Portland observer., April 20, 2022, Page 5, Image 5

April 20, 2022
Page 5
Careers in Artificial Intelligence
Fast growing
industry will
need workers
Portland Community College re-
cently received an $800,000 grant
which will enable area residents to
train for gainful careers in one of the
fastest-growing sectors of industry
– artificial intelligence (AI).
The appropriation, champi-
oned by Rep. Earl Blumenauer
of Portland, passed both houses
of Congress and was signed into
law by President Joe Biden in
early March.
“PCC would like to extend a
special ‘thank you’ to Rep. Blu-
menauer for his forward-think-
ing advocacy for this initiative,”
said PCC President Mark Mitsui.
“This new funding will democra-
tize access to AI technology and
help our students, particularly our
students from our most marginal-
ized communities, gain leading
edge skills that will lead to good
jobs and careers.
The curriculum will also be
grounded in principles related to
ethics and methods of rooting out
but the reality is far more benign,
said Jeremy Estrella, associate
vice president of academic and ca-
reer pathways at PCC. AI can be
found in everything from online
chat-bots to “smart” home appli-
ances to video games and more.
“Applications for AI in our ev-
eryday lives are only expected to
grow in the coming decades,” Es-
trella said. “With that growth we
need to build these applications
grounded in ethics and equity,
and rooting out the potential for
bias in AI. We are building our
curriculum with these principles
in mind."
College officials hope to lever-
age the funding to build new
partnerships, and expand existing
ones, with technology compa-
nies in the area and to help drive
growth in AI jobs across the state
in an equitable way.
Portland Community College President Mark Mitsui helps usher in
the creation of new course offerings in artificial intelligence, one of
the fastest growing sectors of the 21st century economy
implicit bias and algorithmic in-
equities in AI.
The appropriation was part of
a more than $10 million package,
secured by Rep. Blumenauer,
which will fund community proj-
ects in the Portland area.
According to the Oregon Work-
force and Talent Development
Board, AI education programs in
the state are currently overfull and
understaffed due to a recent surge
of interest in the field.
With the new appropriation,
PCC will now be able to enhance
the capacity of its AI program by
hiring faculty and staff, while also
modernizing its facilities and ac-
quiring AI-capable computers and
software systems for student train-
ing. The funds will also be used to
bring more equity to the AI indus-
try by extending opportunities to
students from historically under-
represented communities and to
students from across the state by
way of remote education.
Artificial intelligence has oc-
cupied a portion of the collective
imagination for many years, often
as part of a doomsday scenario in
science-fiction films and novels –
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Democrats Cry Foul
Kathleen Harder (left) and Loretta Smith, two Democratic
candidates for Oregon’s new 6th congressional district, stand next
to a map showing the district’s boundaries south of Portland to
Salem, joining with four other candidates April 12 to criticize the
House Majority PAC's support for supporting a rival and dividing
Democrats in the upcoming May Primary. (AP photo)
Continued from Page 4
Balwit said in an email.
Flynn has worked on pandem-
ic preparedness and biosecurity
years before the pandemic and has
advised Congress and the White
House on pandemic preparedness
and the creation of technology
jobs, his campaign said. If elected,
he plans to focus on the creation of
green jobs and pandemic recovery
and preparedness.
Also condemning the House
Majority PAC’s “unprecedent-
ed and inappropriate decision to
spend nearly a million dollars in
this Democratic primary” were
Democratic candidates Matt
West, a development engineer
at chipmaker Intel who aims to
tackle climate change; Kathleen
Harder, a physician in Salem;
state Rep. Teresa Alonso Leon;
and cryptocurrency entrepreneur
Cody Reynolds.
Oregon’s 6th congressional dis-
trict was created by the 2020 U.S.
census and extends from Port-
land’s suburbs to the southwest,
including the state capital of Sa-
lem and towns in the Willamette
Valley and the Coastal Range. The
Cook Political Report said the new
district would vote “likely Demo-
cratic” in the November election.
Republican candidates include
state Rep. Ron Noble, former con-
gressional candidate Amy Ryan
Courser, clinical psychologist An-
gela Plowhead and Dundee Mayor
David Russ.
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