Microsoft has unveiled its AI Skills Initiative to help workers get ready for the AI-focused jobs of the future. The initiative has several components to it, first there is some free coursework available on LinkedIn with a Professional Certificate on Generative AI for those who finish, there’s a new global grant challenge to uncover new ways to train workers on generative AI, and there will be more access to free digital learning events and resources so everyone can improve their AI fluency.
The course on LinkedIn offers a certificate after you complete six sections which contain about four hours of content in all. The courses include: What is Generative AI?, Generative AI: The Evolution of Thoughtful Online Search, Streamlining your work with Microsoft Bing Chat, Microsoft 365 Copilot First Look, Ethics in the age of Generative AI, and Introduction to Artificial Intelligence.
Right now, these courses are available in English but will soon launch in Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Simplified Chinese, and Japanese.
Aside from providing this new course, Microsoft has decided to launch the Generative AI Skills Grant Challenge which will look for solutions to help train the workforce in generative AI. Discussing it further, Microsoft said:
‘This global grant will support organizations driving skilling and economic growth, especially those focusing on fair and community-led implementations of generative AI with historically marginalized populations around the world.
In addition to financial support, the awardees will receive access to a cohort experience, Microsoft events, Azure-based cloud computing resources as well as data training and technical guidance from Microsoft and GitHub experts.’
While these efforts are a start, Microsoft is not stopping here, it said that in the coming months it will be announcing new partners, new goals, and new ideas. Microsoft said it believes that AI has the potential to do a lot of good for humanity but to achieve this, people need the skills to use AI effectively and ethically.
Source: Microsoft