Amazon has unveiled “AI Ready,” an initiative aimed at equipping 2 million individuals worldwide with free artificial intelligence (AI) skills by 2025. This program intends to democratize AI education by launching new courses, expanding existing programs, and collaborating with educational platforms.
“The goal of AI Ready is to help level the playing field of AI education, supported by the new initiatives we’re launching today,” said Swami Sivasubramanian, vice president of Data and AI at AWS. “We will also scale our existing free AI training programs and courses as we continue to remove cost as a barrier to accessing these critical skills.”
To support current professionals, Amazon is rolling out these courses aligned with industry demand. The company is also introducing the AWS Generative AI Scholarship program in partnership with Udacity, offering scholarships worth over $12 million to 50,000 high school and university students globally, particularly from underserved communities.
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Coding and AI concepts
A new collaboration between Amazon Future Engineer and Code.org, called Hour of Code Dance Party: AI Edition, will introduce students to coding and AI concepts. Participants will create their virtual music video using coding to choreograph virtual dancers and leveraging emojis as AI prompts for generating animated backgrounds. This interactive session aims to familiarize students with generative AI, its applications, and the technology behind it.
The Hour of Code initiative, scheduled during Computer Science Education Week on Dec. 4–10, will engage K-12 students and teachers worldwide. Amazon also pledges up to $8 million in AWS Cloud computing credits to Code.org, further supporting the Hour of Code initiative that operates on the AWS platform.
Amazon’s AI Ready initiative aims to make AI education accessible to current professionals and future generations. Through diverse courses, scholarships, and collaborative projects, the program aims to bridge the gap and empower individuals with the skills necessary to navigate the AI-driven future.