The University of Tulsa · Fall 2026

Fundamentals
of AI

How machines sense, reason, and learn — explained from scratch, for everyone.

CS 1010Tandy School of Computer Science
Lesson 1 · Foundations

What is artificial intelligence?

AI is the science of building systems that do things we'd call smart — recognizing a face, understanding a sentence, or picking a winning move.

THE BIG IDEA

Nobody writes down every rule. The system learns patterns from examples — just like you learn from practice.

Fundamentals of AI2
01
Module One

How machines
learn

Before a computer can spot a cat in a photo or translate a sentence, it has to learn from data. Let's find out what "learning" really means for a machine.

Module 01 · The Big Picture

Three ways machines learn

1

Supervised

It studies labeled examples — questions paired with the right answers — then answers new questions on its own.

LikeSorting spam from emails already marked "spam" or "safe."
2

Unsupervised

No answer key. It explores the data and finds its own patterns and groupings.

LikeGrouping shoppers who act alike — without being told the groups.
3

Reinforcement

It learns by trying — earning points for good moves and losing them for bad ones.

LikeGetting great at a video game by playing it over and over.
Fundamentals of AI4
A Closer Look

Inside a neural network

Information starts at the input, flows through hidden layers that mix and weigh the signals, and arrives at an output — the answer. Practice makes those connections stronger.

Input Hidden Output
Fundamentals of AI5
Looking Ahead

What you'll build this semester

1

Digit recognizer

Train your very first model to read handwritten numbers.

2

Text classifier

Teach a system to tell happy reviews from grumpy ones.

3

Ethics case study

Explore where AI gets things wrong — and why that matters.

The University of Tulsa · Fundamentals of AI6