SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Wizeline, the leading provider of digital product and customer experience solutions powered by artificial intelligence, today announced the launch of Wizeline Artificial Intelligence Academy, or Wizeline AI Academy for short. The program, which will matriculate its first classes starting in December 2016, offers qualified applicants tuition-free coursework on artificial intelligence, machine learning and other advanced software engineering skills and technologies. The courses will be given at Wizeline’s office campus in Guadalajara, Mexico. Interested candidates can apply by visiting AI Academy’s website.
With its main software engineering campus in Guadalajara, Wizeline has more than tripled in size in the past year. In addition to launching its AI Academy, the company plans to hire one hundred artificial intelligence engineers across its Guadalajara and Vietnam offices before March 2017. The company aims to address customer demand for AI-powered business applications while grooming talent to excel at the cutting edge of technology. Wizeline anticipates its AI Academy will bridge the gap between engineering talent today and the competitive hiring and product development demands facing the technology industry.
“The goal of AI Academy is to prepare talented engineers for the massive growth in demand for artificial intelligence skillset, which has recently just begun,” said Dr. Matt Pasienski, Wizeline’s Head of Growth and AI Academy Director. “AI and machine learning today are what distributed systems and cloud-computing were about ten years ago—which means we’re poised for massive growth in demand for engineers with pertinent skillsets.”
Wizeline AI Academy will offer two course tracks. The Machine Learning Intensive and the Data Science Intensive are designed for aspiring experts in advanced machine learning, data analysis, and other technologies. Wizeline AI Academy will also offer a number of weekend crash courses designed for students from a broader set of backgrounds who are looking to gain baseline familiarity with subject areas such as data science, natural language processing (NLP) and chatbots. After completing their chosen track, students with a background in computer science or engineering will be prepared to take on full-time artificial intelligence development work.
"Wizeline's work fostering startups, entrepreneurs and engineers has transformed Guadalajara and is creating new possibilities for the future of Mexico," said Jaime Reyes, Jalisco's Secretary of Innovation, Science and Technology. "We are excited to see talented Mexican technologists explore new frontiers and master the latest technology."
Wizeline AI Academy builds on the previous successes of the Wizeline UX Academy, which enrolled its first students in August 2016. Artificial intelligence already powers tools like IBM’s Watson and Amazon’s Alexa, but there are many frontiers yet to explore using AI, machine learning, NLP, and other data analytics tools. By offering free courses designed to empower new generations of engineers, the Wizeline AI Academy will prepare its students to master these techniques. Graduates will not only solve world-class engineering challenges, they will have the expertise to explore new possibilities in technology.
“Mexico, specifically Guadalajara, has all the ingredients for scaling AI software engineering: many great technical universities, a high-density of talented and creative engineers,” said Bismarck Lepe, Wizeline founder and CEO. “Even its moderate climate is conducive to scaling high-tech growth—it literally feels like Silicon Valley,” said Lepe.
Through AI Academy, Wizeline aims to encourage engineers who are curious about artificial intelligence to gain critical skills. To qualify for Wizeline AI Academy’s intensive course track, students must have a degree in computer science or applied mathematics, or have at least two years of experience developing software. To qualify for crash courses, students should know basic computer programming. To learn more and request more information, visit AI Academy’s website.
About Wizeline
With decades of experience building disruptive technology in the heart of Silicon Valley, Wizeline’s team shares a proven track record of enabling companies to achieve breakthrough results with software and services.
Customers of Wizeline include some of the fastest-growing software companies, as well as many of the world’s most established brands, including News Corp, Yahoo!, Sparkcentral, Nuance and many others. The company is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Guadalajara, Mexico and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. For more information, please visit www.wizeline.com.
