The online MSc People-Centred Artificial Intelligence from the University of SurreyThe online MSc People-Centred Artificial Intelligence from the University of SurreyThe online MSc People-Centred Artificial Intelligence from the University of Surrey
Become a responsible and future-focused AI expert
The University of Surrey’s online MSc People-Centred Artificial Intelligence stands apart as the sole course of its kind in the UK. Using a unique, cross-disciplinary approach, shaped by the pan-university Surrey Institute for People-Centred AI (PAI), the course places the human, ethical and social elements at the heart of AI innovation.
This online postgraduate taught course is designed to provide you with a comprehensive understanding of AI by incorporating a wide range of core topics, equipping you for roles in industry, research, development or public service. Experience a truly cross-disciplinary approach to AI that will equip you to use responsible and inclusive innovation to solve the grand challenges facing society.
24-month MSc
Complete this course in 24 months on a part-time schedule. This enables you to balance your personal and work obligations with your professional goals.
AI research legacy
The university pioneered Machine Perception in 1986 through the world-leading Centre for Vision, Speech and Signal Processing.
AI research legacy
Curriculum is informed by the Surrey Institute for People-Centred Artificial Intelligence and is designed to augment human capabilities for the benefit of society.
Online MSc People-Centred Artificial Intelligence admissions
The University of Surrey seeks applicants who are interested in channelling tech expertise to leverage innovation for the betterment of people and society. While not a hard requirement, it’s strongly recommended that prospective students have an undergraduate degree in engineering, physical, mathematical or computer science, as there is a significant amount of programming in the course.
Admissions highlights
- Three start dates per year: September, February, June
- Bachelors degree required
- No GMAT/GRE scores required
Next application deadline
The final deadline for September 2024 cohort is 7 August 2024.
Experience a unique cross-disciplinary curriculum
The MSc People-Centred Artificial Intelligence course has a strong focus on technical expertise, and weaves social, ethical and regulatory understanding into a curriculum designed to build future leaders of AI innovation. Under the guidance of industry pioneers, you’ll learn fundamental AI concepts and master universal machine learning tools essential for any AI job role, as well as specific practical and research skills in key AI topics and applications.
The curriculum is delivered through a combination of asynchronous teaching and learning activities and regular live sessions. It culminates in a project that provides an opportunity to explore, in depth, a social or technical area of AI. The MSc consists of 180 credits and is divided into 11 fully autonomous credit-bearing modules, delivered through a ‘carousel’ approach across six terms. All modules are worth 15 credits, except the final project, which is worth 30 credits.
Strong technical foundation in AI and ML
Specialised knowledge in emerging fields
Insight into social, ethical and legislative impact
Course descriptions
The MSc People-Centred Artificial Intelligence covers the following modules:
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Discover the key ethical and regulatory issues associated with artificial intelligence, as well as to the methods of analysis of those issues used in ethics and in law.
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Explore the background and theory for building fundamental artificial systems that can process a variety of data and analyse their semantic information of interest.
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Investigate the current and future challenges of the technologies and consider the impact it will have on industry and wider society.
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Gain an application-focused tour of Computer Vision from the low-level (image processing), through to high level model fitting and object recognition.
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Place people – as opposed to technology – in the centre of AI, highlighting core considerations in planning for AI applications as a response to issues and considerations in society.
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Gain an application-focused tour of machine learning for real-world healthcare research and application, from understanding various healthcare components and ethical concerns to pre-processing and analysing healthcare data for classification, survival and risk analysis, and early prediction tasks.
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Examine the theory and related applications of advanced deep/machine learning topics and gain an overview of their applications to other fields, such as natural language processing, medical imaging, health, audio and fintech.
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Understand the major legal and regulatory issues associated with the development and use of artificial intelligence and other technologies across various sectors, such as financial, healthcare, transportation and military sectors.
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Explore the intersection of AI and Sustainability, covering time series processing, trustworthy AI, efficient models and data techniques, physics-informed neural networks, before moving on to advanced topics like foundation and diffusion models applied to sustainability challenges.
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Learn a variety of methods and skills essential for conducting research in people-centred AI, covering planning, literature review, methodology, ethics and innovative outputs, culminating with a focus on research designs that are systematic and will inspire new research ideas.
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Demonstrate transferable skills such as planning, time management, problem solving and reporting while conducting research, designing and implementing a project pertaining to AI technology or its applications to a particular domain. The project can be either technical, focusing on the development of core AI technology or be concerned with the application of AI in a particular domain, examining its implications and benefits for people and society.
Shape the future of AI for people and society
Develop the skills and knowledge to use AI for positive change — and to inspire innovation rather than suspicion.
The online learning experience
A complex world calls for flexible learning designed for your needs. In the online MSc People-Centred Artificial Intelligence course, you’ll find an intuitive platform, comprehensive support and top-notch education designed for real people with real lives.
- Attend regular teaching sessions, held on Zoom, that allow for rich discussion and debate with peers and faculty.
- Complete interactive assignments, using a customisable platform that follows best practices for online learning.
- Access full-spectrum career services, including interview prep, one-on-one coaching, self-assessments and salary resources.
- Connect with a student success advisor, who will serve as your dedicated partner throughout the course.
Learn from leading academics and industry pioneers
As a student in the Artificial Intelligence MSc course, you will learn from University of Surrey faculty who are experienced, active practitioners and top researchers in translating computer science research into commercial application. They bring their real-world experiences and case studies to the online classroom.
Prepare for a wide spectrum of career opportunities provided by AI
The online MSc People-Centred Artificial Intelligence course prepares you for a broad range of career paths beyond tech-facing roles. While this may include joining one of the big tech companies, you could also carve your own path via the entrepreneurial route or by pursuing further research.
The social approach of this course can help those looking to channel their tech expertise to leverage innovation for the betterment of people and society. You could do this as a regulatory agent or policy maker, and shape the laws that control AI implementation both in the UK and around the world.
You could also leverage the cross-disciplinary research to use AI to solve challenges in industries such as finance, healthcare, manufacturing or entertainment. With the rapid growth of AI changing the way we live, work, learn and play, your career opportunities are limitless.
Our MSc helps you prepare for roles such as:
- AI scientist at a global technology company
- AI analyst in finance or other jobs requiring a systematic understanding of AI
- Entrepreneurial roles (in business start-ups focused on AI technology, for example)
- Industry-sponsored PhD studentship at the cutting edge of AI research
Leverage responsible AI to solve the grand challenges facing society
Place humans at the heart of innovation and implementation, and help augment human capabilities to deliver an inclusive and responsible force for good.
- Computer Science Rankings: Computer Vision. (2023–2024). Computer Science Rankings. Retrieved March 2024. ↩︎
- Computer Science Rankings: AI. (2023–2024). Computer Science Rankings. Retrieved March 2024. ↩︎