AI and Autonomous Systems

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

Artificial intelligence (AI) has experienced rapid development in recent years, particularly with the advent of deep neural networks. The impacts have been felt in fields as diverse as transportation, healthcare, natural language translation, finance, and robotics. The key drivers for this transformation have included advances in computing hardware, new algorithms, and the availability of massive data sets. Many nations are investing heavily to "win the AI race", and it is clear that these technologies will continue to progress rapidly. This course will examine these recent developments in AI, paying particular attention to autonomous systems such as driverless cars, drones, and robotics. These systems are special, because they bring AI directly into the physical world, creating different challenges and opportunities than fully software-based AI. They also rely on a range of physical sensors and actuators to function, which are themselves experiencing technology innovation. We will examine the economic, ethical and policy implications of the introduction of autonomous systems, and AI more broadly. We will also examine the geopolitical consequences of AI development and adoption in various countries. In parallel, we will develop an understanding of the core technologies through programming exercises, which will require a basic familiarity with Python.