US tech company Microsoft wants to provide AI (artificial intelligence) courses for 600,000 Belgians by 2028 Flemish daily De Tijd reports. The company hopes to reach students, vulnerable groups and SMEs, amongst others, with classes, which may be held in classrooms and online. Microsoft also has its own AI application, CoPilot, on the market but the company says this initiative has not been designed simply to promote its app.
‘The courses on artificial intelligence (AI) are basically meant for any Belgian who is interested,’ says Marijke Schroos, general manager of Microsoft Belux. ‘But in particular we are focusing on the vulnerable groups that we have discovered are harder to reach via our online platform.’
Microsoft already offers a free online course that lasts eight hours and is freely available to everyone.
‘Microsoft employees are going to provide more courses in their local areas,’ Marijke continues. ‘But we are also working with several partners.’
‘For example, Howest (Howest University of Applied Sciences) is distributing an AI programme among colleges in Flanders and we are working with programming school BeCode to reach jobseekers.’ By doing so, the company particularly hopes to reach Walloon SMEs through MIC, a collaboration between Microsoft, telecom giant Proximus and the Walloon Region.
AI training can be followed online as well as in a classroom. ‘We have a lot of partners who offer the course ‘in real life’, like the CVO Adult Education Centre ‘De Verdieping’ in Limburg. They’ve developed a programme around basic skills and accessibility to technology.’
Microsoft’s first target is to reach 600,000 people by 2028. ‘But that is just a start,’ the company says.
Boosting Belgium's success
Why is the tech giant concerned about AI skills in Belgium? ‘We know that AI is a hugely powerful tool that can strongly boost the economy. Everyone benefits. That's why, as a technology partner, we want to support Belgians and do our bit in terms of social inclusion.’
Microsoft is marketing its own AI application CoPilot, but Marijke denies that the training courses are there to promote this tool. ‘We obviously use examples from our own software, but it's really about general AI skills. How do you make a good prompt? How should you look at your results critically? The same goes for every AI tool, of course.’
‘Our budget is also limited,’ she adds. ‘It's mainly about the knowledge and expertise we possess ourselves, because we work with this technology, which we want to use to contribute to Belgium's success.’
Flemish daily De Tijd also believes Microsoft's billion-dollar investment in data centres in Belgium in recent years provides extra motivation. These data centres can provide the computing power and data storage that AI models need. ‘The infrastructure is here now. But to exploit the potential fully, there is a need to provide additional skills,’ Marijke says.