New Taipei City is collaborating with industry and academia to promote artificial intelligence (AI) education.
In line with New Taipei City’s vision of becoming a smart city, 3DFamily Smart Inspection Group yesterday donated 2,500 sets of VisLab AI image recognition software to the Education Department.
The software is to be used to support classes at the city’s 50 senior-high, junior-high and elementary schools.
Photo: Lin Hsin-han, Taipei Times
Sixteen of the schools have set up career exploration centers, while 11 participate in a Maker and Tech program, New Taipei City Deputy Mayor Jonathan Chen (陳純敬) said, adding that the city government commissioned them so that students could be introduced to AI.
The city has also held AI programming competitions, and encouraged schools to promote information science and computer technology in line with a 12-year curriculum, also called the “108 curriculum,” Chen added.
Taishan Senior High School has been designated as the headquarters for promoting AI education, the department said.
The school is to train AI teachers, provide AI equipment, launch certification classes and develop teaching materials to improve students’ AI know-how and competitiveness on the global stage, it said.
The simple VisLab interface allows students unfamiliar with programming or AI databases to understand the principles of AI image recognition through the software, 3DFamily board chairman Hsu Chih-ching (許志青) said.
Users can immediately feel the convenience of AI technology, Hsu said, adding that he hoped the donation could help the city cultivate more technology talent.
To promote AI education “from the bottom up,” the city has also teamed up with National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST), Ming Chi University of Technology, Tungnan University, Hsing Wu University, Chihlee University of Technology, Asia Eastern University of Science and Technology, and Mackay Junior College of Medicine, Nursing and Management, it said.
The collaboration with academic institutions aims to lay a solid foundation for nurturing talent by training seed teachers at all education levels and sharing AI resources.
Today, universities often work closely with industry, NTUST president Yen Jia-yush (顏家鈺) said, adding that he hoped the collaboration nurtures more AI talent for industry.
Chen Po-han (陳柏翰), a senior at Taishan Senior High School, said he aims to learn more about AI image recognition as it is going to have wider application in the future.
Another senior, Yu Chun-hsiang (游竣翔), said AI is becoming a popular field, voicing his excitement over learning about it in high school.
“The smart city that New Taipei City is creating is human-oriented, and based on technology and education,” New Taipei City Education Department Commissioner Chang Ming-wen (張明文) said, adding that he hoped the technology and resources shared with schools would foster students with practical, innovative and versatile AI talent.
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