Additional skills needed to develop new artificial intelligence

In the previous steps we have looked at the transferable skills needed for a career working with artificial intelligence. Those skills are essential for a successful career in many roles (hence the term ‘transferable’) but if you want to work as an AI engineer or developer, you will obviously need more technical skills and knowledge.

Let’s look at some of those skills:

Programming

Programming, also known as coding, is the process of designing and building an executable computer program to accomplish a specific task. It involves writing a set of instructions, known as code, in a programming language that a computer can interpret and execute. The goal of programming is to create software that performs a desired function or solves a particular problem.

All of the computer based artificial intelligence tools are essentially computer programmes which have been designed to accomplish a specific task. In order to be able to develop new artificial intelligence tools an awareness of programming is essential.

Many of the tools and frameworks used in artificial intelligence are free and open to use. These includes TensorFlow, Keras, PyTorch and Scikit-learn. All of these frameworks require you to have a basic understanding of programming.

Analysis and evaluation

In order to be able to develop new artificial intelligence you must be able to analyse and understand the situation that the AI will be applied to.This includes identifying the specific challenges, requirements, and constraints associated with the application.

The process of developing new artificial intelligence techniques and tools is iterative, that is, you try something then you evaluate the outcomes, then you tweak a few things and then try again. It is important to be able to objectively evaluate the performance of an artificial intelligence system.

Domain knowledge

Artificial intelligence has applications in many different places, which are sometimes referred to as sectors or domains. To be able to successfully apply artificial intelligence it is essential that you have good understanding of the domain where the artificial intelligence will be applied. In many cases when new artificial intelligence is developed it is done in conjunction with a domain expert, for example, when applying artificial intelligence to healthcare the domain expert might be an experienced clinician.

Legal, social and ethical awareness

As you have seen, there are legal, social and ethical issues which arise from the development and applications of artificial intelligence. To develop new artificial intelligence there is a obligation on the developer to understand these legal, social and ethical issues and to be able to reason about the impact AI might have.

Will I need a computer science degree to become an AI developer?

All of the skills outlined above are skills which are developed whilst studying for a computer science degree. Whilst it is not essential to have a degree to work as an AI developer, a degree programme would cover all the skills and knowledge that you need to learn to be a developer.

Next steps: Watch interviews with AI developers

In the next steps you will hear from two people who work in AI development: one is a researcher, the other a prompt engineer. They will tell you how they got started in their careers and what excites them about working in AI. As you watch and listen, think about whether their roles interest you and what you may need to do in order to start off on a similar career path.