THE UNIVERSITY OF TULSA / TANDY SCHOOL OF COMPUTER SCIENCEFALL 2026

Fundamentals
of AI

How machines sense, reason, and learn — taught from the ground up.

CS 1010
LECTURE SERIES
16 WEEKS

FUNDAMENTALS OF AI02 / FOUNDATIONS

Definition

What is artificial intelligence?

Building systems that perform tasks we'd call intelligent — seeing, reading, deciding, predicting.

The shift that matters: modern AI isn't hand-coded rule by rule. It learns patterns from data, the way a student learns from worked examples.

MODULE INDEX01 / 04

Module 01

How machines
learn

Before a system can recognize an image or translate a sentence, it has to learn from data. This module defines what "learning" actually means for a machine.

FUNDAMENTALS OF AI04 / THE LANDSCAPE

Module 01

Three ways machines learn

01

Supervised

Learns from labeled examples — inputs paired with correct answers — then predicts answers for new inputs.

ExampleFiltering spam from emails marked "spam" or "not spam."
02

Unsupervised

No labels. The system explores raw data and finds its own structure — clusters, patterns, outliers.

ExampleGrouping shoppers into segments nobody defined in advance.
03

Reinforcement

Learns by doing — taking actions, earning rewards or penalties, refining its strategy over time.

ExampleMastering chess by playing millions of games against itself.
FUNDAMENTALS OF AI05 / A CLOSER LOOK

Architecture

Inside a neural network

Signals flow from an input layer, through hidden layers that weigh and combine them, to an output. Training adjusts the weights until the answers improve.

Input Hidden Output
FUNDAMENTALS OF AI06 / DELIVERABLES

Looking ahead

What you'll build this semester

01

Digit recognizer

Train your first model to read handwritten numbers — and see why it works.

02

Text classifier

Teach a system to tell positive reviews from negative ones.

03

Ethics case study

Investigate where these systems fail — and who is accountable.