6 ms·

Free online version of Stanford's Fall 2011 Intro to AI course

381 points by finin 15y ago

redthrowaway 15y ago
That is really cool. I've forwarded the link to a couple instructors in the CS dept at my school. It seems like a great chance for some of us in the frozen northern wastelands of Vancouver to see how we stack up against the best and brightest in the US.
AdamTReineke 15y ago
That's awesome. I wonder if I can convince my college to count it for credit.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
  - pilgrim689 15y ago
    director
drewda 15y ago
Looks like a good way to sell more copies of AIMA[1]. (Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan, with my own signed copy--but not necessarily enough of a fan to "upgrade" to the third edition.) [1] http://aima.cs.berkeley.edu/ http://aima.cs.berkeley.edu/
- ecounysis 15y ago
  Either that or there is a shortage of available AI engineers, so they are using this to identify and cull potentially good people that for one reason or another cannot or have not attended a Stanford caliber school.
  - makesmethink 15y ago
    Makes me think what would happen if someone excels in this course but is primarily from a college in third world country. Would they be tempted to call him/her to stanford? That would be very exciting if that happens.
- Stealth- 15y ago
  Is this book required to take the course online?
  - Stealth- 15y ago
    Ah, my bad. I totally see I needed to scroll down >.< In case anyone is wondering, the page says "Access to a copy of Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach is also suggested."
matmann2001 15y ago
I wish they had a version of a class like this that was meant to fit more easily into spare time. I'll be taking 18 hours at my own university, and I don't think I'll be able to set aside enough time to put a serious effort into this class.
- canistr 15y ago
  You should definitely have more than enough time if you are interested in it. I have about 35 hours worth of class including labs in the Fall and I still plan to find time for this course.
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]
sliverstorm 15y ago
This could be risky for Stanford. What happens when all the online students ace the class (demonstrating the curve was very easy), or get consistently better grades than the students enrolled at Stanford?
- esrauch 15y ago
  This is a possibility, but if it does happen, I don't think it would reflect anything other than very determined people took the class that very possibly could have officially enrolled if they applied.
- webspiderus 15y ago
  this is also a very introductory course. i think it's great for whetting the appetite for further research into particular areas, but it definitely glosses over a lot of the mathematical foundations that a course like CS 229 (mentioned elsewhere) thoroughly explores. as such, i'm not sure if there's much a top grade in this course would even signify beyond some amount of commitment and interest in artificial intelligence.
- SkyMarshal 15y ago
  Chalk it up to self-selection bias, then optionally recruit them. Not a problem.
  - fredoliveira 15y ago
    Or rather, a good problem to have.
  - BrentRitterbeck 15y ago
    Personally, I would love to be recruited by Stanford to study CS. I have a Master's of Science in Financial Engineering, but I have always felt that I probably should have picked up a more solid CS background on my way to that degree. Also, it would be nice to meet some people face-to-face that have an interest in launching a start-up in the risk management arena. There is simply no interest for anything like that in the Cleveland area. EDIT: I work in an interest rate risk management group for a major US bank. I can attest that there is definitely more room for good software in this space.
law 15y ago
This reminds me of CS229, of which there's an online version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzxYlbK2c7E http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzxYlbK2c7E It's considerable more focused in scope, presenting the mathematics behind some of the more popular algorithms extensively used in machine learning, which is a subset of artificial intelligence. The course starts off pretty slow, but quickly gains speed and momentum. By the end, you should be fairly comfortable with clustering and classification/regression, among other topics. The lecture notes are also fantastic.
- diminish 15y ago
  Yes this one is quite comprehensible too. Thanks for the link. Any other links you may suggest?
- ExxonValdeez 15y ago
  Stanford CS majors who take the AI track are required to take both CS 229 and this course, CS 221, so it definitely presents useful materials and concepts.
asknemo 15y ago
Could anyone explain to me why the HN community seems to have a particular interest in AI compared to other more "academic" areas? I have seen quite some amount of AI resources here, but at the same time for most startups discussed here they aren't particularly related to AI. Just curious.
- gojomo 15y ago
  One possible explanation is in the syllabus: AI has emerged as one of the most impactful disciplines in science and technology. Google, for example, is massively run on AI.
  - esrauch 15y ago
    Google is massively run on databases, but that topic isn't as popular in media (or on HN). I think a big part is that it is such a highly visible topic that is also very romanticized, partially because its a field where serious inroads have been made (at least compared to expectations and last generations science fiction)
    - sliverstorm 15y ago
