Spatial AI Course Materials

Session _01 → 2026 Jan 21

What is Spatial AI?

What is space?

Discussion → What is space?
Lecture → How Machine Learning Works
Workshop → Neural Network Playground
Readings Due
- Space: A History. Ancient Greek notions of space. (PDF, pgs 11-36)
- “The Japanese words for “space” could change your view of the world.” Quartz Magazine, Jerrold McGrath, 2018 January 18. (PDF, Link)
- Thrift, Nigel. (2003). 5 Space: The Fundamental Stuff of Human Geography. Key Concepts in Geography. 2. (PDF, pgs 96-105)

What is artificial intelligence?

Lecture → What is AI?
Workshop → Python and Hugging Face
Readings Due
- Russell, Stuart J., and Peter Norvig. (2022). Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach. Chapter 01, Introduction. (PDF, pgs 19-53).
- Shaun Carter and Michael Nielson. (2017). “Using Artificial Intelligence to Augment Human Intelligence.” Distill. (Link)
- Turing, Alan M. (1950). “Computing machinery and intelligence.” Mind, 59, 433-460. (PDF 1 original scan, PDF 2 w/ minor OCR errors). Note about this reading: This was written in 1950 and has verbiage that today is considered controversial and biased; treat this more as an historical artifact rather than a modern-day text. It’s important to understand the origin of the “Imitation Game” (aka “The Turing Test”) with respect to the current thought around AI, particularly the prominent chatbot user experience.
Tech Prep → TBD

Semantics and Language Models

Lecture → What is Generative AI?
Workshop → Running LLMs with LM Studio and Hugging Face
Readings Due
- “Generative AI exists because of the transformer.” Financial Times, 2023 Sept 12. By Visual Storytelling Team and Madhumita Murgia.

LLM Capabilities Beyond Text Completion

(Kinne Week + Spring Break)

Project Final Review