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Foundations of
Artificial Intelligence

Free, visual lessons with citation-first teaching.From computer basics to current research.

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In-Depth Articles
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AIAIMate orientation film • 5 minutes

AI, explained in five minutes.

New to all of this? Start here. Get the big picture first, then use the lessons below to go deeper into the computers, models, systems, evidence, and decisions that make modern AI work.

Five-minute visual introductionWatch on YouTube
New • August 26, 2026 edition15 min read

The State of AI in 2026

The current release: agents, multimodal systems, policy, and infrastructure — with first-party sources. Prior editions stay in the archive.

Read the briefing

Structured Learning Paths

Start with the computer, then methods, then current systems. Counts on this page come from the live catalog.

Computer Fundamentals

Level 0, hardware-first: what a computer is, chips and power, memory, networks, sensors, then models.

  • What Is a Computer?
  • Chips, Power, and Heat
  • Memory and Storage
  • Hardware, Software, and Models
View Curriculum

Foundations

AI as a category of systems, how to use tools carefully, history, and what intelligence claims do and do not mean.

  • What is AI?
  • How to Use AI
  • History of AI
  • What is Intelligence?
View Curriculum

Architectures

Neural architectures used in modern systems: vision models, sequence models, transformers, and language models.

  • CNNs & Computer Vision
  • Transformers
  • Large Language Models
  • Diffusion Models
View Curriculum
New section

Not sure where to start? See AI put to practical use.

A searchable, plain-language directory of real ways to use AI in small business, education, caregiving, home life, and more — written for anyone, whether or not you use computers often.

Browse practical ideas

Interactive Visualizations

Explore algorithms and architectures through hands-on demonstrations.

Neural Network Visualizer

Watch data flow through neural networks in real-time. Adjust weights, see activations.

Attention Mechanism

Explore how transformers pay attention to different words. The core of modern LLMs.

Gradient Descent

Watch optimization happen live. See how neural networks find their way downhill.

Knowledge Graph

Explore connections between AI concepts in an interactive 3D knowledge map.

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