How MIT xPRO Keeps AI Courses Timely and Relevant
For professionals considering an online course in artificial intelligence, the rapid pace of change can be a deterrent. In a field where new tools emerge weekly, it’s reasonable to wonder: Will what I learn today still be useful tomorrow?
It’s an important question—one the team at MIT xPRO takes seriously. The short answer is this:
The courses in MIT xPRO’s AI portfolio are about more than learning the latest AI tools. They help you develop the strategic skills necessary to incorporate AI into your work, even as it continues to evolve.
If you want the long answer, keep reading.
Teaching Foundational Knowledge and Timeless Principles
MIT xPRO’s online AI courses include plenty of evergreen content that will remain valuable for the foreseeable future.
Jessica Cervi, an AI expert and learning facilitator who helped develop Deploying AI for Strategic Impact, explains that the team structured the course around long-standing principles. “The goal was to build a foundational course that we can adapt as the landscape of AI changes,” she says.
The course teaches learners how to think strategically about model selection, data readiness, risk mitigation, infrastructure needs, and more. Instructors introduce real-world case studies that explore what’s possible when AI models are incorporated in the workforce. Learners do have the opportunity to experiment with specific tools during the course, though Cervi ensured that the tools selected are robust and well-tested, prioritizing usefulness over novelty.
Participants will find that MIT xPRO faculty are fully transparent about how rapidly the field of AI is changing. Some even leverage it as a teaching opportunity.
“I actually have a slide warning students about this challenge,” says Dr. Una-May O’Reilly, one of the 15 MIT faculty members who teaches Deploying AI for Strategic Impact. “You have to ask yourself, ‘how are you going to cope with so many things changing so quickly?’” She says she steers clear of information that could change within months, such as pricing tiers and product specifications.
The courses in the AI portfolio also address broader societal and ethical questions surrounding AI. Learners are encouraged to think beyond functionality: How might AI be misused? What does ethical deployment look like in healthcare or public services? How can individuals maintain digital literacy and discernment in an era of increasingly persuasive machine-generated content? These kinds of questions will remain relevant even as specific tools and technology evolve.
Updating Course Content to Keep Pace with AI Innovation
Even with such a strong emphasis on evergreen content, ongoing updates to the AI curriculum are inevitable. The courses are built using a modular structure, allowing the MIT xPRO team to easily adjust the content as AI evolves.
“We need to track and update some of the information as time goes along, and we are prepared for that,” says Luke Hobson, Assistant Director of Instructional Design at MIT xPRO. MIT faculty and instructional designers work closely together to identify new trends, vet emerging tools, and refine AI content on an ongoing basis.
For instance, when OpenAI released a new voice interaction feature for ChatGPT just two weeks before MIT xPRO was scheduled to finalize materials for a then-new generative AI course, Hobson and his team had to respond quickly. They updated the module at the last minute to reflect how voice interaction would affect learners' engagement with the technology.
AI Literacy Is Becoming a Professional Imperative
With 92% of companies planning to increase AI investments, professionals across all industries and roles will be expected to engage with AI. From IT and business administration to education and healthcare, AI is reshaping workflows, expectations, and competitive dynamics. Even basic proficiency with AI tools can influence hiring decisions and advancement opportunities.
MIT xPRO’s AI courses are designed to keep pace with this fast-moving field, providing professionals with the skills and confidence to navigate it today and well into the future.'
Curious about which AI course is right for you? Browse our catalog here.