Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

The Certificate of Achievement in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning offers a direct and affordable pathway into one of today's fastest-growing career fields. The program is designed for anyone — from students starting their first career to professionals looking to upgrade their skills — who wants to gain a practical foothold in the world of AI.

The curriculum is built around hands-on learning rather than theory alone. Students begin with the fundamentals of probability and statistics for computing before moving on to building and training real-world machine learning models. The program then progresses to core artificial intelligence methods and the deep learning techniques that power modern AI applications, all while emphasizing the ethical responsibilities required of a contemporary technology professional.

This certificate is designed to make students job-ready. It provides graduates with a validated credential that signals technical proficiency and practical experience to employers throughout the Bay Area and beyond. Whether students are aiming for an entry-level AI role or seeking to apply AI skills in their current field, this program is a powerful first step toward career success. Coursework also stacks directly into the Associate of Science in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, supporting continued progress toward a degree and transfer.

Projected annual enrollment and completers: 30 students

College of San Mateo's proposed Certificate of Achievement in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) is a focused, 16-unit Career Technical Education (CTE) credential designed to prepare students for entry-level technical roles in the rapidly growing AI economy. The certificate offers a direct, affordable, and stackable pathway for new students entering the field as well as for incumbent workers seeking to add AI competencies to their existing professional skill set.

Built around hands-on learning rather than theory alone, the certificate begins with the foundations of probability and statistics for computing and progresses through machine learning, core artificial intelligence methods, and deep learning. Throughout the sequence, students engage with the ethical and responsible-AI considerations required of modern technology professionals.

Program Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the certificate, students will be able to:

• Analyze a real-world problem to determine whether it can be effectively solved using an appropriate AI or machine learning model.
• Apply fundamental machine learning techniques to prepare data, train a predictive model, and evaluate its performance.
• Utilize foundational deep learning concepts and tools to build and train a neural network for a given task.
• Evaluate the ethical implications, potential biases, and societal impacts of deploying an AI system in a practical scenario.

The certificate requires 16 total units of required core coursework. There are no general education requirements for the certificate.

Labor Market Demand Summary

The Bay Region Center of Excellence (October 2025) identifies a substantial undersupply of workers for the Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning occupational cluster. Across the 12-county Bay Region, there are 5,938 annual openings compared to 241 annual community college awards (3-year average), yielding an estimated annual gap of 5,697 students. In the Mid-Peninsula subregion (San Francisco and San Mateo counties), there are 2,454 annual openings compared to 10 annual awards, yielding an estimated annual gap of 2,444 students. Median hourly wages are $62 in both the Bay Region and the Mid-Peninsula subregion.