      Databases are very "old world". Very much part of modern enterprise. Case in point, Oracle. As a result, it's not very exciting to people. I expect that when there is an Oracle of AI, it too will lose its lustre.
- mindcrime 15y ago
  I'm going to guess that you might be surprised at the number of startups that actually do rely on some aspect of AI, if you were to dig deep enough. Even if they're not "an AI startup" lots of companies these days are using some sort of machine learning, data mining, collaborative filtering, etc. stuff, which are aspects of AI. Look at any company that's using a recommender system of some sort... that stuff is one element of AI. Aside from that, I think it's just that hackers have always been fascinated with AI. And lot of what we know as "hacker culture" to this day, dates back to people and events that happened in the AI research group at MIT, decades ago[1]. [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_(programmer_subculture)#History http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_(programmer_subculture)#...
dzuc 15y ago
Could someone describe what sort of prerequisite knowledge is required for following along a course like this?
- dill_day 15y ago
  The syllabus says "A solid understanding of probability and linear algebra will be required." -- I imagine programming experience and knowledge of basic algorithms and data structures would be helpful as well.
turing 15y ago
Very cool. I'll be taking the intro AI course at my school this semester, so it will be fun to compare. Definitely excited to hear what Thrun and Norvig have to say. I met a colleague of Thrun's in Tokyo earlier this summer. By far the most interesting conversation of the entire trip.
webspiderus 15y ago
I took a version of this class (also taught by Norvig and Thrun) last year, and I definitely found it very enjoyable. I ended up taking it after CS 229 (which covers the mathematical underpinnings of machine learning with some rigor), so I unfortunately couldn't evaluate how good of an introductory course to AI it would be (having covered a lot of the concepts prior), but even still it was a class I enjoyed. Of particular interest was hearing the instructors draw parallels to their work (particularly with Google and the DARPA challenge), which made a lot of the theoretical concepts much more tangible and helped me recognize their practical applications. you can also see a prior version of the class here: http://www.stanford.edu/class/cs221/ http://www.stanford.edu/class/cs221/
- pilgrim689 15y ago
  How necessary did you find the textbook, AIMA?
  - webspiderus 15y ago
    Not very much - most of the lectures stood on their own as far as explaining the concepts, although the book was sometimes useful to consult with regard to the details of an algorithm, for example. Much of that information can be found elsewhere though, so I imagine that you could still get a lot out of this course without AIMA.
nchlswu 15y ago
I find this approach interesting compared something like OpenCourseware. If I understand correctly, this is a very similar approach, with a graded portion not typically offered at something like Khan or Open Courseware? I'm curious about any enrolment caps and what's next for this approach. EDIT: missing word.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
henry_flower 15y ago
The course has the requirement: "A solid understanding of probability and linear algebra will be required." Can anybody advise some books or online resources that one can use for 2 month to prepare himself for the course? Thanks.
- JeanPierre 15y ago
  Khan Academy has actually covered everything I've gone through in my statistics class and linear algebra classes, so I'll recommend that as I'm going two semesters with AIMA the upcoming year. http://www.khanacademy.org/#linear-algebra http://www.khanacademy.org/#linear-algebra http://www.khanacademy.org/#probability http://www.khanacademy.org/#probability http://www.khanacademy.org/#statistics http://www.khanacademy.org/#statistics
- soitgoes 15y ago
  These lectures on linear algebra by Prof. Gilbert Strang are an excellent resource: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mathematics/18-06-linear-algebra-spring-2010/ http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mathematics/18-06-linear-algebra-...
  - A-K 15y ago
    Absolutely some of the best lectures I've ever seen, on the internet or otherwise. Can't recommend Prof. Strang enough.
  - mechnik 15y ago
    Any recommendations for a probability course materials comparable in quality to Strang's?
- madhancr 15y ago
  can someone shortlist topics within linear algebra, probability and statistics that are more important for this AI call ? (Strang's class has 34 lectures and numerous topics in khan academy too)
jamesbrewer 15y ago
I decided to sign up for the course (I don't think I can officially sign up until later this Summer) but I'm not sure that I'll have the time or that I can afford the text. I'm also a Sophomore CS student, so the work would be very challenging for me.
hc 15y ago
it doesn't say anywhere that this class is free. i doubt that it is free.
jrubinovitz 15y ago
I'm considering trying to take this and get my university to give me credit for it (it's Stanford, from one of the guys that wrote the textbook and I am getting a grade). However, I'm thinking whatever this class costs may hold me back.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
scratch 15y ago
I may be straying a little off topic but it's worth noting that many of the mentioned course material and much more from a wide variety of subjects can be found at http://www.academicearth.org/ http://www.academicearth.org/. This place is filled with awesome. Maybe you know?
- blazenomad 15y ago
  Thanks for sharing. Very useful.

