“I took this AI course purely out of curiosity to learn more, but it turned out that I would rather learn it by myself.” Ms. Li Hong, who is very interested in AI, shared her purchase of AI with reporters from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily. The experience of "stepping on thunder" in the course.
This is not an isolated case. Many interviewees recently told reporters that after purchasing an AI training course for about 200 yuan, they found that most of the knowledge and skills involved in the course could be learned on free online platforms. “I felt like I was being cheated. The tuition fees paid are also non-refundable."
For some time, with the rapid iteration of models such as ChatGPT and Stable Diffusion, as well as the recent announcement of Sora video generation technology, generative artificial intelligence (AIGC) has gradually become the focus of widespread public attention. These models are optimized to be easy to use, with interactions in the form of chat boxes, prompts, and generation options, but there is still a certain threshold for users to become proficient in these new tools. Different courses for training in the use of AI have subsequently appeared on major platforms.
However, some consumers have found that the quality of these courses varies, and some of them use the slogan of "getting ahead of others" and "monetizing side jobs" by paying for courses, but the actual teaching content and experience do not match. Some people feel that they have been "fooled" after purchasing the course. AI training courses are booming. Is it payment for knowledge, selling anxiety, or a "leek harvest"?
AI training market fire reflects technology anxiety
Open various social platforms and search engines, enter AI-related keywords, and you will find a large number of AI usage tutorials, and you can also see that many institutions provide paid training services. Tianyancha data shows that there are currently about 94,000 companies in my country providing "artificial intelligence training" services. The courses provided by these service providers vary in format, including online live classes and offline centralized training camps, with prices ranging from two to three hundred yuan to several thousand yuan. The content of the courses focuses on helping students master various AI usage skills, including text , image generation and audio and video processing, etc.
Take the paid AI drawing course provided by a website as an example. It lists course information for more than 300 lessons. Each lesson lasts an average of 7-10 minutes. The teaching content includes the core introduction of multiple AI drawing models, the use of different models. Differences, zero-based introduction and detailed operation cases of each model, etc. After each class, some practical assignments will be assigned for students to practice in person.
Such a zero-based "nanny-style" course is priced at 399 yuan, and the website shows that nearly 1,000 people have taken it.
Through a social platform, the reporter contacted an organization that provides AI training courses. According to the staff of this organization, the organization provides three days and two nights of offline training courses for 2,980 yuan. The course content includes basic knowledge of AI, explanations of various AI platforms, and practical practice of text, drawing, audio and video, etc. The staff member specifically emphasized that instructors will be on-site to guide the entire course during the course, "improving students' AI application skills in a shorter time."
"(After learning) one person can produce in a few minutes the amount of work produced by a four-person team in a week." The staff member also mentioned that after mastering AI through offline courses, he can "significantly improve work efficiency". Even, "AI can quickly batch generate short video scripts, public account articles and other types of copywriting, and there are also some tasks that require creativity, such as poster design, etc., which are also AI's strengths."
This staff member told reporters from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily that since the end of 2023, the course has been held four times in Hangzhou and Beijing, with a total of more than 100 students participating.
"The popularity of AI training courses reflects to a certain extent people's anxiety about being abandoned by technology and the times." Shen Yang, professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Journalism and Communication at Tsinghua University, explained that when people face emerging things, if they If you don’t understand, if you don’t keep up with the mainstream, you will have a FOMO (fear of missing out) mentality, which is a very normal social phenomenon.
He also encouraged people to get in touch with and learn more about AI. "Take myself as an example. As long as an idea sparks in my mind, I will let AI help me improve it and form a more systematic cognition." Shenyang said, "In the past, industrialization mainly focused on the industrialization of visible physical products. , and the emergence of AI technology is to industrialize the innovative thinking in our minds."
Zhang Yunquan, a researcher at the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, added that actively learning emerging technologies such as AI does not encourage spending money to sign up for classes. Especially in the face of the current mixed situation in the AI training market, you must keep your eyes open and be careful.
AI courses vary in quality, so be careful when paying for courses.
When you open an AI training course on a certain platform, the first thing you see is a series of eye-catching slogans: "Technical experts will help you achieve rapid success", "One person can build a company", "Everyone must learn in the AI era"... But this kind of Behind the eye-catching slogans, the quality of the courses varies. Some people even bluntly said that they felt "cut off" after purchasing the courses.
Li Hong once experienced a domestic AI model and found it very interesting. She wanted to learn more about how to effectively use this "chat-style AI". By chance, she saw an anchor on a live broadcast platform enthusiastically promoting his own AI course. Out of strong curiosity, she bought this online AI course for 199 yuan and thought, "That's not it." What a big money, buy it and learn to play.”
However, after taking a few classes, Li Hong discovered something "wrong". "The entire course only covers some very introductory basic content, which I can master by self-study. The lecturer has been inducing us to buy another advanced course that costs close to 2,000 yuan," she said.
