In a world where artificial intelligence (AI) continues to revolutionize industries, staying ahead of the curve is essential. Le Wagon, renowned for its Data Science & AI bootcamp, recognizes the importance of equipping its students and alumni with cutting-edge AI skills. The recently updated curriculum now includes transformative topics such as Generative AI, AI Ethics, and Explainable AI, ensuring that participants can harness the full potential of modern AI technologies.
The AI landscape is evolving rapidly, impacting various sectors and reshaping the way we live and work. Keeping up with these advancements is no longer just an advantage; it’s a necessity. According to McKinsey’s 2023 report ‘The State of AI in 2023’, over half of global companies plan to incorporate AI in 2023, underlining the growing significance of AI skills.
The remarkable growth of AI in business can be attributed, in part, to a groundbreaking innovation known as Transformers. These models represent a revolutionary new type of Neural Network architecture – a technique inspired by the intricate connections of the human brain. Transformers have opened new horizons, transforming our approach to tasks like natural language processing (NLP), speech recognition, and even computer vision.
In 2017, Vaswani et al. introduced the basis for Transformers with “Attention Is All You Need”. The self-attention mechanisms it proposed can be used for parallel data processing, surpassing previous models which only worked sequentially. This parallel approach excels particularly in handling lengthy sequences and capturing complex relationships within data. Transformers have elevated performance in tasks such as translation, sentiment analysis, and text generation.
Transformers work well with text for a reason, as they were specifically intended as translators and designed to overcome historical issues with translating long sentences. Their training for translation was quickly able to be adjusted for same-language tasks, such as providing answers to questions, with the important similarity of having text as both inputs and outputs. For the first time this allowed non-technical users to interact with these powerful models, just by typing a request. This has now led to the advent of an entirely new branch of Data Science, Generative AI.
Given the worldwide impact following the public release of ChatGPT, Generative AI has become an essential skill for data scientists. Recognizing the growing demand for this skill, Le Wagon has introduced a dedicated lecture on Generative AI. In addition to technical knowledge, today’s data scientists must also navigate ethical questions surrounding AI and understand how to interpret its results. To address these concerns, Le Wagon now offers two lectures focused on Ethics and AI and Explainable AI.
The impact of Generative AI extends beyond the technical realm. It reaches a broader audience, engaging hundreds of millions of people worldwide. This is enhancing business efficiency by automating tasks such as form generation and contract creation, though its potential for revolutionary change is particularly evident in industries like healthcare, law, and education.
In healthcare, transformers are enhancing the analysis of patient data, from summarizing medical documents to disease prediction. In law firms, they are improving accuracy and reducing the cost of analyzing vast document archives. In education, transformers enable personalized learning plans, automatic grading, and content recommendations, requiring nothing more than internet access.
The demand for data scientists with expertise in transformers is on the rise as organizations recognize the value of this skillset. Sustainable growth is projected, with Generative AI predicted to add an additional $15.7 trillion to the world economy by 2030 (PwC Artificial Intelligence Study). Gaining these skills now will yield significant future rewards.
To harness the power of transformers, a solid foundation in machine learning and deep learning principles is essential. Once acquired, an invaluable resource is the open-source Transformers library from HuggingFace, providing access to thousands of pre-trained models that can run on personal computers. Fine-tuning these models for specific tasks is made simple.
Le Wagon’s updated curriculum provides comprehensive guidance on utilizing transformers, including practical walkthroughs for interacting with HuggingFace and fine-tuning models. Students can delve deeper, understanding the basic building blocks of GPT and even build a Large Language Model from scratch. Additionally, the curriculum introduces LangChain, an industry-standard for using language models in real-world applications and a driving force behind numerous successful startups.
In today’s rapidly evolving AI landscape, mastering transformers is a career-defining skill. Companies that have never hired data scientists are now planning to include them in their long-term strategies. The efficiency gains predicted in this field are opening doors to more opportunities. Le Wagon’s updated curriculum reflects this transformation, enabling access to the exciting new job market of Generative AI. Join the 23,000-strong Le Wagon global community and embark on this transformative journey to unlock the full potential of AI in your career
Are you ready to embark on a transformative learning experience? Join Le Wagon today and become a part of the AI revolution!
*Written by Peter Lambert, Data Science & AI Teacher*
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