Training Institute on Artificial Intelligence Planned For Foxconn in Mt. Pleasant

June 5, 2019 5p

(WGTD)---A new layer has been added to the Wisconsin Science and Technology Park—Foxconn’s manufacturing and research and development complex in Mt. Pleasant.

A top Foxconn official disclosed at a conference in Racine Wednesday that the company is planning on establishing a center devoted to training workers on matters relating to artificial intelligence as it pertains to the manufacturing workplace.

Jay Lee is a professor at the University of Cincinnati who also is Foxconn’s Senior Vice-Chairman of Industrial Internet.

Addressing a meeting of the Manufacturing Skill Standards Council at Gateway Technical College, Lee said the key to the future is having enough workers who are skilled in artificial intelligence concepts. But those workers, he said, are, at the moment, few and far between. "Today you can not find an IA Person," he said. "Even if you find them you cannot afford them. Even if you can afford them, you can not keep them because they get bored."

Lee said Foxconn’s A-I Institute will be located in Wisconsin. After Lee’s presentation, Gateway President Bryan Albrecht confirmed that the school will be located in Mt. Pleasant. He said Gateway and several others schools have been working to develop a curriculum that's designed for both students that are on a career path into the field and workers who are already employed. 

Foxconn is in the process of building a nearly million-square-foot fabrication plant for liquid crystal display screens.

The company did not make Lee available to reporters following Wednesday's speech.

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