5 ms·

Stanford "Intro to AI" course to be offered online for free

150 points by eguizzo 15y ago

steverb 15y ago
I can't wait to see how well this works out. If the results are good it could put another nail in the coffin for classroom only education. Although I foresee a lot of those that register for the free online course dropping out. Most people won't put a high enough value on a free class, especially if they're not getting credit.
- vladd 15y ago
  > Most people won't put a high enough value on a free class, especially if they're not getting credit. Both Sebastian Thrun and Peter Norvig are Very Important Persons in Google (Google Fellow / Google Director). This is basically a free diploma to be put in the CV for any Google wanna-be engineer, if they can make it. I doubt even credit would be more important than it.
  - steverb 15y ago
    Well, even if you're not a Google wanna-be it's pretty cool. I signed up (for an update when registration is open), but I'm afraid I won't have the time to properly devote to it as well. If it's free of charge learning there is a tendency to let other things get in the way vs. prioritizing it because you paid full tuition price. At least that was my experience in college with the trust fund kids vs. the people that were working three jobs to scrape tuition together. There may be some selection bias there though.
- krschultz 15y ago
  I agree with your assesment that many (most?) will sign up without truly giving it the effort required. I wish it was $20 - some token amount. To extrapolate metrics on 'paid' users vs free users on most freemium apps, the vast majority of people won't even open their wallet for a dollar. If you aren't serious enough to pay $20 for the class, you aren't serious enough to buy the book and do the homework.
  - lzm 15y ago
    I'm really glad it's free. Where I live, $20 pays a month of lunch or public transportation. Even if it were $1 or $0.01 it would exclude people without international credit cards.
  - indrax 15y ago
    What's the 6th word on the 3rd paragraph of page 89?
- jeffreymcmanus 15y ago
  This will not even come close to threatening instructor-led education. There are a very small number of courses that can be automated in this way. I also think that the instructors are going to be surprised when the 10,000 students come up with more than 25 interesting questions. I wonder what happens for the students who need questions answered that aren't deemed sufficiently interesting or unique?
killa_bee 15y ago
this has been posted like ten times
- clarkevans 15y ago
  It is the first time that I have seen it though -- and I check HN far too frequently.
petercooper 15y ago
Previously (with discussion): http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2824780 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2824780
freddealmeida 15y ago
has anyone started reading the AIMA? maybe we should set up a study group?
- huherto 15y ago
  I am interested. What do you think it is permitted regarding collaboration ?
- codeswimmer 15y ago
  Anyone who's interested in joining a study group, I've added a Google Doc spreadsheet: http://goo.gl/cbzUL http://goo.gl/cbzUL. Based on the lack of comments here it's hard to tell what the overall interest level is for a study group, but personally I've found them to be quite rewarding. As the course's start date approaches we'll see how many people have signed up and take it from there. It might turn out a better alternative to doing this in an ad hoc manner to use one of the online study groups (like OpenStudy, for instance). Personally, I haven't any experience with them yet, but I'm sure there are others who have and can shed some insight.
subnetvj 15y ago
Always wanted to do an AI course, would be signing up right away ...
AnupSavvy 15y ago
This is awesome !!! :)
spottiness 15y ago
This is total awesomeness for the really motivated to learn. I don't think I'll have the time... although, maybe this is a good enough reason to quit my job. This is certainly an indication of what the future will bring for education. I hope other universities/professors do the same...
iqster 15y ago
Some people seem to be very excited by this. You don't have to wait until October. Andrew Ng's course on Machine Learning@Stanford is available for free on iTunes University (it also seems to be on YouTube). Do note that ML is a subset of AI. Also, my experience has been that the assignments and exams constitute a large fraction of the learning in a course. For that, you'll have to wait until October :)
- liuhenry 15y ago
  It might be easier to take 229 (Machine Learning) after 221 (this class), since 221 is intended to be a lead-in. and less mathematically rigorous. It's still definitely worth a look but may be hard to understand without a background in algorithm design.
czDev 15y ago
"Without having to live in a dorm" ... I thought living in a dorm was the best part of college.
- calebmpeterson 15y ago
  Then you didn't live in a building full of 200+ proto-adults, many of whom lacked bsaic cleaning skills, long enough... or maybe I just lived in one too long :)
melipone 15y ago
Do you know if you'll need the 3rd edition of AIMA for the class? I have the 2nd edition and I would rather not buy the book again.
felipemnoa 15y ago
What is the big deal? If you really wanted to learn AI there are plenty of books and free resources online to do it. Why wait to learn until somebody offers a free course online?
- khafra 15y ago
  Peter Norvig.
  - felipemnoa 15y ago
    Awesome, thanks!
corey 15y ago
Looks like I have two months to brush up on my probability and linear algebra. Could anyone who's read AIMA or taken the Stanford course suggest which topics I should (de)emphasize?

