The new video courses assume the developer already has a basic standard of Python skills. If you don’t, I’m afraid you’ll need to brush up on those first. Fortunately, Microsoft released a 44-part “Python for Beginners” series last autumn (or “fall” for our American friends.)

For those with the Python skills, or if you’ve just consumed all 44-parts of Microsoft’s course in record time, the new courses are around three hours each. 

The first course, More Python for Beginners, features 20 videos and covers areas such as lambdas, inheritance, and asynchronous operations.

The second course, Even More Python for Beginners: Data Tools, consists of 31 videos and really dives into using Python for machine learning and data science. Students are taught how to use popular Python libraries for the aforementioned topics; along with using the Jupyter Notebooks browser-based development environment.

Each of the courses are still led by Christopher Harrison, senior program manager at Microsoft, and Susan Ibach, business development manager from Microsoft AI Gaming. 

“While we’re not going to get into conversations about choosing algorithms or building models, we are going to introduce what you’ll use when you begin the journey. We’ll highlight Jupyter Notebooks, the favorite tool of data scientists,” Harrison and Ibach wrote in a blog. 

As of writing, the first part in Microsoft’s Python course series has been viewed over 1.75 million times.

The course’s popularity is of little surprise given the huge interest in Python as AI talent becomes more in-demand; with six-figure salaries not unheard of. In last year’s GitHub Octoverse report, Python overtook Java to become the second most popular language on the world’s largest repository host.

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Last week, AI News reported on a Microsoft study which highlighted that high-growth companies are over twice as likely to be using AI. 41 percent of high-growth companies are using AI compared to just 19 percent of low-growth.

This divide needs to change or small businesses risk falling even further behind. However, overall, less than two in 10 of even high-growth companies are integrating AI which presents a huge opportunity.

Microsoft is launching AI Business School which provides lectures, case studies, guides, talks, and resources from industry leaders as well as Microsoft’s own executives. The course is designed to be for people with a business background so it’s non-technical.

“There is a gap between what people want to do and the reality of what is going on in their organisations today, and the reality of whether their organisation is ready,” said Mitra Azizirad, corporate vice president for AI marketing at Microsoft.

“Developing a strategy for AI extends beyond the business issues,” she explained. “It goes all the way to the leadership, behaviours and capabilities required to instill an AI-ready culture in your organisation.”

The new ‘Business School’ is an extension of Microsoft’s existing ‘AI School’ which is a more technical course.

You can find out more about the AI Business School here.

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The course on Coursera is simply called ‘Deep Learning Specialization’ and promises to teach students vital skills for the future. Some of the advanced topics covered include neural networks, backpropagation, convolutional networks, recurrent networks, computer vision, natural language processing, and more.

“Just as electricity transformed every major industry starting about 100 years ago, AI is now poised to do the same,” observes Ng. “Several large tech companies have already built divisions dedicated to AI, and have made huge strides transforming themselves with AI.”

For AI to flourish and make a notable difference to everyday lives; it will take a workforce trained with entirely new skills. 1.8 million people enrolled in Ng’s prior Machine Learning course since 2011. Ng’s courses are putting students on the path to accomplishing exciting new breakthroughs.

“I hope we can build an AI-powered future that provides everyone affordable healthcare, accessible education, inexpensive and convenient transportation, and a chance for meaningful work for every man and woman,” says Ng. “An AI-powered future that improves every person’s life.”

Confusion about AI

The course is part of a bigger project from Ng which aims to disseminate AI knowledge and can be found here. He’s observed many people are confused about the various specialities and lingo within it.

Part of the confusion is due to comments by people considered leaders in technology. People like Elon Musk have voiced concerns about AI posing a danger to humanity. Ng, meanwhile, says there seems to be a negative correlation “between how much someone knows AI and how afraid they are of it.”

When you earn a Deep Learning Specialization certificate, Ng claims you will be able to confidently put ‘Deep Learning’ onto your resume. That is something which is sure to offer a lucrative in the coming years.

Picture credit: “Baidu Chief Scientist Andrew Ng”, by “NVIDIA”, used under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

What are your thoughts on Ng’s launch of his deep learning course?

To learn more about AI for Developers register for your free pass to the AI Expo North America conference (29-30th November 2017) in Santa Clara, CA today!

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