THE INDIAN Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) has decided to introduce Artificial Intelligence and Data Science (AI-DS) as a mandatory course for undergraduate students — BTech as well as Bachelor of Science (BS) — from this academic year. “Earlier, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Biology used to be common courses which everybody had to learn. Now AI-DS is a new addition to that list in our curriculum. Whether they use it or not, everybody will get the flavour of it by being equipped with the knowledge to use it,” said Professor Deepankar Choudhury, head of the civil engineering department who headed a panel set up to look at revision of the BTech curriculum. The introduction of AI-DS was among the recommendations made by the committee. “Except the design course, which is a completely different field, the common course (AI-DS) is applicable for all Bachelor of Science (BS) courses too. We have BS in Economics, Chemistry and Mathematics. They, of course, do a lot of data analysis,” said Professor Avinash Mahajan, Dean of Academics. While AI-DS will be introduced as a common course with mandatory credit in the first semester of the second year, interested students will have the option to take up more advanced courses in the field later. “We already have a centre for machine learning and data science where higher level specialised post-graduate and PhD programmes are offered in AI and DS. Now, we are introducing it at lower levels because of the sheer need felt across disciplines, as this is the way forward,” said Mahajan. The idea is to provide initial knowledge to students at an early stage of their undergraduate studies. “Later, depending on their department or programme requirement, they can opt for another course at a higher level which will be department-specific. so that our students are future-ready for jobs and also become successful creators of jobs,” said Chaudhury. “Earlier, we used to think that only computer science and electrical engineering may be using more AI. But now, even other branches of engineering such as mechanical, civil and aerospace, are using AI for various reasons; students of these branches cannot avoid learning AI,” he said, adding, “AI is the present and future of the industry, and our students have to be equipped with it.” The decision comes at a time when AI and DS are gaining popularity as specialised courses at the undergraduate as well as post-graduate level. In a big curriculum overhaul last year, IIT-B had introduced a basket of non-engineering subjects to meet the changing trends of students taking up non-core engineering jobs. These courses — Humanities, Arts, Social Science, Management, Entrepreneurship, Design — have begun to gain importance.
