EU Citizens Offered Access to Online AI Course

Finland ended its tenure as President of the Council of the European Union (July-Dec 2019) by making the free online course series available in all official EU languages starting next year.

“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 Finland’s Minister of Employment, Timo Harakka.

The initiative seeks to meet the challenges posed by the transformation of work and to reinforce the digital leadership of the EU.

“The significance of AI is growing. To make use of it, we need digital skills. Changing labour markets, the transformation of work, digitalisation and intensifying global competition all mean one thing for the EU: we must invest in people,” Harakka continued.

The Elements of AI was successfully launched in Finland in 2018 by the University of Helsinki and local tech company Reaktor. It aims to encourage people to learn the basics of artificial intelligence, regardless of age or education level.