Module 1 · Fundamentals

What We Owe Machines

The hard problem in AI isn’t making machines smarter, it’s teaching them to handle problems without right answers. This lecture traces how we learned to teach machines at all, and where that project stands today.

The Lifecycle of a Language Model

Understanding the full training pipeline from pretraining to deployment.

Module 2 · Post-Training

Post-Training Foundations

RLHF and Reward Learning

Alignment Methods & Model Behavior

Evals as Research

Module 3 · Reasoning & Agents

Search, Planning, Memory

Tool Use and Verification

Spring Break

No class this week. Enjoy your break!

Multi-Agent Systems

Module 4 · Product & Research

Product Design & Development Workshop

Product Workshop (Continued)

Guest Lecture

Guest Lecture

Demo Day 🎉

Date
Lecture
Technical Work
Materials
Assignments
Jan
26
Week 1 · Fundamentals
What We Owe Machines
T1a: Inference Playground
T1b: Scaling Laws
Feb
2
Week 2 · Fundamentals
The Lifecycle of a Language Model
T2a: Build a Context-Aware Assistant
T2b: Inference Deep-Dive
Final Project A Due
Feb
9
Week 3 · Post-Training
Post-Training Foundations
T3a: Datagen Pipelines & Quality
T3b: SFT from Scratch
Project 1 Released
Feb
16
Week 4 · Post-Training
RLHF and Reward Learning
T4a: DPO in Practice
T4b: Toy Reward Modeling
Final Project B Due
Feb
23
Week 5 · Post-Training
Alignment Methods & Model Behavior
T5a: Refusal Classifier
T5b: Constitutional AI Loop
Mar
2
Week 6 · Post-Training
Evals as Research
T6a: Evaluation Design
T6b: Benchmark Hacking
Mar
9
Week 7 · Reasoning & Agents
Search, Planning, Memory
T7a: Planning Agent
T7b: AlphaEvolve
Project 1 Due
Mar
16
Week 8 · Reasoning & Agents
Tool Use and Verification
T8a: Coding Agent with Verification
T8b: Computer Use Lab
Project 2 Released
Mar
23
Spring Break
Mar
30
Week 9 · Reasoning & Agents
Multi-Agent Systems
T9a: Agent Telemetry
T9b: Multi-Agent Collaboration
Final Project C Due
Apr
6
Week 10 · Product
Product Design & Development Workshop
T10: Self-Play Experiment
Project 2 Due
Apr
13
Week 11 · Product
Product Design & Development Workshop (Ct'd)
Apr
20
Week 12 · Guest Lecture
TBA
Apr
27
Week 13 · Guest Lecture
TBA
May
4
RRR Week
Demo Day 🎉
Final Project Due
Final Project

Final Project

Design and build a product demo AI product prototype that demonstrates mastery of course concepts. Teams of 2-4 students will propose, build, and present a demo.

Team Formation Feb 2
Proposal Due Feb 16
WIP Check-in Mar 30
Demo Day May 4

The final project is your opportunity to explore a topic of your choice in depth. Projects should demonstrate technical sophistication and original thinking. Successful projects might included novel alignment techniques, agent architectures, evaluation frameworks, and creative applications of post-training methods.

Milestones

Feb 2
Checkpoint A: Team formation and initial idea submission
Feb 16
Checkpoint B: Detailed proposal with methodology and timeline
Mar 30
Checkpoint C: Work-in-progress presentation and feedback session
May 4
Final submission and Demo Day presentation