MScT TRAI

Programme of the Master of Science and Technology (MScT) of École polytechnique

Official website

Artificial intelligence (AI) is at the core of modern information systems upon which we increasingly rely to solve complex tasks such as selecting job candidates, automating daily tasks, analyzing medical data, and controlling critical systems. This has led to growing societal impact and increasing academic and industrial interest, even more so with the emergence of generative AI. Due to its pervasive use, improving the reliability, safety, and robustness of AI systems as well as accounting for their ethical and legal aspects have become a necessity. Indeed, there is growing evidence that left untethered, AI leads to biased, prejudiced solutions prone to tampering, hallucinations, and unsafe behaviors. This shows how far we still are from being able to build trustworthy AI systems.

The TRAI master’s program prepares its graduates to face these growing challenges and become experts in this transformative field, with skills to advance both theory and application.

The goal of the TRAI program is to provide students with the theoretical and practical tools needed to build trust and reliability into AI systems. At its core lie the seven key requirements for Trustworthy AI established by the high-level expert group on AI of the European Comission:

1. human agency and oversight
2. technical robustness and safety
3. privacy and data governance
4. transparency
5. diversity, non-discrimination and fairness
6. environmental and societal well-being
7. accountability

To achieve these specifications, students will develop a solid mathematical foundation to understand the limitations of and develop guarantees for machine learning, deep learning, and generative models. They will also be brought to think about the role of these techniques in fighting biases and desinformation, both at the societal level and within companies. By means of projects and industrial case studies, students will acquire hands-on experience with state-of-the-art trustworthy AI methods, positioning them to innovate and lead the development and deployment of the next generation of AI technologies in critical applications.

Courses are taught by professors from École polytechnique, associated institutes, and industrial partners.

All courses are taught in English. Students from all nationalities are welcome.

The program begins with a week of refresher courses in mathematics (statistical analysis, machine learning) and computer science (programming, basics of algorithms) aimed to complement the student academic background. This is followed by two training periods of 2.5 months, consisting of general courses on topics such as

• Optimization and statistics for AI
• Deep learning, generative models, and reinforcement learning
• Large language models (LLMs)

as well as specific courses targeting trustworthiness and reliability requirements, such as

• Privacy, bias, and fairness for AI
• Security, robustness, and verification for AI
• Explainability, sustainability, and frugality

A weekly seminar is held to encourage discussions of ethical issues as well as entrepreneurship and innovation, while transverse projects provide practical, real-world experience to the students.

A more detailed description of the curriculum is available here.

Students also take part in two five- to six-month research projects or internships, conducted either in a public or private research lab.

Students are expected to have to have a strong background in mathematics and computer science, i.e., knowledge of linear algebra, basic optimization, and statistics as well as algorithms, data structures, and programming (Python and others). Candidates with Bachelor degrees that are not in Mathematics, Engineering, or Computer Science are also admissible as long as the required knowledge are covered in their degree programs.

Please refer to the official documentation for details on the application process.

The TRAI master’s program equips graduates with specialized skills that are particularly valuable for industries where reliability and transparency are crucial. Graduates can go on to take key roles in organizations dealing with critical applications and/or prioritizing ethical and interpretable AI, including energy, transport, healthcare, ecological transition, and finance. Graduates of the TRAI master’s program are prepared for careers as AI/ML engineers, data scientists, and AI research scientists, as well as strategic roles such as AI ethics specialist, system auditor, and solution architect.

The TRAI program includes two five- to six-months internships periods in their first (M1) and second (M2) year. Students are free to find their own positions or may choose to apply to one of the internship proposals collected here (regularly updated).

This program covers cutting-edge methodology in a relevant and timely domain of research. Pursuing a PhD after concluding this master’s is therefore perfectly possible, be it purely academic or in collaboration with the industry (e.g., by means of a program known in France as CIFRE). More information in French here.

The academic co-directors of the MScT are:

• Luiz Chamon, Applied Mathematics (CMAP / DepMAP), École polytechnique (website)
• Karim Lounici, Computer Science (LIX / DIX), École polytechnique (website)
• Jesse Read, Computer Science (LIX / DIX), École polytechnique (website)
• Sonia Vanier, Computer Science (LIX / DIX), École polytechnique (website)

Please don’t hesitate to contact us by email at (dir.msct.trai@polytechnique.fr)!