Special Topics: Statistical Principles of Generative AI

Catalog description

Generative artificial intelligence systems are based on statistical models of text and images. The systems are very new, but they rely on well-established ideas about modeling and inference, some of them from the early 1900s. This course will introduce students to the statistical basis of large language models and image generation models, emphasizing high-level principles over implementation details. It will also examine whether, in light of those statistical foundations, we should think of generative AI as a step towards "artificial general intelligence", or instead as a "cultural technology". Prerequisite: 36-402