Ah, the AI minor at University of Portland's Shiley School of Engineering—it's like finally getting a structured menu for that endless buffet of buzzwords we've been grazing on since ChatGPT crashed the party. As a techno-journalist who's seen AI hype cycles come and go, I appreciate how this program cuts through the noise. It's not just about generating snappy essays; it's diving into the gritty foundations like probability theory and model-building that have been simmering for decades. Think of it as upgrading from a flashy smartphone app to understanding the wiring under the hood—essential in a world where data storage and access have exploded, letting us apply old-school techniques in wildly new ways.
What tickles me is the 'chocolate' analogy from Professor Nuxoll: computer science pairs well with everything. Spot on. This minor's open-door policy for all majors is a pragmatic win, turning potential AI dabblers into informed players, whether they're future doctors spotting cells in scans or marketers crunching consumer data. Students like Li and Krasnogorov get it—employers are starving for folks who can actually build AI, not just tweet about it. And Krasnogorov's quip on it boiling down to 'matrix multiplication'? Hilarious simplification, but true; it demystifies the math beast for us non-linear algebra wizards.
That said, let's keep it real: excitement is great, but success hinges on those ethics seminars tackling dilemmas like biased algorithms or job displacement. It's not all utopian breakthroughs—AI can amplify human errors too. Still, kudos to the university for this forward-thinking move. If you're a student eyeing it, why not? In a job market where AI skills are the new resume gold, it's less a gamble and more a smart hedge. Just remember, the real game-changer is applying it wisely, not chasing the next shiny tool. Source: Meet one of UP’s newest minors: Artificial intelligence
