Microsoft AI Free Course
The AI for Beginners course offers a comprehensive 12-week, 24-lesson curriculum on Artificial Intelligence (AI) provided by Azure Cloud Advocates at Microsoft. The curriculum aims to teach various aspects of AI, including different AI approaches, neural networks, computer vision, natural language processing, other AI techniques, and AI ethics.
Key Content of the Curriculum:
1. Different AI Approaches: The curriculum covers the symbolic approach with Knowledge Representation and reasoning, as well as Neural Networks and Deep Learning using TensorFlow and PyTorch.
2. Computer Vision: Students learn about computer vision, including Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), pre-trained networks, object detection, and semantic segmentation.
3. Natural Language Processing: The curriculum delves into text representation, semantic word embeddings, recurrent neural networks, and transformers like BERT.
4. Other AI Techniques: Students are introduced to Genetic Algorithms and Deep Reinforcement Learning.
5. AI Ethics: The curriculum also addresses the importance of AI ethics and responsible AI principles.
Course Format:
The curriculum consists of pre-reading materials, executable Jupyter Notebooks for hands-on learning, and occasional lab assignments. Students have the option to study the material on GitHub directly or fork the repository to their GitHub accounts for self-study. Quizzes are provided before and after lectures to reinforce learning.
Pedagogical Approach:
The curriculum follows a project-based, hands-on approach with frequent quizzes to enhance engagement and concept retention. Projects start small and progressively become more complex over the 12-week cycle.
Additional Resources:
The web page provides resources for students, including beginner resources, student packs, and ways to obtain free certification vouchers. Teachers are also provided with suggestions on how to use the curriculum effectively.
Contributors and Support:
The curriculum was created by Azure Cloud Advocates at Microsoft, with primary author Dmitry Soshnikov, PhD, and editor Jen Looper, PhD, among others. The web page encourages constructive feedback and provides documentation and guidelines for contributing and translating.
Overall, the AI for Beginners curriculum offers a comprehensive and hands-on learning experience for individuals interested in gaining a foundational understanding of Artificial Intelligence and its various applications.