Humans can often perform a task extremely well (e.g., telling cats from dogs) but are unable to understand and describe the decision process followed. Without this explicit knowledge, we cannot write computer programs that can be used by machines to perform the same task. “Machine learning” is the study and application of methods to learn such algorithms automatically from sets of examples, just like babies can learn to tell cats from dogs simply by being shown examples of dogs and cats by their parents. Machine learning has proven particularly suited to cases such as optical character recognition, dictation software, language translators, fraud detection in financial transactions, and many others.

Artificial Intelligence is the science of making computers and machines to produce results and behave in a way that resembles human intelligence. This multidisciplinary activity involves the knowledge of different disciplines such as computer science, Mathematics and statistics, but also includes important elements from philosophy, logic and even psychology. Nowadays, AI is well embedded in our society from self-driving cars to spam filters, and from finance trading to video games. All predictions state that more and more of our society will depend on this technology with the consequent transformation of our society and economy. The impact of AI affects any discipline and therefore it is important for everyone to understand its principles, applications and limitations. This module is suitable for any student regardless of their background. This module will provide you with a broad overview of AI, as well as more detailed understanding of core concepts and models. We will follow an approach both theoretical and practical, describing the theory and fundamentals of machine learning models, as well as showing how to implement them and their applications.