{"id":94832,"topic":"ai","source":"Spectrum News","title":"Grant helps N.C. community college expand AI training programs - Spectrum News","url":"https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlotte/news/2026/10/02/forsyth-community-college-ai-program","url_hash":"9ed6092997c9e46a8c59e46af8cd347a7ce0b619","author":"","summary":"Grant helps N.C. community college expand AI training programs Spectrum News","content":"WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — This fall, dozens of North Carolina's community colleges started offering artificial intelligence certifications and courses for the first time.\nThis comes after a U.S. Census Bureau's Business Trends and Outlook Survey showed one in five businesses in the state are using AI.\nThis week Forsyth Technical Community College will receive nearly $1 million from the National Science Foundation to grow the school's new AI degree program.\nProgram leaders said this degree will give students the skills they need to operate AI, and get prepared to take that knowledge into jobs and the disciplines they are passionate about.\nAI professor Joey Bryant said the grant will also bring humanoid robots to campus.\n\"They're going to be able to program them, pull data from them and do analysis work, but be able to control them using artificial intelligence and machine learning, because as they're asking the questions in programming their responses, we're going to employ the machine learning of supervised learning so the students can actually get an experience creating those large language models that every artificial intelligence agent use,\" Bryant said.\nAdditionally, she said money from the grant to build employer-driven AI pathways will go toward upgrading equipment and developing an AI lab.\n\"We can do more deep dive into machine learning and neural networks and visual computing. And eventually the robotics coming in. Years two and three will be able to bring in the robotics work in a humanoid robot, as well as two robotic arms so we can continue the workforce dedication,\" Bryant said.\nHannah Willson is one of the nearly 80 students taking online courses in Forsyth Tech's AI certificate and degree program this fall.\nSoon they will be able to complete those classes in their new lab. Students across any discipline can also take specialized courses in the lab — something Willson said could benefit every student.\n\"The biggest benefit has been being able to immediately apply what I'm learning in the class into my work on the day to day. I'm learning about AI, machine learning, chat bots, and natural language processing in class and then get to work with them immediately, 30 minutes later,\" Willson said.\nCommunity colleges across the state are also training students to operate AI in the workforce. Bryant said Forsyth Tech led a consortium of community colleges that created 24 new AI courses that will be available across all of North Carolina's 58 community colleges.\n\"Those courses are based on working with vendors who have AI curriculum that we can use and offer, as well as certifications that are offered industry wide,\" Bryant said.\nThe grant funding of $916,000 will help Forsyth Tech expand and enhance its on-campus AI lab.\nProgram leaders said Forsyth Tech is also partnering with Central Piedmont Community College to develop an AI robotics degree that can cross industry lines.\nThey said soon students in any major could come in and learn how to program a humanoid robot and robotic arms.\nFollow us on Instagram at spectrumnews1nc for news and other happenings across North Carolina.","image_url":"https://s7d2.scene7.com/is/image/TWCNews/forsyth_community_college_ai_robots_nc","lang":"en","published_at":"2026-10-02T20:47:00+00:00","fetched_at":"2026-10-02T22:15:04+00:00","status":"read","starred":0,"extract_state":"ok","summary_auto":"— This fall, dozens of North Carolina's community colleges started offering artificial intelligence certifications and courses for the first time. 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And eventually the robotics coming in. Years two and three will be able to bring in the robotics work in a humanoid robot, as well as two robotic arms so we can continue the workforce dedication,\" Bryant said.\nHannah Willson is one of the nearly 80 students taking online courses in Forsyth Tech's AI certificate and degree program this fall.\nSoon they will be able to complete those classes in their new lab. Students across any discipline can also take specialized courses in the lab — something Willson said could benefit every student.\n\"The biggest benefit has been being able to immediately apply what I'm learning in the class into my work on the day to day. I'm learning about AI, machine learning, chat bots, and natural language processing in class and then get to work with them immediately, 30 minutes later,\" Willson said.\nCommunity colleges across the state are also training students to operate AI in the workforce. Bryant said Forsyth Tech led a consortium of community colleges that created 24 new AI courses that will be available across all of North Carolina's 58 community colleges.\n\"Those courses are based on working with vendors who have AI curriculum that we can use and offer, as well as certifications that are offered industry wide,\" Bryant said.\nThe grant funding of $916,000 will help Forsyth Tech expand and enhance its on-campus AI lab.\nProgram leaders said Forsyth Tech is also partnering with Central Piedmont Community College to develop an AI robotics degree that can cross industry lines.\nThey said soon students in any major could come in and learn how to program a humanoid robot and robotic arms.\nFollow us on Instagram at spectrumnews1nc for news and other happenings across North Carolina.","excerpt":"— This fall, dozens of North Carolina's community colleges started offering artificial intelligence certifications and courses for the first time. 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