How to start a career in artificial intelligence

Discover how to kickstart a career in AI by building a strong foundation through AI courses, gaining practical experience with projects and more!

Global industry disruption brought about by artificial intelligence (AI) is creating interesting job prospects for anyone interested in this cutting-edge subject. AI is revolutionizing how we live and work with technologies like self-driving cars and virtual assistants. 

If you’re interested in the seemingly limitless potential of AI and want to start a career in this rapidly expanding industry, you may consider the following actions you can take to begin your exploration of the fascinating area of artificial intelligence.

Developing a strong foundation

Establishing a firm foundation for AI requires a thorough comprehension of the underlying ideas. Learn about important subjects, including data analysis, natural language processing, neural networks and machine learning. Experts in the field of artificial intelligence teach specialized AI systems through online courses and platforms, such as Coursera, Udacity and edX. Through real projects, you can gain knowledge and work with AI groups to build your network.

For instance, to get a solid theoretical and practical understanding of AI, enroll in courses such as Andrew Ng’s “Machine Learning Specialization” from Stanford University and deeplearning.ai on Coursera, or the “Deep Learning Specialization” from deeplearning.ai.

Related: 5 free artificial intelligence courses and certifications

Choose a specialization

Because AI spans a wide range of fields, it’s important to decide on your area of interest and specialty. Whether you have a passion for computer vision, robotics, medicine or finance, choosing a niche will enable you to concentrate your study efforts and gain knowledge in that particular area.

To become an expert in your chosen field, keep up with the most recent research publications, attend conferences and join AI groups. For instance, to improve your image recognition and object identification abilities, investigate the OpenCV and TensorFlow libraries and take part in Kaggle competitions if you’re interested in computer vision.

Build a strong portfolio

In the crowded AI job market, standing out from the competition requires a strong portfolio. Work on personal projects, contribute to open-source projects or take part in AI hackathons to demonstrate your abilities.

Create and deploy AI models, document your process, and highlight the impact of your work. This will demonstrate your ability to tackle real-world problems and attract potential employers. For instance, you can develop a sentiment analysis model for social media data or create a chatbot using natural language processing techniques and deploy it on a website.

Related: 10 emerging technologies in computer science that will shape the future

Gain practical experience

In the field of AI, internships, research projects and industrial partnerships offer priceless practical experience. To obtain practical experience, collaborate with professionals and comprehend how AI is used in the real world, look for possibilities to work with well-established AI businesses, research laboratories or startups.

Your abilities will improve, your comprehension will deepen, and you will become more marketable to potential employers as a result of practical exposure. As an example, sign up as an intern at AI research labs such as OpenAI, Google Brain or Microsoft Research or work with academic institutions on AI projects.

Keep up with industry trends

To succeed in AI, you must be abreast of the most recent developments and market trends. Follow well-known AI researchers, sign up for forums, go to conferences, and engage in continuous learning.

This will help you stay at the forefront of AI innovation, understand emerging technologies and adapt to the evolving landscape. For instance, you can attend conferences such as NeurIPS (the Conference and Workshop on Neural Information Processing Systems), ICML (the International Conference on Machine Learning) or AAAI (the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence) and follow influential AI researchers, such as Yann LeCun, Andrew Ng or Fei-Fei Li.

The best exchanges of #AI research and coversation happen over food and drink! #AAAISpringSymposium #Reception pic.twitter.com/o6TAZHgczJ

— AAAI (@RealAAAI) March 28, 2023

The decision to pursue a career in artificial intelligence is an exciting one that offers a wealth of possibilities. By building a strong foundation, specializing in a niche, developing a robust portfolio, gaining practical experience and staying updated with industry trends, you can pave the way for a successful AI career. Embrace the transformative power of AI, fuel your passion and unleash your potential to make a profound impact in this exciting field.