Cover art: “Towards a More Intelligent Tomorrow” by Sarah Chokali
In March 2016, when DeepMind’s AlphaGo beat the world champion in Go (a game so complex that it has more board positions than there are atoms in the universe), it became clear to me, and to the rest of the world, that AI is the future.
At that time, my interest was piqued, but the AI community and job market were non-existent in Iraq, so I remained focused on developing Code Lab (an initiative that teaches young people coding skills in various fields and connects them to potential employers), which would launch later that year. To date, we have done nine bootcamps taking in over 150 students, the majority of whom are now working as senior software engineers at well-respected companies, and many of them started their very own tech startups!
Fast forward to May 2018, when I got the chance to attend both Facebook’s f8 and Google I/O conferences in person and, more importantly, to connect and interact with actual AI experts. After many AI-focused sessions, conversations, and demos, I became more determined than ever to pursue a career in AI and foster an AI community in Iraq, building on my earlier work with tech communities like GDG Baghdad, Fikra Space, and others.
Given that the situation in Iraq was much the same as in 2016 when it came to AI adoption, education, and community, I decided to start looking for opportunities to study abroad. In May 2019, I was awarded the Fulbright scholarship to study at the University of Georgia for a master’s in AI, and I moved to the US later that year.
I quickly realized that the education system in the US was far ahead of what we had in Iraq, so I had a lot of catching up to do. I spent the following year learning from my coursework along with a bunch of online courses, like DeepLearning.AI’s TensorFlow and Deep Learning specializations. And thanks to the pandemic, I had plenty of time to dive into AI and sharpen my newfound knowledge and skills.
By the end of 2020, I had many discussions about the AI community in Iraq (or lack thereof) and how to improve it with community members and my colleagues at Code Lab. Eventually, I decided to take the first steps toward building an AI ecosystem, creating a community for AI enthusiasts to share their knowledge and developing a talent pool that local companies interested in AI could tap into. In December 2020, we launched a free 8-week intensive online Machine Learning bootcamp, which got an excellent reception and showed just how much the field needed a community to guide people into it.
Soon after, several local communities ran their own Machine Learning and AI courses and bootcamps, proving that there is real interest in this critical field, which made me even more determined to develop a vibrant AI community in Iraq. But I still had a degree to finish, so I spent the following months working on my thesis on Arabic Image Captioning with Attention. After tons of caffeine and countless all-nighters, I successfully defended my thesis in June 2021, earning a master’s degree in AI with great distinction.
It was time to get back to teaching AI to young Iraqis and to foster a vibrant, welcoming community where people interested in the field could find a place to belong and grow. I also knew we couldn’t do it alone, given the work it takes to make such an initiative successful, impactful, and sustainable. So we partnered with GIZ, a German development agency focused on international development cooperation and education, and that partnership gave birth to AI Dojo. AI Dojo is the first AI hub in Iraq, built to foster a vibrant AI ecosystem that supports individuals looking to take up a career in AI and provides consultation for SMBs that want to integrate AI into their products and services.
We started teaching essential AI skills by giving workshops in our own space and at universities to expand our reach and impact. In January 2022, we began AI Dojo’s first Machine Learning bootcamp, which ran for three months and was filled with hands-on training sessions and portfolio-building projects. We also open-sourced all of our training material!
Last week, we held a graduation ceremony for the first cohort, where our students showcased their capstone projects in front of an audience of potential employers. The projects covered topics like X-ray classification and analysis, a personal clothing recommendation system, sales forecasting, and many more.
Our work is only beginning, and there’s a long way to go to build a vibrant Iraqi AI ecosystem. I’m proud of the team’s work and excited for the challenges ahead. We’re continuing to provide free workshops and courses and to host online live sessions on various AI topics, answering the audience’s questions along the way. There’s another bootcamp just around the corner! Follow AI Dojo on Facebook, Instagram, and Telegram to hear about our upcoming events as they happen.
