Instructor: Dr. Manikas

Text: There is no textbook for this course. All the necessary materials will be provided on Canvas.

Lectures: MWF 2:00 - 2:50 pm, Junkins Building 101

Provides a foundational introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI) for first-year students from all academic backgrounds, with no technical or programming prerequisites. The course demystifies the core concepts, key technologies, and societal impacts of AI, establishing it as an essential modern literacy. The curriculum explores how intelligent systems have evolved into today's data-driven paradigms like machine learning and generative AI. Students learn how technologies such as large language models (e.g., ChatGPT) work and examine their real-world applications across diverse fields. Through hands-on interaction with AI tools and analysis of contemporary case studies, students build practical skills in prompt engineering and develop a critical framework to ethically evaluate, navigate, and effectively collaborate with AI.

• Module 1: What is AI? Demystifying Intelligence
• Week 1: Introduction: From Anxiety to Agency - AI as a Collaborative Tool
• Week 2: A Brief History of Intelligent Machines: From Logic to Learning
• Week 3: The Core of AI: How Machines Learn from Data
• Module 2: The Generative AI Revolution
• Week 4: The Engine of Modern AI: Deep Learning & Neural Networks
• Week 5: Inside Large Language Models: How ChatGPT & Its Cousins Work
• Week 6: The Art of the Prompt: Mastering Human-AI Communication
• Week 7: Beyond Text: Multimodal Generative AI for Images, Audio, and Code
• Module 3: AI in Practice: Applications and Collaboration
• Week 8: Beyond Automation: Human-in-the-Loop and Agentic AI
• Week 9: Learning from Interaction: Reinforcement Learning
• Week 10: AI in Your Field: A Cross-Disciplinary Application Workshop.
• Module 4: The Responsible Citizen: AI, Ethics, and The Future of Society
• Week 11: The Algorithm is Not Neutral: Auditing AI for Bias and Fairness
• Week 12: Accountability and Risk: Security, Privacy, Misinformation
• Week 13: The Political Economy of AI
• Week 14: Artificial General Intelligence: Separating Science Fiction from Reality