The largest bank in Russia launches free online course in machine learning for schoolchildren

A free online course in machine learning for schoolchildren of 8–11 grades is now available. Designed by the AI Academy for schoolchildren, a joint project run by Sberbank and its Investment to the Future charity, „the course was approved by the Russian Ministry of Education and recommended to educational institutions for schoolchildren as an extracurricular activity.”, according to the press release.

The course was designed by practicing big data scientists and market leaders in online learning specializing in this area of study.

Two to four hours of classes a week will be enough to master the theory and practice of machine learning from scratch in six months. Students will learn how to program in Python and use the built-in libraries for ML and data analysis, find patterns in the data, visualize the results of their analysis, and build their ML algorithms to solve applied problems. Part of the tasks can be performed directly on the site, as the course contains built-in simulators. Other tasks involve moving to a computer programming environment.

At the end of the course, everyone will be able to apply their knowledge in the final project, i.e. building their recommender system for movies. Those who complete the course will be able to compete in serious ML competitions.

Alexander Vedyakhin, First Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board, Sberbank: “Machine learning is one of the fastest-growing areas at the intersection of computer science and statistics. Its methods are used in science, technology, medicine, retail, advertising, multimedia generation, and other areas. The machine learning skills students will gain after taking the online course will open up great opportunities for Russian youth. We strongly recommend that schoolchildren and their parents do not miss this opportunity.”

Pyotr Polozhevets, Executive Director of Investment to the Future Charitable Foundation: “This year, experts from the Artificial Intelligence Academy for schoolchildren have taken part in creating the tasks for NTI Kruzhok movement’s AI contest, while the Investment to the Future Charitable Foundation provided participants of the five best teams with gift certificates for education worth an aggregate of RUB2.6 mln. On top of that, the participants who were better at the ML task were offered internships at Sberbank’s ecosystem.”

The Artificial Intelligence Academy is a flagship project of the Digital Skills and Competences program run by the Investment to the Future Charitable Foundation with support from Sberbank.

On the website of the academy, besides the online course in ML, there are basic AI lessons adapted for school classes and independent studies. On top of that, the School Digital Platform, which has been used by schoolchildren from 23 regions of Russia for distance learning since March, has added a Python course, an introductory AI course, and a data analysis course for 7-8 graders, all designed by the academy experts.

More about Sberbank

Sberbank today is the largest bank in Russia, Central and Eastern Europe, and a leading international financial institution. It is Russia’s most valuable brand and one of the world’s top 25 brands.

Sberbank has 11 Regional Banks that are responsible for the functioning of more than 14,000 branches in 83 of Russia’s regions. The bank’s international network is made up of subsidiaries, branches and representative offices in 21 countries, including Russia, CIS , the UK, US, and Central and Eastern Europe.

The Bank has established a system of remote service channels which comprises:

. Оnline banking Sberbank Online (over 14.5 million active users)

. Smartphone application Sberbank Online (over 48 million users)

. SMS-Bank (over 76 million active users)

. One of the largest networks of ATMs and self-service terminals in the world (over 77 thousand terminals)

Sberbank is the largest issuer of debit and credit cards. Through a joint bank with BNP Paribas, Sberbank operates as a POS-lender under the Cetelem brand using the ‘responsible lending’ concept.

Over 1 million enterprises (out of 4.5 million legal entities registered in Russia) are customers of Sberbank.