Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen-AI) is a class of machine learning models that generate new data (text, images, faces, voice, artwork) that is near indistinguishable from the equivalent real data typically generated by humans. These models are trained based on realistic example data sets from the real world. This course covers the underlying fundamentals of generative models. It also introduces the design and modeling of some of the modern generative models: Variational Autoencoders (VAEs), Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), Diffusion models, ChatGPT, Large Language Models, to name a few. Several applications will be discussed, ranging from image generation for engineering or science applications to the utilization of generated data for data augmentation in AI systems. Ethical concerns related to the danger of these generative technologies concerning issues from misinformation, bias, to data ownership are reviewed.
Core artificial intelligence classes, such as machine learning and deep learning, or equivalent background is highly recommended.