The 3A Institute (3ai) is known for carving its own path, and how it is going about designing and building a new intellectual framework for managing artificial intelligence at scale is no exception.
This week marks the launch of their pilot Masters program; an experimental project for creating new ways of thinking about artificial intelligence, fully funded by industry giants KPMG Australia, Macquarie Group and Microsoft.
Referring to its namesake, (the three A’s: Autonomy, Agency and Assurance) the institute is kicking things off with an ‘A-Week’ contextualisation on 11-15 February. In addition the traditional ANU O-Week, A-Week welcomes and prepares 3Ai students for the exciting year ahead in an immersive program to induct them into the institute’s ethos and radical approach to curriculum design.
The institute is taking on 16 hand selected students, coming from all over the world, including the USA, Zimbabwe, Northern Territory and Canberra with a diverse set of experiences and skillsets. Previous careers include psychology and social work, security ethnographer at IBM, theatre director, IT Teacher, Policy Maker and Officer in the Australian Army.
The first day of A-Week was spent with Wally Bell, Ngunnawal Elder who welcomed the students to country and led a tour of local Indigenous sites of significance around Canberra. The course will critically reflect on context as we consider how to manage AI at scale, and the stories of first Australians that provide valuable insights and notions of technology, time and culture.
The institute and Masters program is spearheaded by Director, Distinguished Professor Genevieve Bell, who says the new recruits are truly at the forefront of the field. “The teaching staff are going on this journey together with our students. We are venturing into unknown territory. We’ve planned, created, designed everything we can, but we are fundamentally open to how this unfolds. Our students have embraced this ambiguity with gusto thus far.”
“Our approach of using start-up methodology like rapid prototyping will enable us to iterate and build the curriculum in response to diverse feedback and the changing tech environment”.
To learn more about 3Ai, visit their website. Stay up to date with the happenings of A Week at the 3Ai pilot Instagram account @3ai_pilot.