Recently, the Ministry of Education issued a notice announcing the results of the filing and approval of undergraduate majors in ordinary colleges and universities in 2018. According to the show, in 2018, ordinary colleges and universities *** new record undergraduate majors 1831, new approval of undergraduate majors 241, adjusting the degree-granting categories or years of study majors 40, withdrawing undergraduate majors 416. There are eighty-five colleges and universities that have added at least five new majors, including Beijing Sports University, which has added the most new majors, *** added ten record undergraduate majors and one approval major.

Among the new approval majors, the two hottest majors are artificial intelligence majors and cyberspace security majors, the number of which is 35 and 25 respectively, ranking first and second. In just one year, there are 35 colleges and universities such as Zhejiang University, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Sichuan University, Tianjin University, etc. to obtain the first batch of construction qualifications for artificial intelligence majors, and some people are worried that the step is not a big step?

35 new artificial intelligence professional colleges and universities in 28 "double first-class" construction of colleges and universities, only Anhui University of Engineering, Hunan University of Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Jiangxi University of Science and Technology, Changchun Normal University, North China University, Central Plains College of Technology and other seven colleges and universities are not.

Some time ago, an organization released a "global AI field talent report", which shows that the number of Chinese AI-related talents is more than 50,000, ranking seventh in the world, but there is a big gap with the world's first UK, which has more than eighty-five million AI field-related talents. According to the proportion of the population, as well as the development of the industry, some experts predict that the domestic artificial intelligence talent gap may exceed five million. Under the soft environment and strong demand, it seems necessary for colleges and universities to open artificial intelligence majors and train specialized talents. Just popping up so much at once, it will inevitably suffer from everyone's questioning.

Many people who hang on to AI all day probably don't even understand the true connotation of AI. Many people simply equate artificial intelligence with computer technology or robotics. It should be said that they are y connected, but not the same thing. However, computer technology and robotics are the foundation of AI research. Only natural language processing, machine learning, neural networks, pattern recognition, intelligent search, machine translation, language and image understanding, automatic programming and other basic technologies are well studied, in order to design a whole system that can imitate and study human intellectual activities, as well as can make decisions, control, learning, planning, collaboration and so on, similar to humans.

From the perspective of application, AI is more or less related to all sectors of society, and once AI collides with an industry, it can bring about radical changes to that industry. However, knowledge in AI is not that easy to grasp, and most of those who have really learned it thoroughly are PhDs or masters, or professionals from overseas. If the teachers are not in place and the curriculum is not scientific, it will directly lead to the level of students not pass. After their graduation, they will not only fail to create effective value when they enter the society and enterprises, but also lose confidence in the training of AI talents in colleges and universities. This is probably one of the reasons why many people refer to AI as "artificial intelligence".

The scarcity of teacher resources is a huge pain point for colleges and universities to offer AI majors. The market demand for senior AI talent has been very strong, the phenomenon of high-paying poachers abound, colleges and universities are no exception, the level of high-level, capable professionals are almost empty by the company. Without excellent teachers, how to ensure the quality of teaching?

Furthermore, many universities and colleges of talent training and social practice seems to be out of touch, the knowledge instilled in the school and the application of social practice seems to be the two "no contact with each other island", each saying their own words. Some college students with good academic performance, but in the practice of the post is difficult to give play to its performance to match the excellent talent. This phenomenon exists in many professional talent training, and artificial intelligence is a "new profession", more can not avoid this problem. Some colleges and universities are trying to cooperate with first-class Internet companies or related enterprises in the field of artificial intelligence to open "artificial intelligence class", trying to break the gap between school knowledge education and social application.

Artificial Intelligence technology is very fast, undergraduate students and undergraduate textbooks can adapt to this speed of renewal, is also a problem faced by colleges and universities. A more critical point is that AI is an emerging frontier subject, without solid math skills, computing ability and high level of software programs, obviously not. Not to mention the ordinary college undergraduates, even the "double first-class" college undergraduates are afraid that it is difficult to reach that height.

On the other hand, enrollment is still the main motivation for colleges and universities to open AI programs. Just as before the opening of the big data program, with the artificial intelligence program, all of a sudden it seems high. And the quality of the student population will have a certain degree of improvement. However, if the opening of an artificial intelligence major is hastily launched without solving the problems of teachers, curriculum, and the disconnection between talent training and the market, it is irresponsible to students and society. Sometimes, a smaller step will be more stable!