Cultivating AI Experts

[Anchor Lead]

The so-called "new collar workforce" is being hailed as a core of the IT era. They refer to workers having skills and techniques key to the quaternary industry, such as artificial intelligence and block chain technology. South Korea has opened its first five-year school, a combined form of high school and junior college, to nurture artificial intelligence experts.

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This multinational company is in the process of a transformation from a hardware producer to an artificial intelligence and cloud computing firm. About half of its sales already comes from the new sector. However, there are limitations due to a lack of expert workers.

[Soundbite] Chang Hwa-jin(IBM President) : "In many cases, we have to give up on projects due to a lack of workers. It will be very helpful for the company if expert workers are trained and produced."

A "new collar" school has opened in Korea for the first time. "New collar" is a newly coined term meaning a new workforce that is neither white collar nor blue collar. It refers to expert technicians equipped with skills and techniques necessary in the fourth industrial revolution such as artificial intelligence and blockchain. The 'new collar school' is a result of collaboration between the Education Ministry and IBM. There are similar schools in some 120 countries, including the U.S. and Singapore. As an integrated form of a three-year high school and two-year junior college, the new collar school operates a five-year curriculum with the goal of training and fostering artificial intelligence experts.

[Soundbite] Im Chae-seong(New Collar School Student) : "It can save time, since its curriculum integrates what is taught at high school and college and there is no overlapping, repeating classes."

A fourth of graduates taught at overseas new collar schools have been hired by IBM as regular employees. It appears that the traditional education system will inevitably have to embrace changes in order to provide technical experts who will lead in the fourth industrial revolution.