Skiller Whale launches AI course for developers

Anna Wood is the Editor of Startups Magazine. She joined…

The company, which has just won Startup of the Year at the British Training Awards 2023, has developed the course in consultation with the country’s first ever prompt engineer. The curriculum will teach learners how to use generative AI assistants effectively, covering the strengths and pitfalls of LLMs, the ethical and legal frameworks that engineers need to consider, as well as how to write effective prompts.

“Working with AI can help engineers write better code faster but without expertise it can introduce ethical, legal and security risks,” Hywel Carver, Skiller Whale Co-Founder and CEO, said. “There’s a real need for the sector to coach developers to use these tools in the right way, so they can accelerate their productivity without introducing plausible nonsense. Our research has shown LLMs, such as ChatGPT, have already proven themselves untrustworthy. There are very real risks for organisations if this isn’t done right.”

AI was top of the agenda at London Tech Week, where thousands of delegates debated the potential for the UK to capitalise on the opportunities presented by such transformative technologies. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak urged the need for speed coupled with caution, adding that the UK would hold a global summit on AI safety this autumn, and promised £54 million of additional government funding for sector research.

But Rishi Sunak was also optimistic about the technology’s possibilities, saying in the future: “the idea that every job having AI as a co-pilot, making everyone’s job a little easier and a little more productive, replicated across an entire economy has the potential to be transformative … But we must – and we will – do it safely.”

Carver concluded: “Ensuring that teams are expertly coached will minimise risks and maximise the many opportunities that LLMs offer to virtually all sectors of business.”