Artificial intelligence is penetrating more and more into all kinds of aspects of society and daily life, influencing us in a way we didn't even think possible until recently. In order to stimulate the social debate around AI and to build up a broad knowledge of AI in our society, a European course on artificial intelligence, "Elements of AI", was launched.
"Elements of" AI is a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), a series of free online courses on artificial intelligence created in 2018 by the Finnish technology company Reaktor, in collaboration with the University of Helsinki. With the support of the European Commission, other European countries can now also offer the course to their people. It is now Belgium's turn, following in the footsteps of Sweden, Estonia, Germany, Norway and Latvia. The goal for this country? To convince at least 1% of the population to take this course.
In Belgium, "Elements of AI" is co-organised by UCLouvain, KU Leuven, FPS Policy and Support, AI4Belgium, l'Agence du Numérique, DigitalWallonia4.ai, innoviris.brussels, hub.brussels, BeCentral and The Beacon. Google also supports this initiative and will make the course available in its Digital Atelier.
Since no prior (technical) knowledge is required, anyone can follow this course, at their own pace, when and where it suits them. Once a broad knowledge about AI has been built up in our society, the organisers hope that citizens will not feel threatened, but will instead feel strengthened by all aspects of artificial intelligence.
The course will be officially launched on 30 September, at 10am, during a digital launch event. In addition to a short demo, some Ministers and the universities involved will take the floor, after which there will be room for questions. Further details on how and when the next sessions will take place will be provided.
Would you like to attend this event? Everyone is welcome and can register
via this link. The launch event will also be broadcast live on
YouTube.
