Educating Designers and Developers for Generative AI

The user perspective dominates discussions about generative artificial intelligence. However, the perspectives of designers and developers have received much less attention, especially regarding how design and development skills for generative AI should be trained. Evidently, thousands of people will work on the design and development of generative AI in the near future, not only as users but also as AI designers and developers. 

The rapid expansion of generative AI has made it one of the most well-known AI technologies today. The ease of use of tools such as ChatGPT and MS Copilot has made it perhaps the most widely used AI technology. Therefore, we should invest in training and education for design and development skills related to generative AI. 

Generative AI is a technology that can generate e.g. text, speech, code, and images. Its capabilities are useful for almost everyone in the modern world. Unlike traditional AI technologies, generative AI generates new content and can have conversations with users. In this human-AI interaction, large language models and natural language processing technologies are the main engines behind the user interface. However, only a few users know how they function and how to customize and train them. 

It is possible to develop and train small and large language models so that they can work more effectively for the specific needs of various organizations. Tuning generative AI solutions is becoming more popular as organizations realize they have a lot of data that can be used to train these models. The rapid development of AI agents also falls within this competency need. Recent discussions have focused on low-code or no-code AI solutions that make it possible to create custom AI agents for specific and routine work tasks. 

Tuning large language models, developing new AI-enhanced products and services, or designing and programming new AI-based software solutions or components require new skills in generative AI development. We should educate new professionals who understand the intricacies of AI technologies. 

Defining and creating new educational materials for these needs is not an easy task. We need to define the skill requirements that generative AI engineers and other professionals will need in the near future. Some of them will focus on designer-type work duties where requirement specification skills are needed while integrating business needs with the opportunities of generative AI. Developers will program new solutions based on these requirement specifications and plans. Business consultants and related professionals will plan and manage the transformation for generative AI in organizations to ensure the effective scaling of generative AI capabilities. Additionally, we need to plan and create pedagogically effective curricula and learning resources for different knowledge and skills needs in this field.