Virginia Tech’s online IT master’s launches AI/ML specialization

𝑻𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚’𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍-𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒆-𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒏𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒏𝒗𝒊𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒕-𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌-𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒔. 𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝑰𝑻 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔.

𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒂 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔, 𝒂𝒕 𝒂 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒇𝒆𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓𝒔 𝒅𝒖𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒐𝒑𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒈𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒎𝒔. 𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝑨𝑰/𝑴𝑳 𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒔 𝑰𝑻 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒍𝒚 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒙𝒆𝒄𝒖𝒕𝒆 𝒂 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝑨𝑰-𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒚𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒍𝒔, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒅𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒄 𝒐𝒏 𝑰𝑻 𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆, 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆.

“𝑨𝑰 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑴𝑳 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒏𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒆𝒔,” 𝒔𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝑲𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝑮𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒔, 𝒂 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒚 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝑽𝒊𝒓𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒂 𝑻𝒆𝒄𝒉’𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝑰𝒏𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝑻𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒏𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒚 (𝑽𝑻-𝑴𝑰𝑻) 𝒅𝒆𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒎. “𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒔𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒂𝒏 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒏𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒛𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆.”

𝑨𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝑨𝑰 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑴𝑳 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒔, 𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒆𝒅𝒈𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒍𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰𝑻 𝒆𝒏𝒗𝒊𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕.

𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕’𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝑽𝒊𝒓𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒂 𝑻𝒆𝒄𝒉’𝒔 𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝑰𝒏𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝑻𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒏𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒚 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒎 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝑰𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑬𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑 𝒊𝒏 𝑨𝑰/𝑴𝑳 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒛𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒂.

“𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒅𝒆𝒑𝒍𝒐𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑨𝑰 𝒔𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒔, 𝑰𝑻 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒘𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒗𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒆, 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒄 𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒔, 𝒕𝒐 𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒚 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑨𝑰,” 𝑮𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒚𝒔. “𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝑨𝑰 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑴𝑳 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒎𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒄𝒖𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒈𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒎𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑴𝑰𝑻 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒎 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑 𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒔.”

𝑨𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒌𝒆𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝑴𝑰𝑻 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒎: 𝑺𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒊𝒍 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒂 𝒘𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒗𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒊𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒑𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒑 𝒂 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒎 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒂 𝒔𝒆𝒕, 𝒆𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒄 𝒐𝒓 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒚. 𝑰𝒏 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒆𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒂𝒍 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒍𝒆 𝒂 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒂𝒍𝒈𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒎 𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒂𝒔𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝒅𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒏.

“𝑺𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒘𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒗𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒔, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒖𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔,” 𝑮𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒚𝒔. “𝑩𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒃𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒒𝒖𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆.”