Growing up in Nepal and coming to the United States for school, I’ve seen what technology and access to education in this field can do to transform and uplift communities. However, I’ve also witnessed stark disparities globally — especially in undeveloped and developed countries — when it comes to access to both technology and tech education. Most have heard of Artificial Intelligence but don’t fully understand AI concepts, its immense transformative powers, and how it can advance economic opportunities in their nations.
Take Nepal, for example. As is the case globally, most businesses across all industries in Nepal want to unlock AI’s potential and jump on the digital transformation bandwagon. However, not all are equipped with the requisite knowledge, talent and tools. Additionally, the buzz around AI has created a sense of curiosity among the new-age workforce in Nepal to reskill and/or upskill in AI. We have witnessed this first hand through high levels of participation in our past AI education initiatives in Nepal, including AI Shikshya for Nepal, ongoing strategic training partnerships with Nepal’s educational institutes, and certification programs such as Foundations in AI and Microdegree™.
Ever since I founded Fusemachines, I’ve sought to realize the mission of democratizing AI by enabling this form of access and empowering individuals and businesses with foundational and practical training in AI. While we have consistently driven meaningful change in AI adoption and talent generation through thoughtfully curated training programs, we now have an opportunity to take it a step further. We want to train and nurture students and professionals who may not have the technical know how but have the ambition and drive to gain competency in AI skills.
To that end, we are launching a first of its kind AI2GO Workshop in Nepal to focus on training a non-technical audience in Nepal, for whom advanced education and career opportunities remain hard to come by. The Workshop is unique in that it is designed to cater specifically to professionals with zero or limited computer science and technology experience as well those with related skill sets but no AI background. The idea is to equip individuals with the ability to make impactful business and career decisions with AI in the equation.
Our program will span four weeks and combine live online sessions, guest lectures given by AI experts including notable professors and scientists from the US, and practical programming lessons. Besides the live sessions, the course can also be accessed both on desktop and mobile and will include additional reading materials participants can peruse anytime within the period of the program. By the end of the program, participants will have gained high level knowledge of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning and how to apply AI tools in their problems.
We have been on a mission of Democratizing AI by creating high quality AI education and career opportunities for underserved communities for multiple years. As we embark on a new chapter for our mission, we want to further expand access to this high-quality training to everyone. We are arming them with the much needed first step in their AI journeys.
