Foundations of Generative AI

Massive Open Online Course
  • Overview
  • Course Content
  • Requirements & Materials
Overview

Foundations of Generative AI

Course Description

Generative AI is transforming industries worldwide — reshaping how we create, code, and communicate. This 100% online, self-paced course goes beyond surface-level use to help you understand how these systems really work and how you can apply them effectively. Starting with a review of artificial intelligence's evolution, the course then provides insight into the building blocks of generative AI and how it works by using real-world examples.

Course Content

Module 0: Prologue and Analogy
Introduction to the course, use of AI avatars for instruction, and the automobile analogy that frames user roles in generative AI adoption

Module 1: A Brief History of AI
Survey of classical AI (rule-based systems), statistical AI (machine learning and pattern recognition), and generative AI (creative prediction)

Module 2: What Is Generative AI?
Core ideas behind generative AI: pattern completion, probabilistic creativity, and generative generalization, with examples across text, images, and code

Module 3: Why Generative AI Matters
Practical significance of generative AI: individual empowerment, new paradigms of human-computer interaction, and integration into global technology

Module 4: From Patterns to Predictions
How generative AI models process data: tokens, context windows, probability distributions, and next-token prediction

Module 5: Neural Networks and Their Evolution
Overview of neural networks as function approximators, including feedforward, recurrent, and convolutional architectures

Module 6: Transformers and Generative Output
 Breakthrough of transformer architectures, self-attention, positional encoding, and decoding strategies like greedy, sampling, and top-k/p methods

Module 7: Training Generative Models
How models are trained at scale: stochastic gradient descent, loss functions, data requirements, and the role of computation

Module 8: Fine-Tuning Models
Adapting pretrained models for specific domains or styles through fine-tuning and parameter-efficient methods

Module 9: Aligning Generative AI
Ensuring AI systems behave responsibly: goal, behavior, and value alignment; RLHF; constitutional AI; and ongoing ethical challenges.

Requirements & Materials

Prerequisites

RECOMMENDED:

Basic computer science, basic coding, and calculus experience

Materials

PROVIDED (Student will receive): 

  • Access to course on edX

Who Should Attend

This course is designed for professionals wanting to integrate AI into their workflows. It is also ideal for students and researches looking to deepen their technical understanding of AI as well as individuals exploring AI systems out of general interest.

Computer science students coding on computers

What You Will Learn

•    Explanation of the history of artificial intelligence paradigms
•    Differentiation of classical, statistical, and generative AI approaches
•    Identification of key concepts: tokens, context windows, loss functions
•    Review of neural networks, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), Recurrent Neural Network (RNNs), and transformers
•    Attention that enables long-range dependencies
•    Processes for training, fine-tuning, and alignment
•    Analysis of strengths, limitations, and risks of generative AI

Male and female coding professional collaborating on computer

How You Will Benefit

  • Explore the history of AI from rule-based “good old-fashioned AI” to statistical machine learning and today’s generative models.
  • Understand how generative AI works, including neural networks, transformers, attention mechanisms, and models generating new text, images, and code.
  • Learn the building blocks of training, fine-tuning, and alignment and why each is critical for safe and useful AI systems.
  • Examine real-world applications to see how generative AI is already shaping education, business, software, and creative work.
  • Grow Your Professional Network icon
    Grow Your Professional Network
  • Taught by Experts in the Field icon
    Taught by Experts in the Field
Global Learning Icon - White section icon

Want to see all Massive Open Online Courses?

TRAIN AT YOUR LOCATION

We enable employers to provide specialized, on-location training on their own timetables. Our world-renowned experts can create unique content that meets your employees' specific needs. We also have the ability to deliver courses via web conferencing or on-demand online videos. For 15 or more students, it is more cost-effective for us to come to you.

  • Save Money
  • Flexible Schedule
  • Group Training
  • Customize Content
  • On-Site Training
  • Earn a Certificate
Learn More

Want to learn more about this course?