The field of Artificial Intelligence is growing fast. And so has interest in it grown exponentially. Fascinatingly, interest in learning artificial intelligence comes from a wide range of discipline. Ordinarily, one would expect interest in AI to revolve around the pool of people interested in Computer related studies. But that’s not quite the case.
Artificial Intelligence is a field of study that touches almost every disciple from medicine to engineering, cutting through different arts and sciences: AI is inter-disciplinary.
Who can learn artificial intelligence?
Theoretically, anybody interested in Artificial Intelligence that devotes time to learning it, can learn artificial intelligence.
But there is more to learning artificial intelligence than just being ‘interested’ and ‘devoting time to learning it’.
As someone interested in artificial intelligence, some of the things you need to consider to determine if you can learn artificial intelligence are;
- Can you meet the basic requirement to learn artificial intelligence?
- How long does it takes to learn artificial intelligence ?
- Is learning Artificial Intelligence hard or easy?
By considering some of these things you can then efficiently tell if you can learn AI. May be AI takes quite some time to learn and you probably don’t want to give that much time to learning AI. Either way, I urge you to read on till the end of the article, and then draw conclusions by yourself, if you can learn artificial intelligence.
Can you meet the Basic Requirement for Learning Artificial Intelligence?
Generally, there is always a kind of entry level needed to begin learning almost anything. In the case of artificial intelligence, the basic requirements are ‘basic’ knowledge of mathematics (especially multivariable calculus, linear algebra and probability), of a programming language (especially python, R, Matlab or Octave) and of data analytics.
The current approaches to artificial intelligence is heavily dependent on mathematics and data analytics. AI is computer based, hence, the need for basic knowledge of a programming (computer) language.
It’s important you now that as a beginner looking to learn artificial intelligence you don’t need to meet all these basic requirement on an advanced level; you just need basic knowledge of them.
There is also a possibility of beginning to learn artificial intelligence without having these basic knowledge, but it’s going to be incredible difficult.
Now, the question is do you think you can understand mathematics, learn a programming language and be acquitted with data analytics on a ‘basic level’.
If you think you can, then you are good to go. And if you think you can’t, then, you need to at least know that these things are not difficult to learn, all you need is to be determined to learn and most importantly, allow yourself time.
How Long Does it Take to Learn Artificial Intelligence?
Well, Artificial Intelligence is not something that can be learnt overnight; it sure takes time.
According to a theory popularized by Malcom Gladwell in a 1993 Psychology Paper, “anyone can master a skill with 10,000 hours of practice”.
Many have come to agree with this theory, and in your case, you may come to think all you need is 10,000 hours of practice to gain advance skill in artificial intelligence. But that might not be entirely so.
There are so many factors that affects how long it takes to master anything, other than just hours of practice.
For example, a chess player had taken 26 years to reach a level while another took just 2 years to reach the same level as the former.
Hours of practice is important in learning but there are so many other factors that affect learning time; physiological factors (such as fatigue and age), psychological factors (such as mental health, motivation and interest level), and environmental factors (learning condition and mode of learning).
As such, it’s difficult to state a precise hour(s), as the time it takes to learn artificial intelligence. Generally, how long it takes you to learn artificial intelligence is dependent on how fast you absorb information as a person and the hours you give to learning artificial intelligence per day/week.
How long does it take to learn artificial intelligence? It takes less than a year to 10 years (or even more) to learn artificial intelligence depending on your learning ability and capacity.
Is Learning Artificial Intelligence Hard or Easy?
I believe it’s very easy and very difficult to learn anything depending on how one looks at and approach the subject.
A simple way to explain this, is to pick up a broom and attempt breaking them all at once and then you will discover it’s quite difficult. Alternatively, attempt breaking the same broom one stick at a time and broom breaking becomes fun.
In the same vein, learning artificial intelligence can be easy or difficult for you depending on how you choose to approach it.
And there is no one way to approach learning artificial intelligence that is generally easy or difficult.
For instance, learning artificial intelligence from top-bottom might prove to be difficult for me but easy for another person. It’s really all about you, and your ability/capacity.
Is learning artificial intelligence easy or hard? Learning Artificial Intelligence is incredibly easy when approached the best way that suits the learner and may be hard if approached otherwise.
Where can I learn Artificial Intelligence?
There are so many ways to learn artificial intelligence as there are to learn just about anything. And in each way, there are many places to learn artificial intelligence.
You can learn artificial intelligence through online courses, from AI resource books and by undergoing a degree programme in Artificial intelligence.
The best place where you can learn artificial intelligence are:
- Through Online Course
- From AI Resource Books
- Artificial intelligence Degree
Best Online Courses to Learn Artificial Intelligence:
- Stanford University – Machine Learning Course
- Google – Machine Learning Course
- Microsoft – Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
- Coursera – AI for Everyone
- edX – Artificial Intelligence Certification
- Udacity – Artificial Intelligence Nanodegree
Best Resource Books to Learn Artificial Intelligence:
- Mathematics for Machine Learning
- Machine Learning for Dummies
- Artificial Intelligence – A Modern Approach
- Artificial Intelligence with Python
- Make your own Neural Network
Best University to Obtain an Artificial Intelligence Degree
The best university to obtain an artificial intelligence Bachelor Degree is the Carnegie Mellon University. Other universities that offers post-graduate degrees in Artificial Intelligence are:
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
- University of California – Berkely
- University College London
- University of Washington
- University of Waterloo
- University of Manchester
- Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad
- McGill University
- University of Kent
- Indrapastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi
I’m a Tech Stock Analyst, with focus on companies developing cutting-edge techs. Keeping track of cutting-edge techs, companies and stocks is what I do almost everyday. And I love it. Whether it’s artificial intelligence, 5g, or autonomous vehicles; I’m all in.
