An Introduction

Hi! I am Danish Khan, a 16-year-old from Nanded, India. I am interested in astronomy, physics, writing, and AI. I have also recently become interested in philosophy, especially materialism. Learning about AI has introduced me to the existence of countless possibilities for the integration of AI in not only these disciplines but in almost all fields imaginable.

AI Scholars was my first experience with artificial intelligence and machine learning, and it gave me valuable knowledge and resources to dive into the world of AI on my own even after the program ended. Mr. Akshay Jagadeesh, my instructor for the first half of the program, introduced me to the basics of AI and topics such as Natural Language Processing, Computer Vision, and Neural Networks. Later on, under the guidance of Ms. Lindsay Sanneman, I worked on creating a machine learning model that could predict the region of origin of a strain of SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes Covid-19. This experience taught me about the flexibility of AI, and how it can be applied to solve problems as they come up. During this project, we also had fruitful discussions over the ethics of such a system, and how much of the findings should be available to the general public. Throughout the program, I also learned about Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), and reinforcement learning through sessions outside of class time.

In the coming weeks, I’ll be writing about Natural Language Processing, which, very broadly speaking, is computer manipulation of natural language. It can range from comparing different writing styles, to “understanding” human expressions to the extent of being able to give relevant responses to them. I’ll also go through the process of creating a simple text generator that can “imitate” an author’s writing style to create new content.

This blog series will be completely beginner-friendly. So even if you have no previous experience with AI, I hope that by reading these blogs you can learn something new, and maybe even build your own project!

Have a nice day!

Danish Khan is a Student Ambassador in the Inspirit AI Student Ambassadors Program. Inspirit AI is a pre-collegiate enrichment program that exposes curious high school students globally to AI through live online classes. Learn more at https://www.inspiritai.com/.