Northwestern University in Qatar will offer a joint minor in Media and AI in a collaborative program with Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar as part of the Artificial Intelligence Initiative (AI2), Dean and CEO Marwan Kraidy said at the initiative’s launch held on Feb. 5.
Kraidy emphasized that AI2 will not only introduce the joint minor but also establish an Artificial Intelligence and Media Lab (AIM Lab) and a professional development component, mainly for staff members.
During his address, Kraidy underscored the inspiration behind the initiative, citing the profound impact of AI on various industries, particularly in media.
“At NU-Q, we consider ourselves a community of storytellers with a focus on the Global South, and AI threatens to upend what we think of as evidence and how we tell stories,” he said.
Venus Jin, NU-Q associate dean for education and founding director of the AIM Lab, highlighted the potential of applying data science and artificial intelligence to derive data-driven insights for innovative media production.
She outlined the lab’s key objectives, including “fostering a collaborative ecosystem for research and focusing on ethical data science, socially responsible AI, and sustainable AI-driven transformations.”
Jin also discussed expanding NU-Q’s curriculum to include new AI and data- science courses, and she expressed enthusiasm for the opportunities they will provide.
“In addition to the curriculum in our undergraduate program, our administration will be working diligently to renovate our executive-education program further to strengthen the data analytics and artificial intelligence dimensionality of it,” she added.
Despite some students’ enthusiasm for the initiative, others expressed concerns about the timing of the announcement and the extent of student involvement in shaping AI2.
A communication senior, who chose to remain anonymous, expressed disappointment over the lack of student input. They noted receiving a survey on the morning of the initiative’s launch asking for students’ interests in its various components. They also raised concerns about the timing of the announcement and suggested that “it could have been communicated earlier.”
However, students Rishal Chowdhury and Shayan Ahmed both expressed excitement about the prospects of the minor program and collaborative research opportunities.
Chowdhury, a first-year student, highlighted the potential of the minor program, noting its promising outlook. He emphasized the collaborative endeavor between NU-Q and CMU-Q, envisioning it as a gateway to significant opportunities in the AI industry.
“The minor is greatly promising, unlocking a huge industry and opportunities for NU-Q and CMU-Q through collaboration, and leading us students to become experts in the field,” he remarked.
Shayan Ahmed, a first-year student, described his longstanding interest in AI and various forms of editing, noting that this was one of the reasons he chose Northwestern. He expressed confidence in the courses and collaborative research opportunities the initiative offers, stating, “I’m genuinely thrilled about it.”
In an email to the NU-Q community on Jan. 29, Kraidy stressed the university-wide nature of AI2, referencing the AI@NU initiative at the home campus in Evanston.
Kraidy expressed confidence in NU-Q’s capacity to make meaningful contributions to the study and applications of AI, aligning with Northwestern’s overarching priority to “harness the power of data analytics and artificial intelligence.”
