World’s First Artificial Intelligence University Opens in Abu Dhabi UAE

Navin Bondade 1 Comment Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Deep Learning, Machine Learning

Artificial Intelligence is the everyday technology of tomorrow, even though many experts claim that AI will take down many jobs, but it’s the most booming field and the one that guarantees thousands of employment in the hundreds of sectors in the upcoming future.

To leverage this opportunity and to lead the field of Artificial Intelligence, United Arab Emirates (UAE) has taken a courageous bold step, UAE has built the world’s very first dedicated AI university, named Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI).

The university is named after His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, who strongly support AI and believes that AI is the transformative power of knowledge and scientific thinking.

The Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence is located in the Masdar City of Abu Dhabi. MBZUAI is a graduate-level, research-based AI university and it aims to enable graduate students, businesses, and governments to advance Artificial Intelligence.

The vision of MBZUAI is to drive excellence in knowledge creation, transfer and the use of AI to foster economic growth while positioning Abu Dhabi as a hub for the international AI community.

“Launching of the world’s first graduate-level artificial intelligence university in Abu Dhabi echoes the UAE’s pioneering spirit, and paves the way towards a new era of innovation and technological advancement that benefits the UAE and a world,” tweeted His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

MBZUAI will offer varieties of specialized degree programs, two years of master programs and Ph.D. programs for local and international students in the field of Artificial Intelligence and the classes scheduled from next year, it will begin in the month of September 2020.

But if you are very excited to take admission in MBZUAI, then you don’t need to wait up to 2020, the official applications for the university are open from this month, with registrations taking place in August of next year.

All admitted students will be given full scholarship plus benefits such as a monthly allowance, health insurance, and accommodation. And like every other university to maintain all this facility, students are expected to maintain high academic standing.

The MBZUAI university hasn’t released all the list of offering courses, but the majors in this list include fields like machine learning, computer vision, natural language processing, GPU programming, data science, etc.

UAE doesn’t open this university just to make hype in the world, UAE is strongly taking efforts to offer world best education, UAE’s University’s Board of Trustees has selected experts professors from around the world.

They include MBZUAI Interim President, Professor Sir Michael Brady, professor of Oncological Imaging at the University of Oxford, UK; Professor Anil K. Jain, a University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University, USA; Professor Andrew Chi-Chih Yao.

Further the Dean of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences at Tsinghua University, Beijing, China; Dr. Kai-Fu Lee, a technology executive and venture capitalist based in Beijing, China; Professor Daniela Rus, Director of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), USA, and Peng Xiao, CEO of Group 42.

Professor Sir Michael Brady, Interim President of MBZUAI, said: “We are now at a turning point in the widespread application of advanced intelligence. That evolution is among other things creating exciting new career opportunities in nearly every sector of society. At MBZUAI, we will support students to capture those opportunities and to magnify their contribution to the field of AI globally.”

“AI is already changing the world, but we can achieve so much more if we allow the limitless imagination of the human mind to fully explore it. The university will bring the discipline of AI into the forefront, molding and empowering creative pioneers who can lead us to a new AI-empowered era,” said Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State.

“The world has entered a new era of technological advancement and rapid innovation, all driven and underpinned by AI. This new era will pave the way for unprecedented opportunities, AI has become a priority and evident across all industries with new technologies being introduced at an incredibly fast pace.”

“The world needs more human capacity in the field of AI to bridge any possible gaps and that is why today the UAE and Abu Dhabi are announcing the launch of the Mohammad Bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence – the world’s first graduate-level research-based AI university,” he added.

“This university will help us to develop the necessary AI ecosystem that will enable us to leverage the full potential of this very important technology locally, regionally and globally. The university will create an active AI community in the UAE developing innovative applications for businesses and government,” he said, highlighting what the university will be bringing to the community.

“The UAE clearly sees a phenomenal opportunity ahead where the UAE can demonstrate its unique capabilities in building bridges, extending help, support, and collaboration.”

“The art of partnership is a very clear model of engagement that the UAE has mastered over the years and this is what we’re doing yet again in a very sophisticated area of business centered around AI,” he added.

MBZUAI has partnered with the Abu Dhabi-based Inception Institute of Artificial Intelligence (IIAI), an applied research lab, to supervise Ph.D. students and curriculum development. IIAI will also serve as a principal partner for collaborative research.

“Following decades of research into machine learning and artificial intelligence, we are now at a turning point in the widespread application of advanced intelligence. That evolution is – among other things – creating exciting new career opportunities in nearly every sector of society,” said Prof Brady, interim president of MBZUAI.