An AI And Healthcare Education Initiative
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham launches BTech, MTech Programs in AI and Data Science
Blurb –
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, ranked the 7th Best Overall University in India in the 2023 National Institution Ranking Framework, has announced the launch of BTech and MTech programs in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science at its campus at Amrita Hospital, Faridabad and these courses are approved by AICTE, Govt. of India.
With the advent of AI (Artificial Intelligence) in a massive way, healthcare professionals are being trained to learn about it and how to implement its advantages with patients. As the saying goes, “There are two sides to every coin”, and even this initiative has its pros and cons. It is not that doctors will be side lined due to AI but a certain amount of systems and protocols will change. The SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) will also be affected, in terms of welcoming change.
AI & Data Science
Talking about the innovative programs in AI and Data Science, Prof. Kamal Bijlani, Dean, School of Artificial Intelligence, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, said that “The importance of AI in education and industry has been growing steadily. With the advent of Generative AI and free AI tools in the market like ChatGPT (OpenAI, Microsoft), Gemini (Google), Llama (Meta) and others, the battle between the AI technology giants to gain the lead in Generative AI has intensified.” He feels that in this AI industrial revolution, every organisation will want to use AI tools to provide quick precise answers based on its own private data. To achieve this, organisations will need to add an AI team that provides AI tools and maintains its data on GPU-based private AI servers.
The role of AI in enhancing skills
Bijlani also added to his comments by saying, “Amrita’s role is to be a catalyst to provide the industry ready skilled AI engineers that will create, maintain and enhance the AI ecosystem of an organisation. The new brand of dynamic AI engineers will need to continuously update their skills since the AI technology is evolving rapidly. The intent of providing these innovative AI courses in the Delhi NCR area is to provide a pool of AI engineers, and create a research-based ecosystem of AI collaboration with government and industry.” According to him, the core computer science courses form the foundation of the program. Based on this foundation, the basic and advanced AI courses like Machine Learning will be taught, including several concepts of mathematics like Linear Algebra, Probability and Statistics. Depending on the interest of students, specialization in robotics, IoT, AR/VR, medical applications and other areas will be offered. Emphasis will be on hands-on mini-projects and the use of AR/VR in learning. Their collaboration with universities like Stanford, UC Davis and IIT-Bombay will provide mentoring and research opportunities for students.
He also went on to say that, “AI and Data Science courses offer students diverse career options such as AI Engineer, Data Scientist, Machine Learning Engineer, Data Analyst, AI Research Scientist, and so on, with attractive salaries. The fields of AI and Data Science are applicable across various sectors of the economy, from IT and finance to healthcare and manufacturing, providing career stability and growth prospects.” Talking about the stress that students face at present due to parental and peer pressure in academics and bullying on social media, he believes that AI will help everyone in a holistic manner in the fields of healthcare and mental and physical wellbeing.
Mental health as a challenge
He feels that the children who don’t want to talk about mental issues which they might be going through, can talk to Chatbots which will keep their privacy kept intact as well. “We have a mental health centre which will further create awareness, and also put in AI technology to build a multi-disciplinary centre on mental health. We have projects and workshops where we will teach the doctors and nurses on how to break bad news with compassion, for anyone who might have a disease of some sort. Communication is key. The human factor will also be obviously having an effect and hence doctors won’t be replaced due to AI but instead they will be educated about it," he said.
Technology used effectively
Prof. Praveen Bist, Registrar (Asst.), School of Artificial Intelligence, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham stated facts by saying that, “Students would get many advantages by studying at our campus at Amrita Hospital in Faridabad, which is among the largest healthcare facilities in the country. The hospital provides large number of opportunities for conducting various AI pilot projects. The students would get exposed to the operations of a large healthcare network, thereby getting actual industry exposure on a continuous basis.” He added that students can get involved in a range of interesting projects that would not only provide practical experience but also contribute to advancing technology in their respective fields.
According to him examples of such projects include NLP (Natural Language Processing) Chatbots, image recognition system, autonomous navigation, humanoid robot interactions, smart home automation system, wearable health-monitoring devices, virtual reality training simulator, VR therapy applications, predictive analytics for disease outbreaks, etc. All these projects will have a strong R&D component, and students will be guided by senior professors in AI. Also, there will be collaborations with Industry and International universities. Admissions for these two innovative programs are already underway. Admission to BTech course is based on scores from either JEE or Amrita Entrance Examination – Engineering (AEEE).
