Educational institutions around the world have all jumped on the artificial intelligence bandwagon, each offering their own flavors of AI and machine learning courses geared for the jobs of tomorrow. In the United States, several universities have crafted custom courses for aspiring AI developers and data scientists.
Here’s a list of the top AI schools in the U.S. The first in this series of articles covers the world-renowned MIT. Not by coincidence, these schools also have some of the most accomplished teachers in the field, with significant achievements in deep learning, robotics and other core areas of artificial intelligence.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT): Cambridge, MA
The MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL) is one of the oldest in the country and was the result of the 2003 merger between the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (AI Lab) and the Laboratory for Computer Science.
The former was established as the Artificial Intelligence Project in 1959 by John McCarthy, the creator of the term “artificial intelligence,” and Marvin Minsky, cognitive scientist and creator of the first head-mounted display (HMD.)
MIT CSAIL, as it is now called, has several well-known alumni, including the following personalities:
- Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web
- Leonard Adleman, co-creator of the RSA encryption algorithm and pioneer of DNA Computing
- John McCarthy
- Marvin Minsky
- Robert Metcalfe, co-inventor of Ethernet
- Harold Abelson, founding director of Creative Commons
- Robert Frankston, co-creator of VisiCalc
- Seymour Papert, creator of the Logo educational programming language
In February 2019, the MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing was launched with a funding commitment of $1 billion, and the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS), and the MIT Quest for Intelligence are expected to be included in this college.
Here are some of the AI courses taught by the members of CSAIL:
- 6.033 Computer Systems Engineering
- 6.034 (Spring) Artificial Intelligence (Barzilay/Szolovits)
- 6.042 Mathematics for Computer Science
- 6.046 Advanced Algorithms
- 6.111 Introductory Digital Systems Laboratory
- 6.141 Robotics: Science and Systems I (formerly 6.188)
- 6.197 Performance Engineering of Software Systems
- 6.440 Essential Coding Theory
- 6.801/6.866 Machine Vision
- 6.803/6.833 The Human Intelligence
- 6.811/PPAT Principles and Practice of Assistive Technology (formerly 6.S196)
- 6.821 Programming Languages
- 6.825 Techniques in Artificial Intelligence
- 6.846 Parallel Computing
- 6.851 Advanced Data Structures
- 6.854 Advanced Algorithms
- 6.856J Randomized Algorithms
- 6.867 Machine Learning
- 6.869 Advances in Computer Vision: Learning and Interfaces
- 6.871 Knowledge Based Application Systems
- 6.888 Parallel and Heterogeneous Computer Architecture (Sanchez, Spring 2013)
- 6.888 Special Advnaced Subject (Alizadeh, Spring 2016)
- 6.UAT Preparation for the Undergraduate Advanced Project
- 16.410/16.413 Principles of Autonomy and Decision Making
- HST.947 Medical Artificial Intelligence
MIT also runs the CSAIL Alliances program, which aims to connect organizations and companies through talent acquisition, research, and other areas. There are currently more than 60 companies involved in over 900 active projects.
MIT CSAIL’s courses, projects and people make it one of the top AI schools in the country.
