What skills do I need for a career in AI?

You do not need to be a genius, but you do need steady practice. Here is a practical roadmap.

1. Foundations

• Maths: linear algebra (vectors, matrices), probability, statistics and basic calculus
• Programming: Python is the main language for AI

2. Data skills

• Handling data with libraries like pandas and NumPy
• SQL for databases
• Visualising data and cleaning messy data, which is a big part of real work

3. Machine learning

• Core methods: regression, decision trees, clustering
• Tools like scikit-learn
• How to measure if a model is any good

4. Deep learning and modern AI

• Neural networks with PyTorch or TensorFlow
• How LLMs work, and building apps with them
• Prompting, retrieval (connecting AI to documents) and evaluation

5. Build things

• Projects on GitHub, Kaggle competitions, and solving real Indian problems such as crop disease detection or Indian-language tools

Not just engineering: AI also needs product managers, policy and ethics specialists, domain experts in healthcare, law and finance, and people who test AI systems.

Free resources include NPTEL courses from the IITs, government programmes under the IndiaAI Mission, and many open online courses.