The Data Science Institute’s AI Summer workshop, from May 8 to June 2, is a free course designed to help researchers, educators, and students gain a deep understanding of the latest AI technologies and techniques, specifically deep learning and transformers, and how they can be used to solve a variety of problems.

The four-week workshop will be virtual on Zoom, and it will include both theoretical and practical sessions. The workshop has limited capacity, and priority will be given to researchers and educators who have a research goal in mind, as well as students who are interested in joining the researchers and educators on projects that arise from these workshops.

The primary goal of the AI Summer workshop is to generate new research and teaching resources on the Vanderbilt University campus using AI techniques. The recordings and resources from the workshops will be made available to everyone. The workshop will cover AI model fundamentals, including training and deployment. Participants who come to the workshop with data for a project in-hand will end the workshop with an initial model upon which to build further work. The DSI aims to stay at the forefront of discovery through data and is committed to providing opportunities for researchers, educators, and students to deepen their understanding of AI technologies and techniques.

Contact Jesse Spencer-Smith for more information on pre-workshop training if you have limited experience with Python. You can register for the Data Science Institute’s AI Summer 2023 by filling out this form. Here’s a look at the four-week course:

Week 1: Introduction to AI Models; Prompt Engineering for Generative Models

In the overview, we will introduce transformer models, the core of most modern AI models. In the remaining sessions for the week, we will focus on using generative models such as ChatGPT using prompt engineering. Many problems that once required training specialized models can now be address using prompt engineering with no coding, and far less development time. Will you be attending these sessions?

Week 2: AI-Assisted Programming for AI Applications

Yes, this is pretty meta. Whether you have little Python experience, or extensive experience, you’ll want to participate in this session and learn what coding looks like in the age of AI. We’ll be using AI to code AI frameworks to create new AI models! If you have no experience programming, you’ll want to try out some online resources to get some experience before attending. Reach out for links.

Week 3-4: Building AI Solutions / Training and Fine-Tuning Models

Building AI Solution track: Learn to create complete solutions using AI models with tools such as plugins and LangChain. Training Track: Many problems of interest cannot be addressed using Large Language Models such as ChatGPT. We’ll get hands-on experience create novel solutions by training foundation models with domain-specific data (including text, audio, and image), or training models from scratch.