381 points by finin 15y ago

That is really cool. I've forwarded the link to a couple instructors in the CS dept at my school. It seems like a great chance for some of us in the frozen northern wastelands of Vancouver to see how we stack up against the best and brightest in the US.

AdamTReineke 15y ago

That's awesome. I wonder if I can convince my college to count it for credit.

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
- pilgrim689 15y ago
  director

drewda 15y ago

Looks like a good way to sell more copies of AIMA[1]. (Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan, with my own signed copy--but not necessarily enough of a fan to "upgrade" to the third edition.) [1] http://aima.cs.berkeley.edu/ http://aima.cs.berkeley.edu/

ecounysis 15y ago
Either that or there is a shortage of available AI engineers, so they are using this to identify and cull potentially good people that for one reason or another cannot or have not attended a Stanford caliber school.
- makesmethink 15y ago
  Makes me think what would happen if someone excels in this course but is primarily from a college in third world country. Would they be tempted to call him/her to stanford? That would be very exciting if that happens.
Stealth- 15y ago
Is this book required to take the course online?
- Stealth- 15y ago
  Ah, my bad. I totally see I needed to scroll down >.< In case anyone is wondering, the page says "Access to a copy of Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach is also suggested."

matmann2001 15y ago

I wish they had a version of a class like this that was meant to fit more easily into spare time. I'll be taking 18 hours at my own university, and I don't think I'll be able to set aside enough time to put a serious effort into this class.

canistr 15y ago
You should definitely have more than enough time if you are interested in it. I have about 35 hours worth of class including labs in the Fall and I still plan to find time for this course.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]

sliverstorm 15y ago

This could be risky for Stanford. What happens when all the online students ace the class (demonstrating the curve was very easy), or get consistently better grades than the students enrolled at Stanford?

esrauch 15y ago
This is a possibility, but if it does happen, I don't think it would reflect anything other than very determined people took the class that very possibly could have officially enrolled if they applied.
webspiderus 15y ago
this is also a very introductory course. i think it's great for whetting the appetite for further research into particular areas, but it definitely glosses over a lot of the mathematical foundations that a course like CS 229 (mentioned elsewhere) thoroughly explores. as such, i'm not sure if there's much a top grade in this course would even signify beyond some amount of commitment and interest in artificial intelligence.
SkyMarshal 15y ago
Chalk it up to self-selection bias, then optionally recruit them. Not a problem.
- fredoliveira 15y ago
  Or rather, a good problem to have.
- BrentRitterbeck 15y ago
  Personally, I would love to be recruited by Stanford to study CS. I have a Master's of Science in Financial Engineering, but I have always felt that I probably should have picked up a more solid CS background on my way to that degree. Also, it would be nice to meet some people face-to-face that have an interest in launching a start-up in the risk management arena. There is simply no interest for anything like that in the Cleveland area. EDIT: I work in an interest rate risk management group for a major US bank. I can attest that there is definitely more room for good software in this space.

law 15y ago

This reminds me of CS229, of which there's an online version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzxYlbK2c7E http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzxYlbK2c7E It's considerable more focused in scope, presenting the mathematics behind some of the more popular algorithms extensively used in machine learning, which is a subset of artificial intelligence. The course starts off pretty slow, but quickly gains speed and momentum. By the end, you should be fairly comfortable with clustering and classification/regression, among other topics. The lecture notes are also fantastic.

diminish 15y ago
Yes this one is quite comprehensible too. Thanks for the link. Any other links you may suggest?
ExxonValdeez 15y ago
Stanford CS majors who take the AI track are required to take both CS 229 and this course, CS 221, so it definitely presents useful materials and concepts.

asknemo 15y ago

Could anyone explain to me why the HN community seems to have a particular interest in AI compared to other more "academic" areas? I have seen quite some amount of AI resources here, but at the same time for most startups discussed here they aren't particularly related to AI. Just curious.

