Starting an AI Project in High School with Three Easy Steps
AI is one of the fastest growing industries right now, and it's for a good reason. AI can be used to make people’s lives easier and better in a plethora of different and varied ways.
As it is a rapidly growing sector, it is a very strong potential career path, and it's best to get involved in it as soon as possible.
Although starting in AI while still in high school can seem daunting at first, this guide aims to make starting an AI project seem doable and approachable.
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How to Start an AI Project with No Experience
STEP 1: LEARN PYTHON
Python is by far, the best programming language for people wanting to start AI. It is very versatile, meaning that you can use it for uses other than AI. It is also one of the easiest to learn programming languages, meaning that most people will have no difficulty picking it up, even with no prior experience or computer science background. Thirdly, It is very widely used, which is useful as it will be easy to find resources for Python. It is extremely important to learn python when starting your own AI Project.
Many AI-related libraries also use Python, meaning that you will be able to access them easily.
STEP 2: START SIMPLE
Although it may be tempting to go straight for the more complex and advanced deep learning models, it is important to make sure that you understand the basics first.
As with any skill, you always start easy and work your way up. My advice is to start with the very simple logistic and linear regression models with basic and straightforward datasets., and from there slowly work your way up into more advanced models for your AI Project.
It isn’t worth messing up your long-term development and learning just to use some flashy models. You will find it much more satisfying if you work your way up by understanding everything.
STEP 3: USE A SUITABLE EDITING SOFTWARE
It is heavily advised to use a notebook format editing software for all of your projects. This is because they let you use both text and code cells, allowing you to write your AI project with explanations and titles.
The best example of a notebook editing software is Google Colab. It's free and widely accessible with a Google account, which most people have. Google Colab additionally allows you to run and test code instantly, which is useful for checking for errors (which you are very likely to have when you start out).
Thirdly, It also gives easy visualizations, which is great for people who have difficulty understanding walls of text and numbers. It also provides free GPU access, which will be invaluable for when you are doing more advanced and complex deep learning models.
Conclusion
Overall, AI is an incredibly useful field to get into, having applications in medicine, transport, engineering and pretty much anything you can think of. From an outsider’s first glance, it can seem quite intimidating and challenging to get into, however with the help of guides and resources online, it is very possible to begin your own AI project quickly and easily.
