Abstract

Introduction. The problematic of artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the central issues for modern scientific and business communities. Despite the relevance and particular demand for AI professions, there is currently an acute need in the labor market for both highly qualified and young specialists in this area. According to analysts, the shortage is due to shortcomings in the system for training AI specialists. The reasons that determined the crisis of educational programs in the field of IT are considered. The main emphasis is focused on the new approaches of gaining knowledge in the training of IT specialists, appropriate to the specifics of the new realities.Methodology and sources. The methodology of comparative analysis, interdisciplinary and philosophical approaches to the consideration of AI as an information and communication phenomenon of the new reality is used. Sources are based on the special literature of foreign (K. Schwab, N. Davis, P. Dougherty, J. Wilson and etc.) and Russian (E.M. Proydakov, V.B. Tarasov, P.M. Gotovtsev and others) authors, scientific researches (collective research of Russian scientists “Strong Artificial Intelligence”, 2021; and others), publications and websites devoted to the problems of AI, including the educational sphere (O.E. Baksansky, U. Pakhomov, etc.; www.trends.rbc.ru/trends/education and others).Results and discussion. Main tendencies of artificial intelligence development are determined. AI is opening out both as a special field of scientific knowledge and as a huge AI-industry. The specifics of educational track in training young AI specialists are revealed; the question of the necessity of developing new educational model, implementing the needs of digital economy in terms of training highly qualified personnel in the field of IT is raised.Conclusion. In the present conditions, when the volume of information is constantly increasing and the practice of AI development is ahead of the theory, the training of AI specialists has still a narrow profile. In this connection, we consider the latest modification of STEM education – i-STEAM, which, like STEM, is aimed at ensuring end-to-end interaction between applied tasks, fundamental research and educational system, but, unlike STEM, includes humanitarian and innovative components, which is especially relevant for training young AI specialists. However, as applied to the AI direction, the humanitarian component must be necessarily supplemented by the subject field of digital humanistic with the main emphasis on digital applied ethics as a prerequisite for progressive development of AI. It is focused that this approach of the training of AI profile meets the requirements of the human-centered digital era.