AI from zero
Start here if AI feels like magic. You will teach a computer by example, watch it get less wrong, build a single artificial neuron, and see how a chatbot writes one word at a time. No math or code required.
- Level
- Novice
- Length
- 7 lessons, 1 hr 37 min
- Assumes
- Nothing. Curiosity is enough.
- 1What is AI, really?Most of today's AI is software that learns its behavior from examples instead of following rules a person wrote. Teach a computer by example and see what that means.12 min
- 2Turning things into numbersModels only see numbers. Learn how pictures and objects become numbers, and why choosing the right measurements decides what a model can learn.12 min
- 3Getting less wrongLearning starts with measuring how wrong you are. Fit a line by hand, score it with one number, then watch a computer improve it step by step.14 min
- 4The artificial neuronThe building block of every neural network is a tiny calculation. Set its weights by hand, see it draw a line through the data, then let it learn the weights itself.15 min
- 5Networks of neuronsOne neuron can only draw a straight line. Connect a few and they can carve out curves. Train a tiny neural network and watch it happen.15 min
- 6How a chatbot writesChatbots write one word at a time, each time choosing from a list of likely next words. Build the simplest version of that idea and write with it.15 min
- 7What AI gets wrongModels learn only from their data, and can be confidently wrong outside it. See a model fail far from its training data, and learn why fluent chatbots can state falsehoods.14 min
Labs in this track
- A tiny neural networkTrain a network with one hidden layer on curved data and watch several straight lines combine into a curved boundary.
- Confident, and wrongA model trained on one region of data is tested somewhere else. Its accuracy collapses while its confidence stays high.
- Fit a lineDrag a line through ice cream sales data, score it by its squared misses, then watch gradient descent find the best line.
- Next-word predictorA tiny language model trained on Aesop's fables. See its next-word probabilities, pick words yourself, and change the temperature.
- One neuronSet the weights and bias of a single artificial neuron, watch it draw a straight decision line, then let it learn from examples.
- Teach by exampleAdd labeled points and watch a k-nearest-neighbors model shade the whole plane with its guesses.
- Which measurements matterPlot sixty fruit using any two of four measurements and see which ones let a model tell apples from oranges.