I’ve been waiting to write this post in the hopes that we would get our project assignments before the first blog post is due. I’m very happy that I got my first choice, the fire risk prediction project! There were a few others that I would have enjoyed working on, but this one immediately stood out to me.
I’m a little nervous about this project, too. I’ve never done anything with machine learning or artificial intelligence, so I don’t know too much about it. The first thing that comes to mind when I think of AI is how many wonderful and disgusting cat names become possible when a computer is given basic training. The second thing I think of is the programmer who used Generative Adversarial Networks to create a generation of freakishly sort-of-believable Pokémon. Beyond that, I’m basically a layperson in this subject.
Luckily the project brief says that understanding the basics of machine learning and artificial intelligence is an objective, not a prerequisite. I expect that I’ll need to spend quite a bit more than 10 hours per week to get a good grasp on the subject and be an asset to my team. Thankfully, this is the only class I’m taking this term and my job will be somewhat less demanding after I finish my current project, so I should be able to devote plenty of time to this class.
Overall, I’m very excited to get started on this project! I know it will be challenging, but what better way to learn a new topic than to jump in with “code that could save lives”?
