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With demand for workers in the artificial intelligence field skyrocketing, Bay Area community colleges are looking to train people to fill those roles.
Local community colleges are starting to ramp up AI and machine-learning course offerings so their students can tap good-paying jobs that are on the rise. With AI startups fueling a new tech boom in the Bay Area, they’ll need all the local talent they can get. 
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that data scientists will be one of the fastest-growing—and highest-paying—occupations in the coming years. There are nearly half a million open jobs in data analytics, paying a median entry-level salary of $92,000, according to Google.
To help fill that demand, at least eight local colleges are participating in a regional joint venture to invest in artificial intelligence and data analytics programming through the Bay Area Community College Consortium. Additional colleges, such as Skyline College in San Bruno, signed up to receive curriculum updates to help create their own.
This helps bring lucrative work opportunities to community college students, who tend to be older than four-year university students and from lower-income backgrounds.
