MBZUAI launches second edition of Executive Program

Mohamed Bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) has announced that the second edition of its Executive Program will commence at the end of March. The University hopes to build on the momentum of the inaugural edition of the program, which finished in January and saw more than 40 senior executives from throughout the United Arab Emirates (UAE) increase their AI capacity building with global AI leaders over the course of 12 weeks.

The second edition of the program, which will begin in late March and run until the end of July, will cover fundamental topics such as an introduction to the past, present, and future of AI and machine learning; AI, machine learning, and the economy; visual cognition and intelligence; lingual cognition and intelligence; AI ethics and policy-making; and the future of robotics.

“As one of the world’s most important economic accelerators, AI is at the heart of the UAE’s social and economic development plans. The MBZUAI Executive Program comes in line with the aspirations of our leadership and to educating a distinguished community of national AI leaders in the public and private sectors,” said H.E. Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of MBZUAI.

The second edition of the program will be taught by global AI leaders such as MBZUAI President Professor Eric Xing, UC Berkeley Professor Michael Jordan, Dr. Kai-fu Lee of Sinovation Ventures, MIT Professor Daniela Rus, Professor Tom Mitchell, and Carnegie Mellon University Professor Justine Cassell, to name a few. Another key focus will be group capstone projects that will tackle real-world issues and provide AI-enabled solutions.

“Learning how to use AI responsibly and designing policies that support its ethical application are often some of the main barriers to progress. The MEP is designed to improve AI literacy and equip students with important knowledge and skills that allow for emerging technologies to be successfully introduced into the organization. We also get students to consider the policies, legislation, and frameworks that form an important part of the development and application of AI, so we focus on offering a holistic understanding,” said MBZUAI President, Professor Eric Xing.

This month, the University’s Masdar City campus will host a graduation ceremony to honour the inaugural class. Participants worked together to identify an actual UAE national problem that may be addressed by an AI research project, with the winner being declared at the event. The initial class also participated in 12 weeks of coursework as well as field trips to prominent government and commercial sector organisations such as ADNOC, Injazat/G42, Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Center, Emirates Post Group, DIFC, FinTech Hive, and Al Ain Zoo & Aquarium Public Institution.