Li Hong told reporters that although she didn't care much about the money she spent to buy courses, she still felt dissatisfied with this "marketing" routine. After that, she contacted the merchant's customer service to request a refund, but she didn't get a reply for a long time, so she had no choice but to let it go.
“But this also gave me a memory, and I will have to carefully screen these courses in the future,” she said.
Some AI training institutions claim that they will provide contract-taking and order-taking services after students "graduate". Lei Fan, who just graduated, encountered this situation.
He told reporters from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily that he contacted an AI drawing training institution and learned mainstream AI drawing models such as Stable Diffusion in the form of online live classes. The price is close to 2,000 yuan. This AI drawing training institution said that if you can pass the "assessment" after the study, you can retain the account permissions of the AI platform for a long time, and after signing the contract, you can enjoy the order resources of the studio and "take orders to make money". You can even earn four to five thousand yuan a month."
"Although I thought it was very attractive to learn AI drawing and make money by taking orders, when I calmed down, I still couldn't bear to spend the money." Lei Fan recalled his experience of communicating with the staff of this AI drawing training course, "They They repeatedly persuaded me and told me, 'Opportunities are rare, learning takes a lifetime, and you can quickly earn back the registration fee by taking orders by yourself.'" The staff also provided him with a series of "benefits", such as "no assessment and direct payment." "Signing contracts" and "It's been a period of intensive orders recently", etc. However, after repeated persuasion from his family, Lei Fan gave up the idea of buying courses.
There are also some young students who believe that some AI training courses can really help with their studies and work. The popularity of AIGC technology has also inspired many people's curiosity and motivation to learn and use AI. The emergence of various training courses has further lowered the threshold for the public to access AIGC technology.
Shenyang believes that AI technology shows the characteristics of a rapidly changing stage. "It basically takes four months to upgrade to one generation, and the early release of Sora's large model shocked all of us, which also accelerated the pace of future changes." He said that the current AI technology is accelerating its integration with various industries and fields, and a "larger industrial ecosystem" will emerge in the future.
As for the hot AI training courses on the market, Shenyang believes that strict implementation of existing laws is enough to curb irregular operations by some institutions, such as whether they violate advertising laws and whether they over-exaggerate course content and effects, etc.
Zhang Yunquan also reminded people to observe carefully, "Specifically at the level of AI courses, we still lack some standards and norms to certify teaching content." He also mentioned that AI is still in the early and rapid development stage, and some training content may be relatively "superficial" and does not encourage people to rush in. "You can pay attention to the cutting-edge industry news, collect some AI-related materials to form a basic understanding, and then Decide whether you really need to study systematically, and don’t spend a lot of money to sign up for classes just because of panic and anxiety.”
New technology is booming, how to get on board?
"The various forms of AIGC training courses reflect people's hope to use large AI models to meet various needs in their lives and work." Shenyang told reporters from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily that the current AI technology is in some "concerns about content" "Industries with a certain degree of fault tolerance" are already widely used, including art, copywriting, translation, programming and other fields.
"The rational use of AI can significantly improve productivity. Our own team has achieved a 40%-50% productivity increase by using AI to assist copywriting and programming work," Shen Yang said.
Zhang Yunquan also believes that AI technology can help people eliminate some "tedious and repetitive things" and focus more on creativity and design. "Take painting as an example. In the past, it often took us a long time to paint a work, but now with the help of AI, we can generate many alternatives of different styles in a short time, and then make repeated improvements to improve the quality."
New technologies are booming. How can young people get on board? Pan Jiaofeng, president of the Institute of Science and Technology Strategy Consulting of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told reporters from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily that people are currently in the digital era of major changes. Young people need to develop a digital thinking and observe and observe from a digital perspective. Analyze things and understand the importance and value of data.
In his view, in the digital society and artificial intelligence society, mastering basic knowledge and basic skills is equally indispensable. “These skills include basic computer operations, word processing, image processing, etc.”
However, if you want to learn how to use AI, you should not be too hasty.
Zhang Yunquan told reporters that the current rapidly developing AI technology will indeed have an impact on some industry tracks. "But as a production tool, AI will not replace many jobs - there will always be more new knowledge and new skills that people and AI need to learn." Zhang Yunquan believes that the AI technology demonstrations currently announced tend to " "Carefully selected and designed parts" are presented, "but in our actual operation, it is very complicated to achieve such an effect."
Shenyang suggested that for beginners who want to learn AI usage skills, they can first familiarize themselves with free courses on the Internet. “It would be great if you can learn all the free courses.” He believes that it is sometimes not important to master a skill superficially, but it may be more important to master the learning method of the skill.
In Pan Jiaofeng's words, young people still need to develop "the ability to learn and adapt quickly" so that they can quickly master these constantly updated tools and better adapt to future society and work life.
(At the request of the interviewees, Li Hong and Lei Fan are pseudonyms)
China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily trainee reporter Wang Jingxuan Li Ruixuan reporter Zhang Miao Source: China Youth Daily