Introduction to Artificial Intelligence

Content:

This course gives an overview of representative methods in artificial intelligence: formal logic and reasoning, classical methods of AI, probabilistic reasoning, machine learning, deep neural networks, computational neuroscience, neural dynamics, perception, natural language processing, robotics.

Learning Outcomes:

After successful completion of this course, students will be able to

  • summarize a number of fundamental methods in artificial intelligence,
  • explain their mathematical basis and algorithmic nature,
  • apply them to simple problems,
  • decide which methods are suitable for which problems, and
  • communicate about the above in English.

Lecturers

Details

Course type
Lectures
Credits
5 CP
Term
Summer Term 2025
E-Learning
moodle course available

Dates

Lecture
Takes place every week on Friday from 10:00 to 12:00 in room UFO 0/11.
First appointment is on 11.04.2025
Last appointment is on 18.07.2025
Exercise
Takes place every week on Friday from 12:00 to 14:00 in room UFO 0/11.
First appointment is on 11.04.2025
Last appointment is on 18.07.2025

Requirements

Basic knowledge of calculus (e.g. gradient and gradient descent, multivariate chain rule) and linear algebra (e.g. vectors, matrices, eigenvalues and eigenvectors).

Further Lecturers (sorry, for technical reasons, not all lecturers can be displayed above): Prof. Dr. Ivan Habernal, Prof. Dr. Nils Jansen, Prof. Dr. Christian Straßer, Prof. Dr. Bilal Zafar.

Degree Program: Bachelor Applied Computer Science, Bachelor Computer Science

Semester: fourth semester

Credits: 5 CP

Workload: 150 h

Cycle (Turnus): each summer semester

Duration (Dauer): 1 semester

Contact time (Kontaktzeit): 4 SWS (60 h)

Self studies (Selbststudium): 90 h

Group size (Gruppengröße): ca 150

Language: English.

Enrollment: All students must enroll in the Moodle course to receive the class material and announcements. If you have problems with that, please contact Aya Altamimi at <aya.altamimi@ini.rub.de>. In addition, you will probably have to enroll for this course with your examination office according to the rules of your degree program, only they will be able to advise you. Your examination office might also decide to award a different number of credit points than we certify you for this class, see below for students other than CS Bachelor. Students from Dortmund and Duisburg-Essen will probably have to fill a UAR form (University Alliance Ruhr). 

From our examination office I have in addition the following information: "Students of RUB’s Mathematics and Physics faculties will register via FlexNow (with only a selection of exams available, as per our website). These students will appear on the regular participant lists that you generate in FlexNow prior to your exams."

Final Exam: The exam will be administered on two dates after the lecture period in the summer semester.  Students are free to choose either of the two dates. Keep in mind that the next opportunity to take the exam will be about one year later.

The written exam will be 90 minutes long within a 100 minute time slot. The exam will be digital and must be taken in person in a computer lab on RUB campus. It will be a closed book exam, thus you are not allowed to consult any materials except for a self-hand-written one-sided DIN A4 formulary. There are no prerequisits for taking the exam.

Note: Bachelor students earn 5 CP by successfully passing the exam. For Master students the following applies: 3 CP for Master students from technical study programs; 0 CP for (Applied) Computer Science Master students; technical study programs include Maschinenbau, Data Science (TU Do), Automation&Robotics (TU Do)...

Every student who wishes to take the exam must register in two places:

  1. In the corresponding course in the RUB online exam system (https://online-exam.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/). You will take the exam in this Moodle environment. 
    Important: This is another instance of Moodle that looks the same, but it is different from the Moodle course that we use to share class materials and announcements! 
  2. With the examination office. If you are a student of our faculty, mathematics, or physics, register via FlexNow with the examination office of the Faculty of Computer Science. All other students will probably have to register with their own examination office, but we don't know. Please check yourself.

A mock exam will probably be available towards the end of the course. It will be shorter than the final exam, but it should contain at least one question from every instructor. The main purpose is to give you a good impression of the style of the exam and therefore facilitate exam preparation.

Condition for granting the credit points: To pass this class and receive credit, you need at least 50% of the points (which are usually not 100) on the final exam. If the final exam has 60 points you need 30 points (50%) to pass the exam.

About the INI

The Institut für Neuroinformatik (INI) is a research unit of the Faculty of Computer Science at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum. Its scientific goal is to understand the fundamental principles through which organisms generate behavior and cognition while linked to their environments through sensory and effector systems. Inspired by our insights into such natural cognitive systems, we seek new solutions to problems of information processing in artificial cognitive systems. We draw from a variety of disciplines that include experimental psychology and neurophysiology as well as machine learning, neural artificial intelligence, computer vision, and robotics.

Contact

Universitätsstr. 150, Building NB, Room 3/32
D-44801 Bochum, Germany

Tel: (+49) 234 32-28967
Fax: (+49) 234 32-14210

sekretariat@ini.rub.de
www.ini.rub.de