This interactive course will provide IFT members with a deep understanding of artificial intelligence through hands-on exercises, industry use cases, and insights from AI thought leaders. Partnered with Sidecar, this virtual short course will equip members with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to harness the power of AI within their own organizations and roles. In order to provide the most immersive and hands-on experience during the AI virutal short course, Sidecar will set up a dedicated instance of Betty, a personalized IFT AI assistant, tailored to IFT's content. This will offer a real-world experience of AI applications, allowing members to see the immediate value of integrating such technology into their daily routines.

Participants will learn:

·      Artificial intelligence (AI) fundamentals and how advanced applications like ChatGPT work.

·      Hands-on prompt engineering to apply generative AI models.

·      Cutting-edge AI tools and real-world use cases tailored for IFT's industry.

·      Best practices for using AI ethically and safely.

Agenda:

Day 1: AI Fundamentals, History, How Models Work

·      Intro: Why is AI so important now?

·      Background: A brief history of Generative AI, including listing (defining) what current freely available popular Large Language Models (LLM) exist today.

·      Understanding AI: Demystifying what AI is and what it isn't through examples, including what issues arise from Large Language Models (LLM).

·      Prompt Engineering - Basics: Introduction to Instruction, Role-based, and Few Short prompts.

Day 2: Hands-On Prompt Engineering

·      Intro to IP Protection - High level review of what to keep in mind and how to protect yourself and your content as we move into exercises.

·      Prompt Engineering - Advanced: Delving into the Chain of Thought, Think-Reason-Plan-Act, and Prompt Chaining.

·      Modifying Our Teaching and Learning Practice: Information literacy, algorithmic thinking, meaning of truth and argument.

·      A Universal Framework for Working with AI: Exploring Tree of Thoughts and a Simple Cognitive Architecture.

·      AI Adoption Strategies: Simple suggestions on how attendees can experiment with AI in their lives and work.

Day 3: Deeper Dive into Specific Tools and Food Technology Scenarios

·      IP Protection Round 2 - deeper, more specific review of how to interact with AI tools safely.

·      Exploring IFT's Knowledge Base with AI: Exploring Betty, a cutting-edge AI tool tailored to IFT's knowledge for personalized answers and content creation.

·      Purpose-Built Applications: A tour of AI use cases in food safety, product development, supply chain traceability, and other critical industry applications. IFT will collaborate with Sidecar on this item to define what applications will be covered.

·      Opportunities: Identifying opportunities to apply AI to streamline R&D, optimize operations, and enhance consumer experiences. IFT will collaborate with Sidecar on this item to define what applications will be covered.

Day 4: Continued Exploration of Food Technology Scenarios and Philosophical Discussions Around AI

·      Responsible AI: Discussing responsible development and deployment of ethical AI systems. Includes bias and transparency.

·      Risks & Regulations: Reviewing regulations, risks, and best practices for using AI ethically.

About the Instructors:

·      Dray McFarlane leverages his rich background as an enterprise solution architect for non-profits, infusing the bootcamp with a deep understanding of association business processes and the transformative power of AI.

·      Thomas Altman, an enthusiast in applied data modeling, aims to empower your team with advanced data science techniques. His guidance will help you turn underutilized data into valuable resources.

Substitution Policy:
If you registered for the virtual short course but are unable to attend, please contact Maya Salazar at [email protected] with the name and contact information of your replacement. Note that an additional fee may apply if the replacement’s membership status differs from yours.

Event Cancellation:
In the event of course cancellation, IFT is not responsible for attendee reimbursement of any other costs associated with this course beyond refunding the full registration fee.