However, do we currently have sufficient numbers of engineers engaging with AI? UCAS data (2018) records the total number of UK-domiciled undergraduate students accepted to study electrical, electronic, civil, and mechanical engineering at UK universities as 13,135, significantly fewer than the 15,430 UK-domiciled students accepted to study undergraduate computer science degrees.

It is imperative that we continue to train computer scientists but equally we also need engineers with an understanding of AI. The trend of student study choices towards computer science seems likely to continue over coming years, fostered by extensive media coverage of AI’s role in the economy, its identification with computer science and software, the significant investment in computing at schools without a matched focus on engineering, and the impact on every aspect of society.

In our ever more connected and automated world, next-generation AI hardware will need to be more powerful, more reliable and more cost efficient. This has the potential to transform engineering and I believe that the engineering curriculum in UK universities needs to immediately embrace AI, machine-learning and data science in a more coordinated way in teaching engineering design and practice.