Most of you know about my deep interest in technology, especially AI, or Artificial Intelligence. In my long years of working with technologies, learning them, and implementing them, I have rarely seen one which could have such a fundamental impact on us than AI. As Gartner says: “AI is not just a technology or a trend. It is a profound shift in how humans and machines interact.”

This profound shift will reshape everything – how we use machines to make our work more productive, our lives better, our societies more prosperous, and, hopefully, the planet more sustainable. In fact, AI could reshape humanity itself with AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) and even better Generative AI models collaborating closely with human beings and acting as their ubiquitous virtual assistants in every part of our education, work and life.

The Age of AI is upon us, and in this scenario, it is imperative that all of us, especially young people, just starting to learn knowledge and skills which will shape their entire careers. As people enter the workplace, most company bosses and managers are looking to hire people with some level of AI aptitude and skills. It is great if they are AI experts, but at the very minimum they are looking for an aptitude for AI and Generative AI – the willingness to learn, a curiosity to explore new tools, some evidence of having worked on new GenAI chatbots, and even better, if they have tried to build one.

A recent global survey pointed out that four out of five employees are indulging in what is now being called BYOAI, or Bring Your Own AI – they are getting in some AI tools with them to work, not waiting for the workplace to offer them that, since it so improves their work and productivity. The same survey has two out of three bosses saying that they would not hire someone without having basic AI skills and aptitude.

In fact, I believe that the definition of literacy itself will change. As we go and learn in school and college, our definition of literacy has been about knowing Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. I believe that this definition will extend to Reading, Writing, Arithmetic and knowing how to work with AI tools. This ‘AI Literacy’ will become a basic expectation for every institution and organisation – whether corporate, educational or government.

Some of you might know that I teach courses around AI and Generative AI at Ashoka University and a few other places. The most commonly asked questions by students are “Where can I learn more? How do I skill myself and learn above and beyond what I am taught here so that I stay ahead in the race? How should I build up my practical skills in Generative AI, beyond the theoretical learning that I have absorbed here?”

I am usually stumped for an answer, not because there are not enough resources on the Internet and otherwise to do this, it is because there are too many of them! To separate out the wheat from the chaff, to single out the courses that offer the right kind of learning and skill building in an interesting and exciting way are very rare. Too often, we go to Google or ChatGPT or any other search engine or chat bot, and are overwhelmed by the choices offered by MOOCs, universities, and even big tech companies, and we come back empty handed.

Therefore, I was particularly pleased to discover a trio of short courses offered by IBM. IBM SkillsBuild, I learnt, has three simple, short, but very relevant modules which focus on building three core skills which every young learning aspirant should have. Writing great software is a killer app for Generative AI, and most young ambitious people want to be software developers, and the first IBM SkillsBuild course is ‘Generative AI for Software Development’ which provides you with a foundational, beginner-friendly, understanding of AI basics. You can then move on to the second one where you ‘Build your first chatbot.’ This one walks you step-by-step through a conversational chatbots framework for learners, and how to apply these tools in different scenarios. The third course is particularly exciting, where you ‘Explore Text to Speech with IBM watsonx’ – this presents an overview of the text to speech technology as well as its common applications and benefits.

There is a lot of concern amongst everyone of AI taking our jobs. For young people who are going to enter the job markets now or in a few years, it would be worth remembering that it is not AI which will take your job, but a human being knowing AI who could!

Dive into IBM SkillsBuild today and master the three skills it will teach you in three short, exciting hours. It will be a great foundation for you to enter university or your new organization with these skills under your belt, as you enter the Age of AI.