In May 2018, Finland announced the launch of Elements of AI, a first–of–its–kind online course that forms part of an ambitious plan to turn Finland into an AI powerhouse. To date, more than 185,000 people have signed up for the course. “It’s a pretty unique thing in Finland,” says Nokia chairman Risto Siilasmaa, who had an advisory role in the development of the online course. From its foundations as a pulp mill 153 years ago, Nokia is now one of the companies helping to drive a very quiet, very Finnish AI revolution. But it isn’t just Finns who are benefitting from the grand AI plan.
Chapter 1/6
Will a robot take my job? How is artificial intelligence likely to change my job in the next ten years? Where are AI technologies being used right now and where will they come next? Unknown.
Chapter 1 covers the following sections:
- How should we define AI?
- Related fields
- Philosophy of AI
Chapter 2/6
Search algorithms don’t necessarily feel like very cool AI methods. However, they can be used to solve tasks that most of us would admit require intelligence like navigation or playing chess.
Chapter 2 covers the following sections.
- Search and problem solving
- Solving problems with AI
- Search and games
Chapter 3/6
One of the reasons why modern AI methods actually work in the real world—as opposed to most of the earlier good old–fashioned methods in the 1960–1980s—is the ability to deal with uncertainty.
Chapter 3 covers the following sections:
- Odds and probability
- The Bayes rule
- Naive Bayes classification
Chapter 4/6
It has been long understood that learning is a key element of intelligence. This holds both for natural intelligence—we all get smarter by learning—and artificial intelligence.
Chapter 4 covers the following sections:
- The types of machine learning
- The nearest neighbor classifier
- Regression
Chapter 5/6
Areas like natural language and image processing have traditionally been sore points of AI. Neural networks and deep learning are being used to achieve significant improvements in these areas.
Chapter 5 covers the following sections:
- Neural network basics
- How neural networks are built
- Advanced neural network techniques
Further links
“Our goal is to demystify AI.”
The Elements of AI is a series of free online courses created by Reaktor and the University of Helsinki—to encourage as broad a group of people as possible to learn what AI is, what can (and can’t) be done with AI, and how to start creating AI methods. The courses combine theory with practical exercises and can be completed at one’s own pace.
Link to online course in English, på svenska, suomeksi.
“Inside Finland’s plan to become an artificial intelligence powerhouse. The small Nordic country is betting on education to give it a decisive edge in the age of AI.”
Artificial Intelligence: Inside Finland’s plan to become an artificial intelligence powerhouse. The small Nordic country is betting on education to give it a decisive edge in the age of AI; Chris Baraniuk, 15 February 2019. Link to WIRED The Condé Nast Publications, https://www.wired.co.uk/article/finland-artificial-intelligence-online-course