Course Outline
Introduction to Deep Learning
- Differentiating deep learning from traditional machine learning approaches
- Practical applications in computer vision, NLP, and other domains
- Survey of the deep learning ecosystem: TensorFlow 2.x, Keras, and PyTorch
- Establishing a GPU-accelerated development environment
Core Mechanics of Deep Learning
- Artificial neurons, activation functions, and network layers
- Forward propagation and the process of computing predictions
- Loss functions utilized for classification and regression tasks
- Gradient descent optimization techniques and backpropagation
- Training your initial neural network using the MNIST dataset
Convolutional Neural Networks for Computer Vision
- Concepts of convolution, filters, and feature maps
- Pooling layers and techniques for dimensionality reduction
- CNN architectures: Understanding LeNet, VGG, and ResNet principles
- Constructing and training a CNN for image classification
- Visualizing learned features and intermediate activations
Data Augmentation and Enhancing Model Accuracy
- Understanding how data augmentation mitigates overfitting and boosts generalization
- Image transformation techniques: rotation, flipping, zooming, and cropping
- Implementing augmentation pipelines using Keras preprocessing layers
- Regularization methods such as dropout and batch normalization
- Monitoring training progress via validation metrics and early stopping strategies
Transfer Learning with Pre-Trained Models
- Grasping the concept of transfer learning and its effectiveness
- Loading pre-trained models from Keras Applications (ResNet, EfficientNet, MobileNet)
- Feature extraction: freezing base layers while training new classifiers
- Fine-tuning: selectively unfreezing layers for domain adaptation
- Achieving high accuracy with restricted training data
Recurrent Networks and Sequence Modeling
- Introduction to sequential data and temporal dependencies
- Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs) and the vanishing gradient challenge
- LSTM and GRU cells for capturing long-range dependencies
- Training a character-level text generation model
- Word embeddings and the Embedding layer within Keras
Fundamentals of Natural Language Processing
- Text preprocessing: tokenization, padding, and vocabulary construction
- Developing a text classifier using RNNs and LSTMs
- Concepts of sequence-to-sequence models for machine translation
- Attention mechanisms and their critical role in contemporary NLP
- Practical NLP implementation with TensorFlow 2.x text processing APIs
Final Project: Image Captioning
- Merging computer vision and NLP within a multimodal architecture
- Extracting image features using a pre-trained CNN encoder
- Designing an LSTM-based decoder for caption generation
- Managing multiple input layers in the Keras functional API
- Training and evaluating the complete end-to-end captioning pipeline
Next Steps and Resources
- Deploying trained models using TensorFlow Serving
- Exploring transformer architectures and large language models
- NVIDIA DLI advanced workshops and certification pathways
- Community resources, datasets, and project ideas
Requirements
- Foundational proficiency in Python programming (including functions, loops, dictionaries, and arrays)
- Understanding of core programming concepts such as variables, conditionals, and data structures
- No prior experience in deep learning or machine learning is necessary
Audience
- Software developers and engineers moving into the fields of AI and machine learning
- Data analysts and scientists looking to acquire deep learning capabilities
- Technical professionals seeking to comprehend and apply neural network models
- Students and researchers starting their exploration into deep learning
Testimonials (2)
The training was organized and well-planned out, and I come out of it with systematized knowledge and a good look at topics we looked at
Magdalena - Samsung Electronics Polska Sp. z o.o.
Course - Deep Learning with TensorFlow 2
I really liked the end where we took the time to play around with CHAT GPT. The room was not set up the best for this- instead of one large table a couple of small ones so we could get into small groups and brainstorm would have helped