Long before ChatGPT exploded onto the scene and sucked all the air out of the room, there was IBM Watson. Watson himself shot to fame in 2011 when he defeated reigning champion Ken Jennings on the television game show Jeopardy.
Interesting fact: ZDNET’s own Stephen J. Vaughan-Nichols was once a clue on Jeopardy.
Anyway, back to the story. What I’m saying is that IBM has a long history with AI and we’re not standing still. Its generative AI solution is called Watsonx. It focuses on enabling businesses to deploy and manage both traditional machine learning and generative AI to suit their unique needs.
Also: AI in 2023: A breakthrough year that won’t change everything about humans
I say this because if there’s any company I trust to provide certifications in the basics of AI, it’s IBM.
IBM’s AI Fundamentals Program is built inside of SkillsBuild Learning Portal. The certification has six courses and takes approximately 10 hours to complete.
I took an AI ethics class because I’ve been interested in AI ethics for a long time (I wrote a paper on AI ethics a long time ago). It was good.
Also: Fact-checked ChatGPT with Bard, Claude, and Copilot – results are weird
We discussed the challenges of balancing technology and ethical responsibility. Key topics include his five pillars of AI ethics, the importance of fairness and avoidance of bias, and the need for AI systems to be transparent, explainable, and robust against attacks. will appear. The session also highlighted the importance of governance, protection of personal data, and privacy through data minimization and differential privacy.
When I wrote this article in early December 2023, I said, “I’ll probably take the rest of the courses over the holidays.” I certainly did. At the end of this article, I’ll answer some questions from readers and share some of my experiences.
Create a free account to get started IBM’s SkillsBuild learning portal. All links below to IBM’s free AI courses require you to create an account and log in before using them.
Fundamentals of artificial intelligence learning plan: This learning plan explores the history of AI and looks at how it can change the world. Along the way, we’ll take a deep dive into how AI makes predictions, understands language and images, and learns using circuitry inspired by the human brain. After a hands-on simulation to build and test machine learning models, we conclude with tips on how to find a career in AI.
Artificial intelligence overview (1 hour 15 minutes): In less than a century, AI has already experienced three waves of revolutionary developments. Today, it provides humanity with the most powerful tools to analyze complex data and not only find meaning, but also learn without human intervention. This course examines the history of AI and explores ways to make sense of unstructured data.
Natural language processing and computer vision (1 hour 30 minutes): You may already know that some AI systems can understand human language, identify visual images, and even create original art. But do you know how these systems work? This course explores theories of natural language and visual processing, and how these technologies power real-world mechanisms such as chatbots and photo analysis. Learn how to promote.
Machine learning and deep learning (2 hours): In this course, learn how machines can learn and make surprising, evidence-based predictions. Investigate the logic behind computers’ ability to learn and explore new ways in which AI systems inspired by neurons in the human brain can solve difficult problems.
Run AI models in IBM Watson Studio (1 hour 45 minutes): In this course, you will practice creating AI machine learning models in a series of simulations using IBM Watson Studio. This is hands-on time that will help you do real work with AI.
AI ethics (1 hour 45 minutes): You may have heard about the problems that arise when AI systems misinterpret data or suggest solutions that reflect human biases. This is the course I mentioned earlier. Through real-world examples, you will learn about AI ethics, how to implement it, and why it is so important in building trustworthy AI systems.
Your Future in AI: Job Outlook (1 hour): Are you considering a career in AI? In this course, you will learn about the rapid growth of the AI job market and the skills needed to succeed in this exciting field. Hear how real professionals started their careers, and find resources and learning opportunities to help you work alongside them.
My experience of taking the full course
The week between Christmas and New Year’s Day is usually pretty quiet, especially for daily email traffic. This year, I used that time to take this course, taking one session almost every day, and two of those days I went back in the afternoon to take his second session.
Most sessions are a combination of reading with some spotlight videos incorporated and ending with a quiz. You can try again as many times as you like until you get it right, so there’s no need to be afraid of taking the exam. At first, she was able to answer most of the quizzes correctly, but she ended up having to retake the quiz because she was distracted by a small dog. There was no negative impact on my course studies.
Related article: How to use Bing Image Creator (and why it’s better than ever)
Each course delves into an aspect of AI. Without a doubt, I had a better feel for some of the generative AI processes than I did before taking the course. What’s more, the course was interesting and the video lectures were engaging. The course also had some interactive experiences that I found engaging.
Most of the courses are vendor-neutral, but some Watson courses were specific to IBM products. It took him about an hour. Although I wasn’t in the target market for IBM’s products, it was worth my time to learn what IBM has to offer for AI-related solutions.
As I said earlier, I liked the ethics section. If you’re interested in a career in AI, you’ll love our last session, which details what you can expect if you want to work in this field. This session alone is worth the price of admission (even if it wasn’t free).
I ended up creating an official certificate and posted it on my LinkedIn profile. Stay tuned over the next week or so as I explain how to add verifiable training certifications to LinkedIn. Overall, this course was a great experience and I gained a lot from it.
These jobs are also most likely to be taken over by AI.
We have also received questions from several people about applying for the course. There was some confusion due to not being able to go directly to the course.Be sure to go to the main IBM SkillBuild Entry Portal Then create an account. Once you have a verified account (it’s free), after that Attend courses offered by IBM.
Finally, the IBM representative asked me to tell them that they also offer free services. Fundamentals of sustainability and technology course. You can also find it on SkillBuild. This course also provides verifiable qualifications.
Other resources
This is the third article in a series of free learning resources for those interested in researching AI and building a career around this amazing technology. I also looked into free AI courses on Amazon and free AI courses from OpenAI and DeepLearning.
Well then, here you go. Sign up now and use your free time to earn new credentials. If you have taken any of these courses, let us know your thoughts by letting us know in the comments section below. stay tuned. We plan to provide more resources in early 2024 to help you continue your free AI learning journey.
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