Reitaku University (President: Suminori Tokunaga, Kashiwa City, Chiba Prefecture) conducts data science programs such as an introduction to AI business in the first year of all faculties and departments. The AI / Business Research Center will be established in 1 to create a place to invite researchers and business people who are active in the front lines of industry and academia to conduct applied research. In December of the same year, the "Data Science Education Promotion Office" was established to establish a system for acquiring basic knowledge about AI and data science throughout the university.We aim to develop human resources who can solve problems in specialized fields and create new value in each faculty.
There are not many universities that can develop AI education in all faculties, especially liberal arts universities.The backbone of the school's efforts in information education plays a major role in this.
With moral education as its educational philosophy, the school has a strong image of foreign language education with abundant internationality, but since the Internet began to spread in the 1990s, it has been quick to focus on information education with an eye on the future information society. rice field.The Faculty of Foreign Studies also has a full-time information education teacher.Therefore, the introduction of the cross-faculty data science program, including the faculty of foreign languages, the faculty of international studies, and the faculty of economics, proceeded smoothly.There are many students who are not good at AI in the humanities.However, AI is being used in every scene in the world, and life without AI is no longer possible.The same is true in business, and the acquisition of that knowledge and skills is becoming a basic skill for living in society, regardless of whether it is in the humanities or sciences.
There is also an urgent need to develop AI human resources in Japan, and the government has positioned "mathematical, data science, AI" as the "reading, writing, and abacus" of the digital society, and human resources with basic knowledge of AI by 2025. The goal is to raise 25 people a year. The fact is that the "Integrated Innovation Strategy Promotion Council" requires all university students, regardless of humanities or science, to receive elementary education in AI.
This data science program aims to be able to know, understand, and master AI. When you think of AI human resources, you might think of "engineers," that is, people who can implement science programs.However, many companies are not necessarily looking for programming technology, but skills that can understand and use AI.
In the introduction to AI business, students can choose to acquire basic knowledge and utilize it in the future together with their specialized fields, and if they become more interested, deepen their learning and step up to researchers.
In addition, in the same course, there is also a lecture that invites business people who are implementing social implementation using AI to learn. In fiscal 2020, there are currently ongoing businesses such as Money Forward executives who provide household account book apps, AI / data science personnel at Amazon Japan GK, and CTO of LocationMind, which analyzes data published in the media. We invited various key persons involved in AI in the scene to the instructors and learned how to use AI and the necessity along with concrete practical examples.
In 2021, it is planned to invite business people who have been involved in management at Google, Rakuten, etc. to give lectures.In this way, it is configured so that you can experience the familiar AI.Lecturers say that AI in a company is not always advanced, and it is important how to master versatile AI and generate profits.As a business person who knows the field, gaining such a perspective should be useful no matter what kind of work the student chooses in the future.
Of course, although it is a liberal arts, mathematics and statistics are essential.However, like studying for entrance exams when I was in high school, I don't just study mathematical formulas.As a liberal arts university, you can take advantage of the know-how that the school has been working on information education, have a purpose for subjects that you are not good at, and understand and learn what the necessary knowledge will be used for. If that is the case, I will give guidance with experience points.
Furthermore, at first glance, it seems that it has nothing to do with AI, but I would like to pay attention to the moral education that is also stated in the educational philosophy.Nowadays, when dealing with AI in business, the issues of corporate ethics and privacy are inseparable. AI is not all-purpose either.If you make a mistake in using one, it will cause great damage to the company. The "ethics" of the AI creator is questioned.Skills that can effectively use AI are now indispensable for business, considering social conventions and corporate attitudes.
Morality and ethics do not have a single correct answer.That is why we must not forget that it is the "people" who create and utilize AI that always keeps thinking about it.Learning that attitude here will be a great advantage when utilizing AI in the future.
"What I want you to acquire and realize AI knowledge and skills is not to create advanced AI, but to expand various possibilities by the students themselves, and to solve social issues using AI and data science. "There will be human resources to do it," said Professor Masashi Uemura, director of the Data Science Education Promotion Office and director of the Faculty of Economics.
(reference)
https://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/tougou-innovation/
https://www.reitaku-u.ac.jp/news/event/71294/
https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000358.000014665.html
