AAI501

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are transforming society through their ability to model complex systems and compute how to act effectively and safely in a wide variety of situations. This course provides a structured introduction to the fundamental principles and core techniques that underpin AI/ML, while also exploring their practical applications and limitations. Students will engage with topics ranging from intelligent agents and heuristic search to mathematical optimization, supervised and unsupervised learning, forecasting, deep learning architectures, and reinforcement learning. The course emphasizes critical thinking about problem formulation, algorithm selection, and evaluation, preparing students to navigate the full lifecycle of AI/ML projects. Real-world applications in areas such as computer vision, natural language processing, forecasting, and decision-making are examined to connect theory with practice. By the end of the course, students will have the knowledge necessary to apply these techniques in a wide range of professional contexts.