> The obsolete gatekeeping by the AI/ML elites who say "you can't use AI/ML unless you have a PhD/5 years research experience" is one of the things I really hate about the industry.
It is absolutely true that you do not need a graduate degree to apply AI/ML to vanilla problems.
It is also absolutely true, in my experience, that you need a graduate-level education or years of hands-on experience to troubleshoot cases where AI/ML fails on a deceptively-simple problem, or to tweak an AI/ML algorithm (or develop a new one) so it can solve a novel problem.
That said, I think these MOOCs are good enough to get someone to a place where they can create nice /r/dataisbeautiful-style visualizations, or pair with a senior-level DS to deliver something.
(Edited to add folks who have worked on problems for years and add a final note.)
It is absolutely true that you do not need a graduate degree to apply AI/ML to vanilla problems.
It is also absolutely true, in my experience, that you need a graduate-level education or years of hands-on experience to troubleshoot cases where AI/ML fails on a deceptively-simple problem, or to tweak an AI/ML algorithm (or develop a new one) so it can solve a novel problem.
That said, I think these MOOCs are good enough to get someone to a place where they can create nice /r/dataisbeautiful-style visualizations, or pair with a senior-level DS to deliver something.
(Edited to add folks who have worked on problems for years and add a final note.)