model is based on the legacy of having enough seats to put students into. Some newer programs, including one from MIT are experimenting with a…

On the other hand if talented teachers can get paid for doing what they do best then they can offer a personal experience as opposed to a diploma factory. I strongly suspect that there will always be a market and mechanism to support that.

Re: M.I.T. Plans College for Artificial Intelligence, Backed by $1B

#138

Post by dvlsg »

sevensor wrote: post #111
jmmcd wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the NYT headline is at fault here. College of Computing makes more sense than of AI. You can't put CSAIL inside a College of AI, for a start.

Not to mention, the headline implies sending A.I.s to college. Now that would be progress.

Taking "machine learning" to the next level, I suppose.

Re: M.I.T. Plans College for Artificial Intelligence, Backed by $1B

#139

Post by skeptic_69 »

mattferderer wrote: post #119
skeptic_69 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think if you want to be a leader in AI research you want to attract and nurture the best graduate students and researchers. I don't really know how much doing good research has to do with good online education. I am sure online education is useful but these issues don't really have much in common.

I don't disagree. I believe that there are a few universities whose education is by far superior. If you can increase the amount of people receiving top education, you can increase those that can then go on to do research. Getting into MIT is not easy. I imagine it is especially hard for those outside the US. The gatekeeper effect lowers the amount of people who can go on to become graduate students & researchers.

ehhhhhhh I am not so sure the main limiting factor in going on to grad school is access to quality undergraduate education. a diligent student at the top public school in every state is probably qualified to go do research in graduate school.

I'd imagine a more limiting factor is the a) willingness to work really hard for 6+ years for uncertain rewards for the joy of research with very low wages. especially when you can go into industry and make 100k+ b) student loans-see low wages as an academic.

As an academic in ML at least-I think there are more than enough academics in the field or trying to get here....look at NIPs submissions!

Re: M.I.T. Plans College for Artificial Intelligence, Backed by $1B

#140

Post by skeptic_69 »

fooker wrote: post #127
skeptic_69 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think if you want to be a leader in AI research you want to attract and nurture the best graduate students and researchers. I don't really know how much doing good research has to do with good online education. I am sure online education is useful but these issues don't really have much in common.

>I don't really know how much doing good research has to do with good online education. I am currently a CS grad student, I got started with computer science by watching MIT Open Courseware lectures.

obviously learning things effectively makes you a better researcher. I am talking about the value to the academic culture of the department.
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