gojomo 15y ago
One possible explanation is in the syllabus: AI has emerged as one of the most impactful disciplines in science and technology. Google, for example, is massively run on AI.
- esrauch 15y ago
  Google is massively run on databases, but that topic isn't as popular in media (or on HN). I think a big part is that it is such a highly visible topic that is also very romanticized, partially because its a field where serious inroads have been made (at least compared to expectations and last generations science fiction)
  - sliverstorm 15y ago
    Databases are very "old world". Very much part of modern enterprise. Case in point, Oracle. As a result, it's not very exciting to people. I expect that when there is an Oracle of AI, it too will lose its lustre.
mindcrime 15y ago
I'm going to guess that you might be surprised at the number of startups that actually do rely on some aspect of AI, if you were to dig deep enough. Even if they're not "an AI startup" lots of companies these days are using some sort of machine learning, data mining, collaborative filtering, etc. stuff, which are aspects of AI. Look at any company that's using a recommender system of some sort... that stuff is one element of AI. Aside from that, I think it's just that hackers have always been fascinated with AI. And lot of what we know as "hacker culture" to this day, dates back to people and events that happened in the AI research group at MIT, decades ago[1]. [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_(programmer_subculture)#History http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_(programmer_subculture)#...

dzuc 15y ago

Could someone describe what sort of prerequisite knowledge is required for following along a course like this?

dill_day 15y ago
The syllabus says "A solid understanding of probability and linear algebra will be required." -- I imagine programming experience and knowledge of basic algorithms and data structures would be helpful as well.

turing 15y ago

Very cool. I'll be taking the intro AI course at my school this semester, so it will be fun to compare. Definitely excited to hear what Thrun and Norvig have to say. I met a colleague of Thrun's in Tokyo earlier this summer. By far the most interesting conversation of the entire trip.

webspiderus 15y ago

I took a version of this class (also taught by Norvig and Thrun) last year, and I definitely found it very enjoyable. I ended up taking it after CS 229 (which covers the mathematical underpinnings of machine learning with some rigor), so I unfortunately couldn't evaluate how good of an introductory course to AI it would be (having covered a lot of the concepts prior), but even still it was a class I enjoyed. Of particular interest was hearing the instructors draw parallels to their work (particularly with Google and the DARPA challenge), which made a lot of the theoretical concepts much more tangible and helped me recognize their practical applications. you can also see a prior version of the class here: http://www.stanford.edu/class/cs221/ http://www.stanford.edu/class/cs221/

pilgrim689 15y ago
How necessary did you find the textbook, AIMA?
- webspiderus 15y ago
  Not very much - most of the lectures stood on their own as far as explaining the concepts, although the book was sometimes useful to consult with regard to the details of an algorithm, for example. Much of that information can be found elsewhere though, so I imagine that you could still get a lot out of this course without AIMA.

nchlswu 15y ago

I find this approach interesting compared something like OpenCourseware. If I understand correctly, this is a very similar approach, with a graded portion not typically offered at something like Khan or Open Courseware? I'm curious about any enrolment caps and what's next for this approach. EDIT: missing word.

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]

henry_flower 15y ago

The course has the requirement: "A solid understanding of probability and linear algebra will be required." Can anybody advise some books or online resources that one can use for 2 month to prepare himself for the course? Thanks.

JeanPierre 15y ago
Khan Academy has actually covered everything I've gone through in my statistics class and linear algebra classes, so I'll recommend that as I'm going two semesters with AIMA the upcoming year. http://www.khanacademy.org/#linear-algebra http://www.khanacademy.org/#linear-algebra http://www.khanacademy.org/#probability http://www.khanacademy.org/#probability http://www.khanacademy.org/#statistics http://www.khanacademy.org/#statistics
soitgoes 15y ago
These lectures on linear algebra by Prof. Gilbert Strang are an excellent resource: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mathematics/18-06-linear-algebra-spring-2010/ http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mathematics/18-06-linear-algebra-...
- A-K 15y ago
  Absolutely some of the best lectures I've ever seen, on the internet or otherwise. Can't recommend Prof. Strang enough.
- mechnik 15y ago
  Any recommendations for a probability course materials comparable in quality to Strang's?
madhancr 15y ago
can someone shortlist topics within linear algebra, probability and statistics that are more important for this AI call ? (Strang's class has 34 lectures and numerous topics in khan academy too)

jamesbrewer 15y ago

I decided to sign up for the course (I don't think I can officially sign up until later this Summer) but I'm not sure that I'll have the time or that I can afford the text. I'm also a Sophomore CS student, so the work would be very challenging for me.

hc 15y ago

it doesn't say anywhere that this class is free. i doubt that it is free.

jrubinovitz 15y ago

I'm considering trying to take this and get my university to give me credit for it (it's Stanford, from one of the guys that wrote the textbook and I am getting a grade). However, I'm thinking whatever this class costs may hold me back.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

scratch 15y ago

I may be straying a little off topic but it's worth noting that many of the mentioned course material and much more from a wide variety of subjects can be found at http://www.academicearth.org/ http://www.academicearth.org/. This place is filled with awesome. Maybe you know?

blazenomad 15y ago
Thanks for sharing. Very useful.