Retrofitting MIT's deep learning "boot camp" for the virtual world

Deep learning is advancing at lightning speed, and Alexander Amini '17 and Ava Soleimany '16 want to make sure they have your attention as they dive deep on the math behind the algorithms and the ways that deep learning is transforming daily life. Last year, their blockbuster course, 6.S191 (Introduction to Deep Learning) opened with a fake video welcome from former President Barack Obama. This year, the pair delivered their lectures "live" from Stata Center -- after taping them weeks in advance from their kitchen, outfitted for the occasion with studio lights, a podium, and a green screen for projecting the blackboard in Kirsch Auditorium on their Zoom backgrounds. "It's hard for students to stay engaged when they're looking at a static image of an instructor," says Amini. "We wanted to recreate the dynamic of a real classroom." Amini is a graduate student in MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), and Soleimany a graduate student at MIT and Harvard University.