There are a lot of software bootcamps out there. But not a lot of them specialize in artificial intelligence.
Salwa Nur Muhammad saw that market opening as an opportunity. So last year, she started FourthBrain Inc., an online learning company specifically designed to train people to work with or develop artificial intelligence and machine learning systems.
Muhammad has a background in online education, but she had more personal reason for starting her Palo Alto company.
"There were people in my immediate family who were getting furloughed or laid off," she said. Meanwhile, "companies that were hiring in this space were still having trouble finding the right candidates."
FourthBrain's programs differ from those of other bootcamps not only in that they focus on artificial intelligence but also by providing students a grounding in both the theory and application of machine learning, Muhammad said. The company has been successful enough so far to have already completed four sessions of its programs and to begin enrolling students in its fifth, which start in coming weeks.
The startup offers two distinct sets of curricula. One trains people with backgrounds in programming and some experience working with artificial intelligence systems to be machine learning engineers. As part of that four-month-long coursework, students learn about machine learning algorithms, learn how to create models for detecting objects and analyzing patterns of behavior, and then complete their studies with a project where they build their own machine learning systems.
FourthBrain wants students who are prepared for its courses
FourthBrain's other program trains people with more limited programming experience to oversee the operations of machine learning systems. That three-month-long curriculum teaches students about how to deploy and monitor such systems.
The startup has strict prerequisites for its programs, including experience with the Python programming language.
- Company: FourthBrain Inc.
- Headquarters: Palo Alto
- CEO: Salwa Nur Muhammad
- Year founded: 2020
- Employees: 5
- Website: fourthbrain.ai
"The admissions process is not to keep people out, but to make sure that the people coming in, their goals are aligned with the goals of the program," Muhammad said. "We want them to ... be set up for success."
The company is following through on that promise. Graduates of its programs have have gone on to land machine learning jobs at companies including Amazon.com Inc., Headspace Inc., Keep Truckin Inc., Etsy Inc. and Nike Inc., according to Muhammad.
FourthBrain conducts all of its training over the internet. Students attend one live video session a week with instructors who hail from all over the country. Attendees get the rest of their instruction from pre-recorded videos they can watch at any time.
Going virtual turned out to be a good thing
The company originally planned to hold its live sessions in-person in San Francisco, on the Peninsula and in southern California. It had to abandon that plan and rely entirely on internet-based education thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic and the related shelter-in-place orders.
That setback actually turned out to be a good thing for the company, because it was able to attract students from all over the country, Muhammad said. About a third of its students are from the East Coast, a third from the South and Midwest and the other third from the West Coast, she said.
Going all-virtual "opened up a huge opportunity," she said.
FourthBrain, which has raised $1.6 million in two seed rounds both led by AI Fund, according to Muhammad, charges $6,000 for each of its programs. Part or all of that cost can be reimbursed by students' employers.
Muhammad herself doesn't have a background in artificial intelligence or machine learning. But she has extensive experience in online education, particular at startups offering technical training. Prior to starting FourthBrain, Muhammad had served as a vice president at online education company Udacity Inc. for four years and as a vice president at Trilogy Education Services Inc., an operator of coding bootcamps that was acquired by online degree company 2U Inc.
"You don't necessarily have to have an engineering background to get involved in (online education)," Muhammad said. "The content exists, but figuring out how to learn it and how to apply it is the job of an educator."
