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Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi on Tuesday announced that it has established an independent “School of Artificial Intelligence (ScAI)” on its campus.
The School of Artificial Intelligence (ScAI) aims to strengthen IIT Delhi’s leadership position in India and considerably improve its global standing.
ScAI will begin its PhD program from the next admission cycle (Jan 2021). While PG level degree courses to be offered by the School are being planned.
“The future progress of a nation will depend on its AI capability. Therefore, many countries have started investing heavily in AI. India is also responding to this,” said V. Ramgopal Rao, Director, IIT Delhi.
“India is ranked 5th in the world in both the most number of AI companies and AI jobs. However, we are lagging behind in some very important aspects, specifically in the number of AI researchers in the country and the overall quality and quantity of AI research. To fill this gap, IIT Delhi has established the School of AI on the campus,” he added.
#IITDelhi establishes School of Artificial Intelligence (ScAI)
— IIT Delhi (@iitdelhi) September 2, 2020
More Details- https://t.co/JGhxJMaw3L#AI #ArtificialIntelligence pic.twitter.com/coWgB919uq
IIT Delhi ScAI: Flexible Faculty Model
The recently established ScAI will have a flexible faculty model i.e. it will have core faculty, joint faculty and adjunct faculty members (who may also be from the industry).
“Core faculty members will be those who consider AI, or its applications in various domain areas (e.g., healthcare, transportation), as their main research area. Core faculty members will also be responsible for developing the School and will be deeply invested in its success. ScAI expects to hire at least 20 core faculty members in the next ten years,” said Prof Mausam, School of AI’s Founding Head.
As ScAI gets started, several existing faculty members in the institute are likely to take joint appointments in ScAI and provide early directions to the school.
Finally, adjunct faculty members will be those who are full-time in another department, but will interact with ScAI’s faculty members on research initiatives, and may also teach elective courses.
Prof Mausam also highlighted that they are looking for external partners to help shape this new school into a world-class entity.
ScAI is the 6th school of IIT Delhi and it has been said that it will be broad in its research trajectories, and multi-disciplinary in its academic pursuits.
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