In terms of AI, more university students are already advancing their skills. Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, one of the first colleges to offer an AI major back in 2006, has seen a surge in enrolments.
“In the first year, we had only 30 (students); now we have 180 people majoring in AI every year,” said Wang Xiaojie, who heads the university’s Centre of Intelligent Science and Technology Research.
Still, there were only two qualified workers for every five new AI jobs in the country as at late 2023, according to Maimai, China’s alternative to LinkedIn.
It is not a field his parents really understand, but AI major and final year student Wen Xin is confident about his future.
“(AI) can be combined with any existing technology as a kind of empowerment — things like the steam engine or even electrical appliances,” he said. “AI is the biggest gold mine at present. We’re now the equivalent of gold miners.”
Watch this episode of Shifting Horizons here. And read about the series’ look at jobless youth in Asia’s biggest nations.
