====== Master of Science and Technology in Artificial Intelligence & advanced Visual Computing (MScT in AI-ViC) ======

** Ecole Polytechnique ** 

//In collaboration with Inria, Ensta, Telecom Paris-Tech.//

[[https://programmes.polytechnique.edu/en/master/all-msct-programs/artificial-intelligence-advanced-visual-computing-master|Link to the official page on the Ecole Polytechnique website. ]]
==== Motivation ====

In the intersection of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, **Artificial Intelligence (AI)** is a steadily growing field generating a wealth of impressive achievements. The goal of AI is to develop intelligent systems able to help with complex tasks. This requires knowledge and reasoning, and in recent years also includes learning from data. The field of AI is currently progressing at a rapid speed. This has led to growing societal impact and an ever-increasing academic and industrial interest, even more so with the emergence of generative AI. Due to the pervasive use of AI methods, improving their reliability and robustness as well as accounting for their ethical and legal aspects have become mandatory.  

Combined with **Visual Computing (ViC)** techniques, a part of Computer Science that studies the processing and simulation of visual information in all its forms (from text, graphs, sound, images and videos to 3D virtual worlds), Artificial Intelligence leads to strong societal impact applications, such as for instance:

  * Searching the mass of online audio-visual contents, to process, edit or re-arrange them, leading to the creation of new interactive educational or cultural media;
  * Controlling drones, autonomous vehicles so that they move according to the surrounding dynamic environment and to some pre-specified rules;
  * Synthesizing virtual 3D characters for gaming, online retailing, serious games and 3D feature films, with behaviors matching to some extent those of real humans;
  * Designing, fabricating and controlling soft robots dedicated to various difficult tasks, from personal assistance to micro-surgery;
  * Aiding in the interpretation of medical scans and enabling precision medicine by accelerating drug discovery.

==== Objectives ====

This Master Program (which opened in September 2018) strongly focuses on Artificial Intelligence, including machine and deep learning. It also puts strong emphasis on the complementary field of Visual Computing, including 3D computer graphics, virtual and augmented reality, multimodal interaction, computer vision, robotics, and 3D Fabrication, which either make use of, or lead to the development of novel AI methods. This curriculum in Artificial Intelligence and Visual Computing is therefore at the heart of digital sciences and of some of its most promising, recent applications.

Courses are given by professors from Ecole Polytechnique and partner institutes and companies.

All courses will be held in English. Both French and foreign students are welcome.


==== Curriculum Description  ==== 

The first week consists of refresher courses in mathematics (statistical analysis, introduction to Machine Learning) and Computer Science (C++ programming, basics of 3D modeling and algorithmic geometry), to complement the existing academic background of the students.

It will be followed by two training periods of 2.5 months, consisting of courses on the following topics **(detailed version [[https://msct.dix.polytechnique.fr/aivic/wiki/doku.php?id=curriculum|here]])** :

  * Deep Learning, Generative AI and Reinforcement learning
  * Geometric data analysis and deep learning on such data
  * AI in Computer Graphics, Virtual and Augmented Reality
  * AI on sequence data including text (LLMs)
  * Computer vision (images-based 3D reconstruction, recognition in images & videos)
  * Robotics from motion planning to the design of soft robots for medical applications

In complement, a weekly seminar will encourage discussions of ethical issues and novel applications, while transverse projects will give some practical, real-world experience to each student in one or several domains of interest.


The last part of the school year will consist of a five- to six-month research project, conducted either in a public or private research lab.

==== Student Applications ====

We are looking for very strong students with initial high-quality training in either Computer Science or Applied Mathematics.

Please take a look at the [[https://programmes.polytechnique.edu/en/master/admissions-msct/application-deadlines-procedure | official documentation]] for application process details. 


==== Industrial & Institutional Partnership / Cercle des partenaires ====

Our MScT is accompanied by an active group of industrial and institutional partners contributing both student grants and transverse projects, as well as student internships. Some in the past, some currently, these partners include Inria, Google, Enedis, Idemia, Helsing as well as, younger companies such as Anatoscope, Homiwoo, InitML and Wemap. 


==== Internships and PhD proposals ====


Students have the option to either find their own internship position or to choose one of the internship proposals that we have made available **[[https://msct.dix.polytechnique.fr/aivic/wiki/doku.php?id=internships|here]]** and are regularly updating. 


==== Contacts ====

The academic co-directors of the MScT are:
  * Marie Paule Cani, Computer Science (LIX / DIX), Ecole Polytechnique [[marie-paule.cani@polytechnique.edu]]
  * Johannes Lutzeyer, Computer Science (LIX / DIX), Ecole Polytechnique [[johannes.lutzeyer@polytechnique.edu]]
  * Erwan Le Pennec, Applied Mathematics (DMAP / DepMap), Ecole Polytechnique [[erwan.le-pennec@polytechnique.edu]]
  * Aymeric Dieuleveut, Applied Mathematics (DMAP / DepMap), Ecole Polytechnique [[aymeric.dieuleveut@polytechnique.edu]]

Please don't hesitate to contact us!