Elements of AI
World success - “Elements of AI” also a hit in Norway
“Elements of AI” the perfect AI home-course during the pandemic
Covid 19 led the Government to shut down Norway in March 2020. At the same time, NTNU opened access to the perfect AI course for home offices. The competence course "Elements of AI", made in Finland, became available in Norwegian.
At the beginning of 2022, 12 602 Norwegians had taken advantage of the opportunity and signed up. "Elements of AI" gives everyone the opportunity to crack the AI codes at their own pace.
- The average student spends 34 days on the six stages of this journey into the world of AI, says professor Helge Langseth who headed the Norwegian version of the original Finnish offer.
Norway was among the first countries to offer the course in its own language. The course is now available in 30 European languages. With English, Spanish, French and German among the editions, the course now has global reach, and with more than 800 000 participants, the course is approaching one million.
Finnish course
It is hardly a surprise to well-informed connoisseurs of Nordic knowledge environments that it was the Finns who developed "Elements of AI". The country's president has stated that AI is the "new electricity" that will soon surround us everywhere. Finland is a leading technology country in the north.
The course was developed in the spring of 2018 by the Finnish company Reaktor, their Norwegian sister company Feed and the University of Helsinki. The aim of the course is to teach as many people as possible what AI is, what it can and cannot be used for, and how to start using methods based on AI.
The courses combine theory and practical assignments, and do not require any special prior knowledge. The course has an easily accessible form and the language is not demanding either.
Government support
The then digital minister Nicolai Astrup emphasized "Elements of AI" as a general offer when he launched his "National strategy for artificial intelligence”. Later, NTNU, the ministry and benevolent partners have followed up with grants that have made the course series free for users.
"Elements of AI" has in a short time become very popular, and is ranked at the top of a number of overviews of so-called moocs (massive open online courses). 18 months after its original launch, more than 230 000 people had registered to take the course. 15-20 percent of those who have registered have completed all the modules.
The course has a much higher proportion of female students (40 per cent), and students over the age of 45 (30 per cent) than is usual for courses in ICT. In Sweden and Finland, the proportion of women taking the course is over 50 per cent.
The Host University, University of Helsinki, has also seen an increase in the number of ordinary applicants for ICT studies and an increased proportion of women among the applicants after the "Elements of AI" was launched.
- Astrup set a goal of 2% participation in Norway for the course series. We are still lagging behind that goal as 0,25% has registered so far, says Helge Langseth.
The pandemic may have to take some of the blame for the fact that the marketing at launch was not as desirable in a Norway totally characterized by uncertainty and fear of disease. It was neither of help that the course in Norway, unlike in Finland, does not give academic points.
So far, it has not found a place in the school system either, as the curriculum is more concerned with computer security than basic knowledge of AI as enabling technology. Some Norwegian companies have taken on the challenge of offering this to their employees, but both Swedes and Finns have been better in this respect more than us.
- It is people from Oslo, Trøndelag and Akershus who have used "Elements of AI" the most. The course series will continue to be available in the future, says Helge Langseth.