Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment reports that Finland will be providing European Citizens with free access to an online course in the basics of artificial intelligence during 2020-2021. The initiative was first made public on 10th December 2019 in Brussels.
The online course, The Elements of AI is a series of free online courses by the University of Helsinki and Reaktor, a Finnish technology company. It was first launched in May 2018 and has already had more than 220 000 signups worldwide. Currently, the courses are available in Finnish, English, Swedish and Estonian, but the aim is to launch them in all the official EU languages.
This initiative is an attempt to respond to the future challenges of the transformation of work by the Finnish Presidency. Thus, their main aim is to encourage all Europeans to learn more about AI.
“Our investment has three goals: we want to equip EU citizens with digital skills for the future; we wish to increase practical understanding of what artificial intelligence is; and by doing so, we want to give a boost to the digital leadership of Europe,” said Minister of Employment Timo Harakka.
One of the greatest forces that drive economic development is artificial intelligence. Therefore, the role of AI and technology in the future of Europe and the world is growing drastically, and it is crucial to encourage people of all generations and backgrounds to learn more.
Read more of the initiative from EU2019.FI