Apple Developer Academy gets new AI curriculum

Apple Developer Academy is gaining a new core curriculum to teach students about taking advantage of artificial intelligence, available across 18 academies in 6 countries.

The new curriculum was revealed by Apple on Tuesday. It will be available later in 2024 to students, mentors, and Apple Developer Academy alums across six countries — Brazil, Indonesia, Italy, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and the United States.

Topics included in the curriculum will include machine learning and artificial intelligence. According to Apple, it will provide guidance and instructions on how to create, train, and deploy ML models from the ground up across different Apple devices and platforms.

In addition to its latest AI-related courses, Apple aims to teach students useful skills such as coding, design, marketing, and professional skills. These skills will give students new ways of building applications that will ultimately benefit their respective local businesses and communities.

The courses within the updated curriculum will contain the fundamentals of technologies and frameworks related to artificial intelligence, such as Core ML. Students will be able to learn from the curriculum as well as through project-based assignments, which will include the assistance of hundreds of mentors and over 12,000 Apple Developer Academy alumni.

Apple also said that the new curriculum is in alignment with the company's core values of inclusivity, and that it encourages students to design in a way that creates a positive impact in the world.

"At Apple, we see coding as a universal language and believe in empowering developers, creators, and entrepreneurs across the world with tools and technologies that will allow them to create phenomenal experiences," said Susan Prescott, Apple's vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations. "With the introduction of curriculum dedicated to AI and other new technologies, we're excited to see what students will build to share with their communities and the world."

At the company's annual WWDC on June 10, Apple introduced a variety of new AI-related software features and APIs for developers to use. Xcode 16 will make app development significantly easier through performance upgrades and new features such as Swift Assist.

Swift Assist is a new code-writing feature for developers. Once it becomes available later in 2024, it will auto-complete users' code, allowing them to experiment with new ideas and frameworks for their apps and projects. Swift 6 also contains new features that will make code clearer and concurrent programming easier, according to Apple.

In the fall of 2024, Apple's new core curriculum will become available to thousands of students and alumni across the globe through 18 different Apple Developer Academies in six countries. The company's latest AI-focused curriculum is indicative of Apple's significant interest in artificial intelligence and its dedication to students.