Learn AI like a pro: UG courses on Artificial Intelligence by IITs that prospective engineering aspirants can consider

Want to pursue a degree in AI for a thriving career? Here are popular UG courses on AI offered by IITs that engineering aspirants can consider!

As 2024 slowly comes to an end, the world continues to witness a meteoric rise in technological tools, particularly artificial intelligence, or AI in common parlance. From educational institutions to government bodies, almost every sector is deploying the power of AI in their operations.

Check the courses on artificial intelligence offered by IITs that all UG aspirants can consider. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

No wonder, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella wrote in the company’s annual report 2023, “This next generation of AI will reshape every software category and every business, including our own. Although this new era promises great opportunity, it demands even greater responsibility from companies like ours.”

We all have seen how software like ChatGPT and Google Gemini are unleashing the capabilities of AI. A recent article by Exploding Topics quoted YouGov as claiming that 17 percent of 30 to 44-year-olds have used ChatGPT.

Likewise, 15 percent of 18 to 29-year-olds have used ChatGPT to generate text. Also, around 9 percent of 45 to 64-year-olds and 5 percent of 65+ year-olds use ChatGPT.

As such, given the growing demand for AI, it becomes essential for engineering aspirants to consider pursuing a degree in the subject for a thriving professional life.

Fortunately, in India, the Indian Institutes of Technology or IITs have been globally known for offering some of the popular undergraduate courses on AI and ML, particularly for prospective engineering students.

In this article, we will look at some of the courses in AI offered by IITs that undergraduate engineering aspirants can consider:

IIT Madras: B.Tech. in AI and Data Analytics

Launched in June 2024, IIT Bombay’s BTech in AI and Data Analytics is an undergraduate degree that aims to equip students with key skills and knowledge related to the field and its application across industries. The course will admit 50 students through JEE and lay a strong emphasis on Math Fundamentals, Data Science /AI/ML Foundations, Application Development, and Responsible Design among others, as informed by the institution.

IIT Madras has been ranked the number one institute for engineering studies in NIRF Rankings 2024.

Head to this direct link for more details about the course.

IIT Kharagpur: Artificial Intelligence (B.Tech 4 years)

IIT-Kharagpur floated the 4-year BTech course on artificial intelligence from this year - the first among the big five IITs to start a course in the field. The degree offered by the Department of Artificial Intelligence emphasises a wide variety of elective courses in areas which include language processing, complex systems and social networks, computer vision, generative and graphical models, information retrieval, and embedded machine learning, as described on the official website. The courses offered consist of the following:

Foundation Courses: Programming and data structures, Physics, Mechanics, Calculus and Linear Algebra, Probability & Statistics, Engineering drawing, Data science, Electronics

Basic AI Courses: Artificial intelligence, Machine learning, Algorithms, Database management systems, Deep leaning, Optimization techniques, Information retrieval, natural language processing

Emerging Topics in AI: Reinforcement Learning, Signal processing of Artificial Intelligence, Statistical foundations of AI, Big data analytics, Responsible and trustworthy AI, Interpretable machine learning, Generative AI, AI for Robotics, Graph machine learning, Visual computing, Semantic web, LLM and Information retrieval

AI for X: Machine learning for earth system science, AI for cyber-physical system, AI for economics, AI for manufacturing etc.

IIT Kharagpur has been ranked 5th in the latest edition of NIRF Rankings.

For more details, visit the official website.

IIT Guwahati: BSc (Hons) in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati also provides a 4-year Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence for undergraduate science students. The degree is offered through the Mehta Family School of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence.

As per the website, the course is designed to prepare students to meet the demands of AI and ensure they are well-equipped with essential qualifications, skills, and resources to pursue various roles in the technology sector.

According to IIT Guwahati, participants can register to a lesser number of courses than prescribed in a trimester. The programme are 100 percent online and offered on Coursera platform targeting the international learners too.

Additionally, the programme facilitates an optional 4-week campus immersion plan for hands-on training at IIT Guwahati.

To be eligible, candidates have to pass Class XII or equivalent with at least 60 percent marks and Mathematics as one of the compulsory subjects.

IIT Guwahati has been ranked 7th best for engineering studies in NIRF Rankings 2024.

More details on the official website.