Teaching AI and Machine Learning to People Who Aren't Engineers

From June 2022 to May 2023 I taught AI and machine learning frameworks to technology management students. Many of them were working managers, not engineers. They needed to make real decisions about AI without the math or coding background.

The challenge

Teach AI and ML in a way people could apply to business problems the following Monday, not just pass an exam on.

What I did

• Practical over theoretical. I built the course around applications and data-driven decision-making rather than the underlying math.
• Real examples. Students worked through real-world cases so the concepts had something to hold on to.
• Met people where they were. The class mixed very different technical levels, so I adapted explanations to the room.

What changed

Students left able to evaluate where AI and ML fit their own work, and to ask better questions of the engineers and vendors they work with.

What I took away

Explaining technical ideas to non-technical people is a skill of its own: start with the decision they need to make, and bring in only as much technology as that decision needs.