How do move into a career in Artificial Intelligence and how can I know whether it is right for me?

Hey Golam,

I think artificial intelligence (AI) is a fascinating, growing field and you can approach it from several angles. To figure it out whether it is right for you, look at your interests in school as well as in your free time. Do you like technology, science, math, logic, research, etc? Are you interested in computer science? You don't have to be an expert in any of these yet, just be interested in them.

If none of these really sound like your cup of tea, especially logic and computer science, then you might want to look at approaching AI from a user perspective. You mentioned research but there are tons of different professions that do research in all kinds of fields. When I studied management information systems I had my machine learning (part of AI) course at the business school's marketing department, rather than computer science/engineering school. This is because many businesses rely on big data to do marketing research, so even a marketing degree with focus on research or even big data might be interesting to you. Personally I work with software tools that use ML and while I don't help develop these tools, my ML experience at university helps me understand and use those tools better.

To learn more about AI before committing to a university degree you can start reading articles, books, watch documentaries (on Youtube) on AI, then pick a specific field/career path related to AI that interests you the most and works best with your talents. Good luck!

Hi Golam,

I want to add to Lara's answer. To find out more about whether or not it is right for you, you can check out internships and cooperative education programs for the colleges and universities you are interested in. There may even been high-school internships available at major technology companies.

I was a marketing major, and then I signed up for a cooperative education program with a major technology company. It really changed my career direction to work in the technology field. I probably would have never found this passion if I had not joined the cooperative education program.

Good luck!

Karen