As lives have been forced to function behind closed doors amid the nation-wide COVID-19 lockdown, the IT industry’s apex body, National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) have jointly launched an on-demand Artificial Intelligence (AI) courseware to help individuals up-skill themselves over the next few weeks.

The course, the Foundational Artificial Intelligence (AI) course, is launched under the NASSCOM FutureSkills initiative. The course will be freely available till May 15 on the NASSCOM website. The course allows the learners to get familiar with AI-enabled technologies and practice AI tools to help build a deeper understanding of emerging technologies. NASSCOM FutureSkills has designed the foundational AI course by curating deep learning programmes for their partner ecosystem and is created in line with the industry’s recommended Foundational AI curriculum. 

The pandemic of coronavirus has thrown up unprecedented challenges across industries and the world, however, NASSCOM hopes that this initiative will provide a chance to make be more relevant in the near future. “While we continue to fight these challenges as a nation, amid lockdown and remote working scenarios, it is imperative that we continue harnessing our skill sets on emerging technologies to become future-ready,” stated Debjani Ghosh, the president of NASSCOM. 

In the coming few weeks, NASSCOM plans to provide similar courses on other technologies such as Big Data, Internet of Things, Cybersecurity along with live webinars for participants to create more interactive learning on these technologies. “This campaign will urge IT professionals, students and everybody else interested in technology to enhance their understanding of emerging tech. We are starting with artificial intelligence, as this is one skill that every professional will need. We hope to see many users signing up to avail these courses. All the best for learning and be safe,” said Shri Ajay Prakash Sawhney, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, while speaking at the launch of the initiative.