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Online Office Hours via Youtube/Hangout
Overview
CS221 is the introductory course into
the field of Artificial Intelligence at Stanford University.
It covers basic elements of AI, such as knowledge representation,
inference, machine learning, planning and game playing, information
retrieval, computer vision, and robotics. CS221 is a broad course
aimed to teach students the very basics of modern AI. It is prerequisite to
many other, more specialized AI classes at Stanford University.
Instructors
Peter Norvig and Sebastian Thrun took over CS221 from
Professor Andrew Y. Ng in 2010. Dr. Peter Norvig is author of the
celebrated textbook Artificial Intelligence: A Modern
Approach. He is also Director of Research at Google. Dr. Thrun is
well known for his work on robotics and self-driving cars (his team
won the DARPA Grand Challenge). Thrun is a research professor at Stanford
and a Google Fellow. He is one of the youngest individuals
ever elected into the National Academy of Engineering.
Who Should Attend?
With an in-class enrollment of nearly 200 students, CS221 is one of
the largest courses taught at Stanford University, across all
departments and all disciplines. It is included in the core curriculum of
several degree programs at Stanford.
The course is tailored towards advanced undergraduate or early
graduate students who wish to learn about the basic techniques in the
field, and share the excitement. The course introduces a wealth of
topics in AI, many of which are the subjects of more specialized
follow-on classes at Stanford.
A course with the same title Introduction
to Artificial Intelligence will be offered online and free of
charge as an experimental new course. Using advanced new technology,
the instructors aspire to cover the same materials and apply the same
level of testing.
However, to receive Stanford credit, the course has to be taken
through Stanfod and students have to be registered at Stanford
University. Online students who pass the online class will receive a
statement of accomplishment in the name of the instructors, but no
official Stanford certificate.
Course Description
This course is 10 weeks long. The in-class class starts
Tuesday, September 27.
CS221 consists of:
- Approximately 20 lectures. Associated with each lecture, on http://stanford.ai-class.com you would find quizzes that we ask you to do, but which are not counted towards the final grade of this class. Instead, you can see the right answer to each quiz right after submitting your answers.
- Approximately 8 homework assignments, also on http://stanford.ai-class.com. These are just like our quizzes, and if you do well in the quizzes, you should do well in the assignments. Only the scores on the top 6 out of these 8 assignments would count to your final grade.
- 4 programming assignments. The fourth programming assignment will be a larger programming contest that will count as the significant implementation requirement for this class.
- One midterm and one final exam. These are like extended quizzes, covering all subject areas of the course discussed so far. The exams will also check your general knowledge about topics covered in the reading materials (the book).
The central objective is to teach basic methods in AI, and to convey enthusiasm for the field. AI has emerged as one of the most impactful disciplines in science and technology. Google, for example, is massively run on AI. Students passing this course should be proficient basic methods of AI, and have a broad overview of the field.
Passing Requirements
To pass this course, you have to attend (or watch online) all
lectures. You have to turn in all homework assignments and exams. There are no free late days towards any of the components. Late submissions would be penalized at the rate of 20% per day.
Stanford has a strong Honor Code. We expect you to honor this code. Violations may lead to disciplinary action against you.
Prerequisites
A solid understanding of probability and linear algebra will be required.
Coursework / Grading
Online homework assignments
(6 out of 8) |
: 20% |
| Programming assignments |
: 30% |
| (6% per assignment for the first three assignments and 12% towards the contest) |
| Midterm |
: 20% |
| Final |
: 30% |
Office Hours
Prof. Sebastian Thrun :
Tuesday after class (upon request), Gates 154
Prof. Peter Norvig :
Thursday after class (upon request), Gates 154
Naranbaatar Bayanbat :
Friday 12 noon - 2 pm, Gates B26B (Phone: 650-736-1817)
Juthika Dabholkar :
Monday 2 pm - 4 pm, Gates B26B (Phone: 650-736-1817)
Carlos Fernandez-Granda :
Thursday 11 am - 1 pm, Gates B26B (Phone: 650-736-1817)
Yan Largman :
Tuesday 1 pm - 3 pm, Gates B26B (Phone: 650-736-1817)
Cameron Schaeffer :
Wednesday 3:15 pm - 5:15 pm, Gates B26B (Phone: 650-736-1817)
Matthew Seal :
Thursday 1 pm - 3 pm, Gates B26B (Phone: 650-736-1817)
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