It's great that the student has interest in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning concepts. But without opting for B.Tech course, pursuing AI and ML course makes the thing complex. But yes there is solution as well, there are multiple online certification courses, and their certificate is indeed valuable. You can go for Online Courses provided by Coursera, Udacity, IBM, Udemy, HP etc for the duration of six months to one year. So yes there remains the choice for him. Know more regarding the Artificial Intelligence Course,

https://www.careers360.com/courses/artificial-intelligence-course

Good luck!!