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Postgraduate Study in Artificial Intelligence

    Why study Artificial Intelligence?

    There is currently a very large demand in industry for people with advanced AI skills.

    AI is currently having a large impact on many human endeavours mostly through deep learning approaches in science, business, the law, medicine, and government.

    Background

    Some prior exposure to programming would be beneficial.

    Artificial Intelligence is a major subject of the Master of Applied Science (MAppSc), a postgraduate qualification. It is open to graduates from any discipline.

    Teaching style

    Teaching is via a combination of lectures, seminars, readings, tutorials and independent research. Learning will involve understanding of theoretical ideas but with a particular emphasis on the application of those ideas to real world problems.

    The programme is taught by internationally recognised scholars with a focus on: programming for AI; machine learning and deep learning; computer vision and human language applications; and ethics of AI. Optional topics include agent based software; business intelligence; and information retrieval.

    Choose a study option

    Whether you are advancing your career with our specialised graduate qualifications or pursuing in-depth research and expertise through our postgraduate programmes, Otago is here to support your aspirations.

    Postgraduate qualifications

    Honours, Master’s, PhDs, and other advanced degrees for graduates. Just one additional year of study will earn you a valuable postgraduate degree. Or perhaps you want the depth of a full year of research-only time during a Master’s or to step up to a PhD.

    Graduate Qualifications

    Our graduate qualifications are crafted to transition students from foundational studies to advanced, specialised knowledge.

    Ready to apply?

    Take your expertise to the next level with advanced study.

    Programme details

    Compare programmes for this subject.

    2025

    Papers

    Students without a background in computing will begin their programme of study in the second semester and will complete:

    Students with a background in computing will begin their programme of study in either the first or second semester and will complete:

    Note: This programme requires three semesters of study

    2026 onwards

    Papers

    Students without a background in computing will begin their programme of study in the second semester and will complete:

    • AIML 401 Programming for Artificial Intelligence
    • AIML 402 Advanced Artificial Intelligence
    • COMP 421 Machine Learning and Data Mining
    • COMP 422 Applied Artificial Intelligence
    • COMP 423 Deep Learning
    • DHUM 403 When Machines Decide
    • One  of:
      • COMP 424 Information Retrieval and Natural Language Processing
      • COMP 425 Advanced Visual Computing
      • COMP 427 Agent-based Software Technologies
    • One of:

    Students with a background in computing will begin their programme of study in either the first or second semester and will complete:

    • AIML 402 Advanced Artificial Intelligence
    • COMP 421 Machine Learning and Data Mining
    • COMP 422 Applied Artificial Intelligence
    • COMP 423 Deep Learning
    • DHUM 403 When Machines Decide
    • Two of:
      • COMP 424 Information Retrieval and Natural Language Processing
      • COMP 425 Advanced Visual Computing
      • COMP 427 Agent-based Software Technologies
    • One of:

    Note: This programme requires three semesters of study

    Papers

    View a list of all related papers below.

    ARFI papers

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    Contacts

    Professor Brendan McCane
    Department of Computer Science
    Tel +64 3 479 8588
    Email brendan.mccane@otago.ac.nz


    This information must be read subject to the statement on our Copyright & Disclaimer page.

    Regulations on this page are taken from the 2025 Calendar and supplementary material.

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