AIBridge Background

As careers in AI continue to expand and tools like ChatGPT become more commonplace, students of all ages are interested in learning about AI and machine learning. To many, this subject can be overwhelming. Professor Xin Liu, a UC Davis Computer Science professor and AIFS Co-PI, recognized this challenge and has created hands-on AI teaching materials to make the subject more accessible. In March 2023, she teamed up with two high school students, Samuel Ren and Jiaming Situ, to bring this effort to the community. Together, they hosted an intensive 4-day boot camp at the Saratoga public library, where 18 adults of varying ages were introduced to the basics of AI and machine learning. The boot camp included daily lectures and labs, providing participants with a hands-on experience of machine learning using Python.

When asked why she is passionate about teaching the community AI and machine learning, Professor Liu said, “I created AIBridge to address a need that I have observed in my interdisciplinary research work at AIFS. I noticed that many people were interested in AI, but lacked the technical knowledge to get started. As someone with a background in computer science and working with many non-CS people, I saw an opportunity and need to bridge the gap between the technical and non-technical communities by creating a program that makes AI accessible to everyone.”

Feedback

The feedback from both the participants and student volunteers was overwhelmingly positive, with students wanting to be a part of the project again. This is a great example of AIFS team members being a part of the community not only in a research setting, but in broadening participation in the AI field as a whole.

Professor Liu involved several of her students in the 4-day Saratoga Library bootcamp. One attendee, Swee Chew, noted, “AIBridge Camp is a great class to explore the world of ML/AI. It has organized and well-thought-out courses with enthusiastic and supportive teachers. The introduction to ML/AI is easy to understand, and the slide presentations make learning engaging. This helps lead the way to pursue further into this field.” Chew enjoyed the program so much that she has volunteered to work on future events.

AIFS Involvement

AIFS was launched in 2020 to solve the world’s biggest challenges to crop and food production facing our planet: ensuring a sustainable, nutritious, efficient and safe food supply while mitigating the impacts of climate change. The institute is part of a larger network of USDA-NIFA and NSF funded institutes called AI Institutes Virtual Organization (AIVO) which are mandated to, “carry out a broad spectrum of research of critical importance to US competitiveness, food security, public safety and education, and myriad other targets.” To this end, AIFS faculty and leadership are focused on continually innovating not only in the food system space, but also in new ways of educating the next generation and current professionals in working with AI.

Like the Food and Ag Hackathon and the current ongoing Farm Robotics Challenge, AIFS gives students at all levels opportunities to get involved, excel, and explore career opportunities.

Future Plans

When asked what’s next, Dr. Liu said, “I saw how the program could benefit more people and have been thinking about expanding it beyond my immediate community. The two high school students who were involved in AIBridge at AIFS last year are extremely motivated. They went on to take and further develop the program to their local library, which I supervised and co-taught. Overall, my goal with AIBridge is to democratize access to AI and make it accessible to a wider audience and we are in the process of doing so. I believe that AI has the potential to create a positive impact in many fields, and I want to help as many people as possible to take advantage of it.” AIFS will host more AIBridge training courses at new locations this summer– stay tuned for announcements about these opportunities. If you would like to receive more information about the activities of the AI Institute for Next Generation Food Systems, sign up for our monthly newsletter.