CS486/686 - Introduction to AI - Fall 2026

Schedule (subject to change)

Lecture

Date

Topic

Readings (textbooks)

1 September 9 Introduction (slides) [RN] Ch 1 and 2, [PM] Ch 1
2 September 14 Uninformed Search and Problem Formulation (slides) [RN] Ch 3.1-3.4 [PM]: Ch 3.1-3.5
3 September 16 Informed Search and Heuristics (slides) [RN] Ch 3.5-3.6 [PM] Ch 3.6-3.7
September 16 Assignment 1 out
September 16 Chat Assignment 1 out
4 September 21 Constraint Satisfaction Problems (slides) [RN] Ch 6.1-6.3 [PM] Ch 4.1-4.5
September 21 Chat Assignment 1 due
5 September 23 Multiagent Search (slides) [RN] Ch 5, [PM] Ch 14.3
September 23 Chat Assignment 2 out
6 September 28 Advanced Game Search (slides) [RN] Ch 5, [PM] Ch 14.3
September 28 Chat Assignment 2 due
7 September 30 Probabilistic Reasoning and Bayes Nets (slides)
September 30 Chat Assignment 3 out
October 2 Assignment 1 due
8 October 5 Bayes Nets (slides)
October 5 Chat Assignment 3 due
October 5 Assignment 2 out
9 October 7 Inference and Hidden Markov Models (slides)
October 7 Chat Assignment 4 out
October 9 Project Proposals Due (CS686)
10 October 19 Decision Making and Utility Theory (slides)
October 19 Chat Assignment 4 due
11 October 21 Markov Decision Processes (slides)
October 21 Chat Assignment 5 out
October 23 Assignment 2 due
12 October 26 Intro to Machine Learning (slides)
October 26 Assignment 3 out
October 26 Chat Assignment 5 due
13 October 28 Classification, Loss Functions, and Gradient Descent (slides)
October 28 Chat Assignment 6 out
October 29 Midterm Exam
14 November 2 Neural Networks (slides)
November 2 Chat Assignment 6 due
15 November 4 Multi-armed Bandits and Exploration vs Exploitation (slides)
November 4 Chat Assignment 7 out
16 November 9 Reinforcement Learning (slides)
November 9 Chat Assignment 7 due
17 November 11 Reinforcement Learning (slides)
November 11 Chat Assignment 8 out
November 13 Assignment 3 due
18 November 16 Reward Modeling, Alignment, and Unintended Behaviours (slides)
November 16 Chat Assignment 8 due
November 16 Assignment 4 out
19 November 18 Multiagent Systems: Game Theory (slides)
November 18 Chat Assignment 9 out
20 November 23 Strategic Interactions and Multiagent Learning (slides)
November 23 Chat Assignment 9 due
21 November 25 LLM Agent Dynamics (slides)
November 25 Chat Assignment 10 out
22 November 30 LLM Agent Dynamics (slides)
November 30 Chat Assignment 10 due
23 December 2 Cooperative AI (slides)
December 4 Assignment 4 due
24 December 7 Course Overview (slides)
December 7 Projects due