As artificial intelligence (AI) touches more and more areas of our daily lives, it is becoming useful to more and more career paths. Indeed, at least some background in this field is required for a growing number of jobs, and it can help give you a significant advantage over the competition in many others.

Naturally, AI and its subfields are in very high demand for popular computer science jobs. Data scientists rely on machine learning and deep learning skills in their daily work, applying various data mining techniques to both structured and unstructured big data in order to produce valuable insights for a wide variety of businesses. Skills in natural language processing (NLP) are needed to create useful chatbots for customer service as well as voice-activated assistants like Amazon’s Alexa. And advanced AI skills can put you on the cutting edge of computer programming, working on teams seeking to achieve ambitious goals like self-driving cars or autonomous robots.

A background in AI can help you in more and more jobs outside the realm of computer science, as well - it’s not much of an exaggeration to say that if a job requires human intelligence to do, artificial intelligence can help.

For example, a familiarity with machine learning can help business analysts understand and use sophisticated tools for predicting movements in the market - or develop these tools themselves. Doctors and other healthcare professionals are leveraging AI to assist with diagnosing illnesses, prescribing treatments, and analyzing medical data. Even creative professionals in visual arts and music can take advantage of AI tools to help them generate images and melodies.

Coursera offers online courses in an incredibly wide range of computer science topics, and artificial intelligence is no exception. If you’re a computer science student interested in this fast-growing field, online courses can give you an introduction to AI and machine learning, or help you hone your Python skills for data science. More advanced learners can dive deep, with courses and Specializations in AI engineering and deep learning. Even non-computer scientists can benefit from courses geared towards their field, such as the use of machine learning for trading and other business professionals.

Whatever your level of expertise and area of interest, online courses let you learn remotely on a flexible schedule and, typically, a lower cost than on-campus alternatives. And thanks to Coursera’s partnerships with top-ranked schools like Stanford University and Imperial College London, as well as industry leaders like IBM and Google Cloud, students can get all the advantages of online learning while still getting a high-quality education in this exciting field.