6 Free Data Science Courses via MIT, Klarna Fires 700 Staff, AI Handbook for Marketers
And Adobe and LTX announce audio / video tools.
Morning y’all!
I’ve got a mix of educational resources via MIT as well as a handful of interesting tools for you to check out this morning!
And, on a personal note, I’ve recently said “yes” to a new project where I’ll be working on AI specifically for large-scale enterprises. It’s a product engineering role for a small startup-ish company (< 50 employees) here in the US and I’m excited to start building something to from scratch!
Don’t worry as I plan on maintaining my writing schedule since it’s how I personally stay at the very edge of this new frontier; consequently, you shouldn’t expect any interruptions on the delivery of our community newsletter.
\( ﾟヮﾟ)/
I will be taking a much needed (mental) break this weekend since I start next week.
Let’s keep going!
— Summer
There are a number of free educational resources on AI (I’ve got 18 listed here) but if you wanted to dive a bit deeper — as a number of my friends have — I’ve captured 6 additional courses offered specifically from MIT that you might find useful.
Here you go! Good luck with it! The links are in the titles.
1. Intro to Computer Science and Using Python
Topics include:
A Notion of computation
Python programming language
Simple algorithms
Testing & debugging
Informal introduction to algorithmic complexity
Data Structures
2. Machine Learning with Python
Topics include:
ML problem principles
Implement & analyze models
Choosing suitable models for different apps
ML implementation: Training, validation, tuning, and feature engineering
3. Intro to Computational Thinking & Data Science
Topics include:
Plotting with the pylab package
Stochastic programming and statistical thinking
Monte Carlo simulations
4. Understanding the World Through Data
Topics include:
Python programming and the Colab notebook programming environment
Dependent and independent variables
Relationships between data using linear and polynomial regression models
5. Computational Thinking for Modeling & Simulation
Topics include:
Interpolation methods and their impact on model convergence
Numerical integration techniques
Procedures for numerical differentiation
Solving linear and nonlinear equations
6. The Science of Uncertainty & Data
Topics include:
The basic structure and elements of probabilistic models
Random variables, their distributions, means, and variances
Probabilistic calculations
Inference methods
Good luck with it all!
Adobe is throwing their hat into the ring with a new Music Project that does what you think it does (via the video above). The tool can generate audio based on a reference melody and even extend the length of audio clips, if you’d like. No clear launch date has been shared but it might be something you’ll want to keep tabs on.
Klarna has made the news recently with its customer service AI chatbot which, they say, will drive $40m+ more profits this year. This is equivalent to 700 full-time employees! With event resolution dropping from 11 minutes to 2 minutes, they see this as the future of customer service.
Oh, they also laid off 700 or so employees due to this new technology’s roll-out. Talk about company savings.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Lightricks, a startup based out of Israel, announced a new video tool — LTX — that’s been blowing people’s minds, the more worthy characteristic being that it enables you to generate a full narrative and story, not just individual clips. This includes casting, consistent characters, sound / music, and editing all-in-one.
It’s not available yet but coming out in late March and is supposedly free with professional pricing, of course.
This is a very neat and functional language tool:
Fluently is an app that helps non-native professionals improve their English with instant feedback after each Zoom call. Imagine having a personal coach, always listening and providing tips.
Read more about this YCombinator graduate here.
Finally, a simple and useful resource for marketers: An AI Handbook! Topics (and resources) include. It’s a bit heavy with Google-esque thinking and links but a quick scan found them to be not entirely terrible. You’re welcome. 🥰
※\(^o^)/※
— Summer