150 points by eguizzo 15y ago

I can't wait to see how well this works out. If the results are good it could put another nail in the coffin for classroom only education. Although I foresee a lot of those that register for the free online course dropping out. Most people won't put a high enough value on a free class, especially if they're not getting credit.

vladd 15y ago
> Most people won't put a high enough value on a free class, especially if they're not getting credit. Both Sebastian Thrun and Peter Norvig are Very Important Persons in Google (Google Fellow / Google Director). This is basically a free diploma to be put in the CV for any Google wanna-be engineer, if they can make it. I doubt even credit would be more important than it.
- steverb 15y ago
  Well, even if you're not a Google wanna-be it's pretty cool. I signed up (for an update when registration is open), but I'm afraid I won't have the time to properly devote to it as well. If it's free of charge learning there is a tendency to let other things get in the way vs. prioritizing it because you paid full tuition price. At least that was my experience in college with the trust fund kids vs. the people that were working three jobs to scrape tuition together. There may be some selection bias there though.
krschultz 15y ago
I agree with your assesment that many (most?) will sign up without truly giving it the effort required. I wish it was $20 - some token amount. To extrapolate metrics on 'paid' users vs free users on most freemium apps, the vast majority of people won't even open their wallet for a dollar. If you aren't serious enough to pay $20 for the class, you aren't serious enough to buy the book and do the homework.
- lzm 15y ago
  I'm really glad it's free. Where I live, $20 pays a month of lunch or public transportation. Even if it were $1 or $0.01 it would exclude people without international credit cards.
- indrax 15y ago
  What's the 6th word on the 3rd paragraph of page 89?
jeffreymcmanus 15y ago
This will not even come close to threatening instructor-led education. There are a very small number of courses that can be automated in this way. I also think that the instructors are going to be surprised when the 10,000 students come up with more than 25 interesting questions. I wonder what happens for the students who need questions answered that aren't deemed sufficiently interesting or unique?

killa_bee 15y ago

this has been posted like ten times

clarkevans 15y ago
It is the first time that I have seen it though -- and I check HN far too frequently.

petercooper 15y ago

Previously (with discussion): http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2824780 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2824780

freddealmeida 15y ago

has anyone started reading the AIMA? maybe we should set up a study group?

huherto 15y ago
I am interested. What do you think it is permitted regarding collaboration ?
codeswimmer 15y ago
Anyone who's interested in joining a study group, I've added a Google Doc spreadsheet: http://goo.gl/cbzUL http://goo.gl/cbzUL. Based on the lack of comments here it's hard to tell what the overall interest level is for a study group, but personally I've found them to be quite rewarding. As the course's start date approaches we'll see how many people have signed up and take it from there. It might turn out a better alternative to doing this in an ad hoc manner to use one of the online study groups (like OpenStudy, for instance). Personally, I haven't any experience with them yet, but I'm sure there are others who have and can shed some insight.

subnetvj 15y ago

Always wanted to do an AI course, would be signing up right away ...

AnupSavvy 15y ago

This is awesome !!! :)

spottiness 15y ago

This is total awesomeness for the really motivated to learn. I don't think I'll have the time... although, maybe this is a good enough reason to quit my job. This is certainly an indication of what the future will bring for education. I hope other universities/professors do the same...

iqster 15y ago

Some people seem to be very excited by this. You don't have to wait until October. Andrew Ng's course on Machine Learning@Stanford is available for free on iTunes University (it also seems to be on YouTube). Do note that ML is a subset of AI. Also, my experience has been that the assignments and exams constitute a large fraction of the learning in a course. For that, you'll have to wait until October :)

liuhenry 15y ago
It might be easier to take 229 (Machine Learning) after 221 (this class), since 221 is intended to be a lead-in. and less mathematically rigorous. It's still definitely worth a look but may be hard to understand without a background in algorithm design.

czDev 15y ago

"Without having to live in a dorm" ... I thought living in a dorm was the best part of college.

calebmpeterson 15y ago
Then you didn't live in a building full of 200+ proto-adults, many of whom lacked bsaic cleaning skills, long enough... or maybe I just lived in one too long :)

melipone 15y ago

Do you know if you'll need the 3rd edition of AIMA for the class? I have the 2nd edition and I would rather not buy the book again.

felipemnoa 15y ago

What is the big deal? If you really wanted to learn AI there are plenty of books and free resources online to do it. Why wait to learn until somebody offers a free course online?

khafra 15y ago
Peter Norvig.
- felipemnoa 15y ago
  Awesome, thanks!

corey 15y ago

Looks like I have two months to brush up on my probability and linear algebra. Could anyone who's read AIMA or taken the Stanford course suggest which topics I should (de)emphasize?