Morehouse College has partnered with Stats Perform and Student Freedom Initiative to pilot an "AI in Basketball" course that is also open to Clark Atlanta and Spelman students majoring in math, physics and engineering. According to Black Enterprise, the course will expose students to the fundamentals of artificial intelligence and will be taught by Stats Perform's chief scientist, Dr. Patrick Lucey who has a PhD in Electrical Engineering.

Stats Perform is a company that uses a AI to generate insights that improve the fan experience of sports across media and betting. They pride themselves on creating the “DNA” of sport through their novel AI tools that are based on 40 years of data collection.

Morehouse's partnership with Stats Perform will allow Atlanta University Center Consortium students who complete the AI in Basketball course to apply for internships at Stats Perform. 

Stats Perform is part of VISTA Equity Partners’ portfolio, which is a company owned by Founder, Chairman and CEO, Robert F. Smith. Smith is the generous benefactor who paid Morehouse College's class of 2019's student debt, making for a very special partnership.

The third partner, Student Freedom Initiative works to help mitigate student debt hardships and "increase social and economic mobility for students" attending HBCUs and other Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs). Executive Director Dr. Mark A. Brown explained "The promise of AI in sports is emerging; leveraging sports is a perfect pathway to expose our HBCU students to the foundational principles of AI and address the wealth gap by better positioning them for the in-demand jobs of the future."

The economic power of AI is developing at a fast pace. Forbes breaks down 24 of the top AI statistics and trends, which projects the creation of 97 million new jobs with an industry value of $407 billion.

Atlanta University Center Consortium students will be receiving cutting edge AI training to help boost their credentials during this current AI boom.

Love it when HBCUs are winning? Join The HBCU Career Center to get stories like this sent straight to your inbox weekly. Plus, get notified of free career resources and job opportunities.