The Cyber Skills Center at Tulsa Community College (TCC) is to offer a new boot camp program to help meet the growing demand for skills in artificial intelligence (AI).

The camp is the Cyber Skills Center’s third program offering. The new boot camp is joining the existing boot camps for cybersecurity and data analytics.

TCC is not one of the only college institutions to start teaching students about AI. Other universities, such as Purdue University’s College of Science, Stanford University, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, offer AI courses and programming.

Applications are now available for the fourth cohort with all three boot camps, providing a comprehensive curriculum to give participants in–demand tech skills in 24 weeks or 5 – 6 months. The application deadline has passed but there is a sign up for this fall.

AI has become a rapidly evolved form of technology as the landscape gets bigger across different industries such as healthcare, education, computer vision, and transportation.

The bootcamp is hoping to delve into concepts such as natural language processing, computer vision, neural networking, and other ways to understand artificial intelligence. “As the technology landscape rapidly evolves, it’s essential for the Cyber Skills Center to remain at the forefront, ensuring we align with the industry’s evolving demands,” said Jeremy Wade, director of the Cyber Skills Center.  

“Introducing an Artificial Intelligence Boot Camp demonstrates our commitment to arming Tulsans with the tech skills needed to succeed in an AI centric world.” TCC is committed to accessibility and inclusivity within the tech industry, which is why the Cyber Skills Center will cover tuition costs for 75 learners across its cybersecurity, AI, and data analytics boot camps. With that, fully funded learners will receive support services, including access to childcare, transportation, and career assistance with required equipment.

To be eligible for full funding, applicants must be at least 18 years of age and a resident of the Tulsa Metro Area, including Tulsa, Osage, Wagoner, Creek, Rogers, Pawnee, or Okmulgee counties.

TCC Connection received additional comments about the program from Jeremy Wade, director of the Cyber Skills Center:

How many students is the Cyber Skills Center expecting to join? T

he Cyber Skills Center offers three boot camp programs: cybersecurity, data analytics, and artificial intelligence. For our fourth cohort, we have 75 scholarships available. The application deadline to apply for one of the scholarships (was) March 27. To date, we have had 148 students in our bootcamps over three cohorts.

Have you seen other college institutions usage of AI products? If so, what do you like and dislike about the uses of it?

Certainly, it is exciting to see TCC’s partnership with WriteSea. The partnership enables TCC students to leverage the power of artificial intelligence to enhance their job search efforts, from resume and cover letter writing and giving them more time to network and prepare for new job roles. But it is still important that students use their critical thinking when using new AI products.

Do you believe soon that TCC will provide a workforce degree on AI?

I do not know of any specific plans for TCC in this regard, but the importance of AI is undeniable. Given its growing relevance across industries, it would be forward-thinking for TCC to consider more deeply integrating AI into its curriculum. This is the reason we have launched a bootcamp in AI for our fourth cohort at the Cyber Skills Center.

What is your opinion on AI?

AI has already been a game-changer in ways that may not be obvious, like Netflix’s AI-driven recommendation engines, that we all enjoy. I am personally excited about the potential for harnessing AI to offload repetitive tasks and give us all more time to work on solving more complex problems.

What do you think the future of AI is?

AI’s future appears to be on the fast track toward even greater integration into our daily lives. It holds amazing potential to make us more productive, but we must also carefully and thoughtfully consider the new ethical questions it will pose.  

If applicants are not eligible for full funding, they are welcome to enroll using alternative funding sources. The program tuition through TCC partner edX is $12,000.

If you are interested in the Boot Camp, you can contact an edX admissions advisor here.

To look more into the Cyber Skills Center, go here. On the colleges found offering AI degrees, check here.