Cultivating Original Innovators in Artificial Intelligence

I have been involved with artificial intelligence for over thirty years. From being captivated by a foreign book on machine learning in the library to witnessing AI profoundly change scientific research and social life, my experience is that the key to technological innovation lies in talent, and talent cultivation must start from the source.

“AI empowering scientific research” is regarded as the “fifth paradigm of research” following experience, theory, computation, and data. However, we must also recognize that some current research still merely applies AI as a tool, even falling into the misconception that “general large models can solve everything.” To truly unleash the potential of AI, one key aspect is to cultivate a group of “bilingual” scientists who are well-versed in domain knowledge and proficient in cutting-edge AI technology.

To this end, I suggest building a composite talent cultivation system for “AI empowering scientific research” from the ground up. We should support high-level research universities to pilot the establishment of “PhD + Master’s” dual degree programs, allowing doctoral students pursuing a PhD in AI to also earn a master’s degree in a scientific discipline, effectively breaking down disciplinary barriers.

On the other hand, to better develop new productive forces, we must cultivate a large number of specialized talents deeply engaged in AI itself, in addition to interdisciplinary talents in “AI + X.”

When AlphaGo defeated top human players in Go in 2016, we believed that many AI technologies could be applied to production and life due to our deep engagement in AI foundational research. The AlphaGo event quickly attracted society’s attention, leading to a surge in demand for AI talent, necessitating accelerated training of specialized AI professionals. So, how should we proceed?

In 2016, we applied for a teaching reform project. After in-depth research and analysis, including a comprehensive review of the teaching systems of related disciplines at dozens of domestic universities, we concluded that the talent cultivation model needed modification. Traditionally, AI talent cultivation began at the graduate level, but our analysis revealed that under this model, critical AI content was learned too little at the undergraduate level, while less relevant content was learned too much. This led to graduate students spending a significant amount of time catching up, resulting in insufficient effective research time, directly hindering students from reaching their potential. We believe that cultivation should start at the undergraduate level.

In March 2018, Nanjing University established the first AI college among C9 universities, starting from undergraduate education. The goal is to cultivate talents with original innovation capabilities who can solve key problems for enterprises and institutions while fostering a strong sense of national pride, especially in developing high-level AI algorithm talents. We believe such talents need a solid mathematical foundation, strong computational and programming skills, and comprehensive AI professional knowledge. How to achieve this? Based on my over twenty years of teaching experience, the curriculum system is crucial. An excellent curriculum can help students achieve results more efficiently, and even in the absence of sufficient faculty, students can follow the right path. Conversely, a poor curriculum may lead to wasted effort. Within the constraints of fixed total study hours, we need to think deeply about how to solidify the foundation while eliminating unnecessary content, as well as the order of learning. We dedicated significant effort to this, holding over twenty specialized teaching seminars and discussions. In the absence of any precedents, we established China’s first undergraduate AI talent cultivation system, filling a gap in AI undergraduate education. Encouragingly, students trained under our system have solid foundations and are highly sought after. This system has become a model referenced by many other universities nationwide.

In terms of graduate AI education, Nanjing University will launch the “Graduate AI + Innovation Capability Enhancement Action Plan” in 2024, which includes four major components. I am particularly excited about the “AI + Innovation and Entrepreneurship” section, where the “AI + Innovation and Entrepreneurship Class” has successfully ignited the entrepreneurial enthusiasm of many students.

This class gathers students with entrepreneurial ideas from across the university and invites executives from leading companies and investors to teach. The first course helps students understand what true entrepreneurship is. For those who persist, the second course teaches them how to use current AI technology tools to turn their ideas into product prototypes. After several stages, the best projects receive guidance from professional teams to enhance their development. Originally, we envisioned that the main goal was to teach students how to analyze real business pain points, determine whether customized solutions are needed, and where to find tailored algorithms to solve practical problems. Even if they do not start businesses, these skills would be beneficial in their future careers. We hoped that two or three projects would successfully incubate each year. Unexpectedly, over 500 students eagerly signed up in the first year, resulting in 35 outstanding projects that were recommended to investors and incubators, with several already beginning to launch.

Notably, we observed a wonderful “chemical reaction” between the imaginative ideas of liberal arts students and the rigorous practicality of science and engineering students. The rich imagination of liberal arts students can identify needs we had not considered, while science and engineering students can bring those ideas to fruition, greatly aided by the current accessible AI technology tools. This model is a concrete practice of the widely discussed “One Person + AI Equals Company” (OPC) innovation and entrepreneurship paradigm. AI technology has significantly lowered the technical barriers to entrepreneurship, allowing individuals to realize their ideas with the help of AI tools. Our AI + Innovation and Entrepreneurship Class has attracted multiple industrial parks eager to invest and collaborate, and Nanjing City has begun to promote this model citywide through the “AI OPC Elite Training Camp.”

Looking ahead, AI will undoubtedly permeate every aspect of our lives. To young students and technology workers, I want to say: do not fear it, nor should you blindly worship it. It is a powerful tool but not a panacea. What we need to do is to understand and embrace it as much as we can. If you want to achieve results and make contributions in the field of AI, you must be willing to endure the “cold bench” and focus on the fundamentals, believing that persistent effort will yield good results. Only by cultivating a steady stream of talents with original innovation capabilities can we become inventors of new technologies, pioneers of new theories, and leaders in new fields in the wave of AI.