The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) has announced the launch of a one-year intensive African Master’s in Machine Intelligence (AMMI). This is in partnership with Facebook and Google.
“Today, AIMS announces the launch of a one-year intensive African Master’s in Machine Intelligence (AMMI) in partnership with Facebook and Google.” AIMS wrote yesterday in a press release.
Facebook also confirmed in a blog post saying that “this program will bring together some of the most talented African graduate students to pursue research and engineering careers in machine learning.”
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The social media company will contribute financing as well as avail its researchers to the institute.
“Facebook will provide funding of $4M as well as world-leading researchers from our labs in New York and California (USA), Montreal (Canada) and Paris (France) to directly support the training and education of these master’s students.”
By doing this, it believes that it will strengthen its “ongoing commitment and investment in supporting communities across the [African] continent.”
Google hasn’t pointed out how much it will be contributing. Though, its Lead of AI - Jeff Dean - commented on the partnership. He said;
“The field of machine intelligence is advancing rapidly, and it’s imperative that industry leaders including Google and Facebook, continue to partner with academic institutions like AIMS to develop the next generation of students who will build MI that benefits everyone.”
This partnership with AIMS follows the search company’s opening announcement of opening an AI center in Ghana. And Jeff believes it is another step towards supporting the continent in the fields of AI and Machine Learning.
“Along with our recent announcement of a Google AI center, scheduled to open later this year in Ghana, this partnership with AIMS is another example of our long-term investment and commitment to Africa.”
The program will commence at AIMS Rwanda this September, with a planned launch in other African countries in the near future.
The Institute believes that “creating an effective, globally connected community of Machine Intelligence practitioners in Africa” will reduce the technology gap in Africa. It will also strengthen the continent’s economies and enable better governance.
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The AMMI program will accord young Africans with modern training in machine learning and its applications. Every course on the program will be lectured by leading experts from prestigious African and international institutions, providing students with the best possible foundation.
Professor Neil Turok, Founder, and Chair of the AIMS said that AMMI is the first step towards AIMS’ longer-term goal of preparing Africa for the coming quantum revolution in information science and technology.