The past decade in the country has seen massive changes and developments that could not have been imagined for another 50 years or so. As surprising as it may sound, Pakistan really is positively making its way to enter the fourth Industrial revolution with the rest of the world. Progress has particularly been made in the digital context leading to a completely transformed technological era that we have today. Technologies like Artificial intelligence, Deep learning and Internet of things are what make most of the revolution that we will soon be a part of.
The fourth industrial revolution is the most interesting since the first one that took place back in the 18th century. This era brings a fusion of different systems and inventions that is certainly going to blur the lines that we see today between the physical and the digital world. A term “cyber-physical” system is what would be most appropriate to name this new set up.
These technologies have been disruptive in their initial phases because of the increasing challenge that has been brought to various business models. Artificial intelligence, for instance, has been almost overwhelming to the audience. Who could have imagined a voice talking to humans and carrying out a two way conversation in addition to doing the tasks that are ordered thereafter? Siri was a fun application but turned out; it was just a tiny peek into what was actually going to come ahead. Artificial intelligence today is capable of handling numerous tasks and its applicability is valid in all fields whether business, education or healthcare. The technology has already made employees and future aspirants conscious about the skill set that will be required for jobs in a matter of year or so. Acquiring these skills is not a choice, rather a necessity if one wants to survive in the highly competitive market. It is the exact same for all the other set of technologies that are making their entrance at such a pace.
Institutes and organizations that have started to make people aware of all these changes and how they are supposed to make the most out of this era. Students from universities, schools and colleges are showing their interest in acquiring more targeted and high-tech skills which will ultimately enable them to lead the way in the era that we are about to enter.
There has been a wide scale movement in different parts of the country, where students are now being trained for a host of these technological developments. Just recently, the President Dr. Arif Alvi launched an initiative where the students particularly were going to be made familiar with the recent developments in the tech world; namely Block chain, artificial intelligence and Cloud based computing. This initiative is named PIAIC and is going to play a major role in the fourth revolution taking place around the world.
A detailed plan has been set out for each of the three disciplines and how participants will be taken through the course.
Artificial intelligence
The duration for this program is going to be one year in which students are going to get an introduction of what AI is and how it would be applied to the real world. Courses will be taught in quarters, therefore a total of 4 quarters for this whole program. That final quarter is where students will get to apply AI and get practical experience of it.
Cloud Computing
This is also a one year program that focuses on the use of cloud native micro services and the widely used Amazon web services. Students will get first-hand knowledge of the different concepts and then be able to develop different applications for final use.
Block Chain
Block chain has recently gotten a lot of attention and economies around the world have already started their trading in digital currencies. It is expected in the coming few years, a lot of the world’s operations will be done with the help of digital currency. This one year program has been designed in a way that it will help students get a good grasp on Block Chain, Fintech and other Smart contracts.
PIAIC has an official website which lays down the details of every course, its registration details and the highly reputed and experienced faculty behind all of this.
Is it really important to adapt to these changes after all? The answer is pretty clear keeping in mind the rapidly growing population and the inability of old system to cater to the ever increasing and challenging issues. Sectors like air transportation, Pakistan railway or even the steel mills are almost craving for the authorities to make their big leap towards a more advanced and accommodating setup. The fourth industrial revolution aims to target these very concerns by bringing the integrated technologies that assure the required level of speed and precision.
Time doesn’t wait for people and delayed responses will only have us regret in the time to come. Only the smart and farsighted ones will accept and welcome this revolution with the enthusiasm and positivity that it really deserves.
