Toshiba to tie up with University of Tokyo in bid to nurture AI engineers

Toshiba Corp. said Thursday it will team up with the University of Tokyo to nurture specialists on artificial intelligence as part of efforts to secure talent in the next-generation technology. The electronics giant aims to nearly triple its number of AI engineers to 2,000 by March 2023 from the current 750 to boost research and development in the field, the company said. Under the program to be introduced in December, which is being developed with the university's graduate school of information science and technology, Toshiba engineers over a three-month course will study a wide range of technologies involving AI and big data analysis using data provided by the company's factories. The program is projected to train about 350 engineers by the end of fiscal 2022. Toshiba also plans to newly employ 200 AI specialists while nurturing another 700 under its original education system to have its staff acquire knowledge of the latest digital technologies.