Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Techniques with Vladimir Tosic
You might have watched a science-fiction movie with intelligent machines or heard that artificial intelligence (AI) will change the world. In this workshop, you will be introduced to some of the techniques used to make computers behave more intelligently (e.g. to beat humans in challenging games like chess or to make complex decisions in stock markets).
You will first learn about various application areas of AI and then discuss potential benefits and issues (e.g. ethical or legal) of some current and near-future uses of AI, e.g. in computer games, self-driving cars, or other areas. If circumstances allow, you will see a practical demonstration of UNSW robots playing soccer! However, the majority of the workshop will contain practical, "hands-on", interactive learning about various AI techniques. Using several free interactive online learning systems, you will study how artificial intelligence programs represent knowledge, how they solve problems by searching among potential solutions and how they make optimal decisions in game playing. There will be some programming (in the logic programming language Prolog), but no prior programming experience in any programming language is necessary! Additionally, you will learn "hands-on" about different machine learning techniques (supervised, reinforcement, unsupervised) that enable artificial intelligence systems to learn from past experiences and improve their performance over time. For example, you will experiment with artificial neural networks (ANNs) that are inspired by how human brains work and learn. Finally, you will think critically about some problems in machine learning, e.g. the impact of bias in training data.
About the presenter
Vladimir is an Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) educator with diverse teaching experiences, both at universities and in NSW secondary schools. He is currently a part-time Casual Academic at the UNSW School of Computer Science and Engineering where he lectures or tutors university students. He also works full-time as an IT Teacher at Taylors College where he teaches ICT to young people who prepare for university studies. He wrote diverse artificial intelligence programs and published research results (e.g. about application of artificial intelligence techniques to managing distributed computing systems). Vladimir is looking forward to help GERRIC students start learning and loving this exciting area of human creativity.
Workshop preparation:
This document includes what to bring and what you should know and do before the workshop, including pre-reading.
