Honestly, not my favorite. I just took it to knock out a GE and it was the only one that fit in my schedule. I really wasn't interested in the subject but hoped maybe I would be after taking the class, but this isn't the case. Prof Srinivasan is pretty cool and has lots of good stories about his research and is really passionate about the material, I just felt that the class wasn't that organized. The readings every week didn't have much to do with each other, and were often too pedantic for a beginner to really track with. There was also a group paper, which I suppose may be better in a live format, but over zoom it was all but impossible to collaborate properly. There were lots of kids in my class that were super engaged the whole time and you could tell they really enjoy this field, so if that's you, this is gonna be a great class to take as a GE. However, for someone like myself who really isn't interested in digital literacy, cyber security, big tech, etc., there's probably a better class for you. There was also no sort of notes, powerpoint, etc--just prof talking and trying to cultivate a discussion with the same few students, so it was hard to stay engaged. Looking back, I can't really think of anything definitive that I took away from the class. So overall, it was fine, but I probably wouldn't take it again.

I absolutely loved this class. Coming in with little to no knowledge about INF STD or the fields which were discussed I can say I've learnt a lot and enjoyed every lecture in this class.

As I did take it online, it is possible the lack of a final exam may have made the class easier, but I did find the final essay prompt quite challenging (yet still interesting).

Professor Srinivasan is clear, passionate about the content and cares about his students. We had brilliant lecturers join us and both TAs, as well as the professor, were clear and helpful when we had queries.

I would strongly recommend anyone takes this class!

DISCLAIMER: I took this class online, so the difficulty differed slightly (paper final exam vs. multiple-choice test)

Overall, this class was so engaging even when our lectures were 3+ hours long. He understands his students greatly and brought in guest speakers as it related to that week's discussion. Sometimes, I got kind of bored in lectures because of the length but it was still relevant and interesting for the most part. I had no background knowledge of AI and technology coming into the class and I came out of it like I actually learned about the "human" side of the tech industry. Most discussions were centered around ethics and problems within Big Data.

Grading: 3 papers + Final Exam paper
The papers were graded by the TA's who were pretty lenient and had thoughtful comments which helped with the Final Exam paper.

Note: Participation is pretty important in this class and you'll get on Ramesh's good side if you ask good questions and initiate discussions.