AI tools are the latest craze to impact the tech industry — and by extension, the rest of the world.
For years now, bosses everywhere are trying to boost profits by replacing workers with AI, and workers everywhere are trying to keep up by gaining new skills in AI management to keep their jobs. We’ve tried to help out with roundups of free online training courses that the average worker can check out.
However, continuing education isn’t always easy: You likely already have a nine-to-five, and so keeping up with your homework over evenings or weekends can be an overwhelming hassle. Plus, you might be unfamilar with typical websites for online courses, like Coursera or edX.com. And don’t even ask me to explain what AWS is.
But there’s one video platform that everyone and their grandma knows and loves. YouTube is the perfect learning website for our modern attention-deficit age. Plenty of YouTube creators are infamous for fast jump-cut editing and rapid-fire speaking styles, and they can help explain the often confusing world of AI in a way that’s easy to grasp.
Here are all the top recommendations for YouTube channels that can get you up to speed with the ins and outs of machine learning, data crunching, and generative AI.
Sentdex
What does this channel cover? According to its own bio, it’s all about Python Programming, and additionally tackles topics including “machine learning, finance, data analysis, robotics, web development, game development and more.” Naturally, AI is in its wheelhouse.
Data scientist Harrison Kensley runs the channel, offering videos covering AI from a wide range of angles. They stretch back for years prior to AI becoming a top buzzword in tech, too: The most watched video, “Practical Machine Learning Tutorial with Python,” is currently eight years old, with 2.7 million views.
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These videos are aimed at helping beginners get started with practical guidance to interacting with Python, GPTs, and more. You can check out the channel over here.
3Blue1Brown
This physics and math channel offers slick graphics and well-written narration as it unpacks the principles behind geeky math. Naturally, it has a lot to say about AI.
Just be warned: This isn’t for the complete novice — it gets into the actual algebra behind how a neural network learns. Granted, you won’t have to actually solve any math problems yourself. Instead, you’ll be guided through it all with careful explanations about what general concepts lie underneath more complex formulas.
Like most of our recommendations here, this channel isn’t 100% dedicated to AI. However, it has a significant focus on the tech, and offers a lot of videos covering it, making this another great resource for an AI student who isn’t scared of a few math problems.
You should get started with the “But What Is a Neural Network?” playlist, which is still being updated regularly.
DeeplearningAI
Computer scientist and AI expert Andrew Ng has popped up in our guides to the internet’s best free AI knowledge courses in the past, thanks to his efforts to establish huge amounts of free courses on websites like Coursera. He’s on YouTube, too, of course.
DeeplearningAI’s courses are all ported over from Coursera, so you’ll be getting the same lesson plans and video courses on either site. Courses include topics like Machine Learning Specialization (41 videos), or Machine Learning Engineering for Production (40 videos). However, it’s not all courses: You can also check out regular livestreams, such as a recent hour-long video discussion on the topic “How To Read AI Research Papers Effectively.”
You can check out the entire channel here — just scroll down to the “Created playlists” section to browse through the most informative playlists to watch first.
Data School
Kevin Markham gets right into his pitch for why you should check out this channel, with a bio that immediately asks the viewer, “Are you trying to learn data science so that you can get your first data science job?” If you’re answering “yes” in your head, you’re the target audience for this one.
Markham focuses largely on data science using the Python programming language, putting this channel in competition with Sentdex. Topics include hands-on, practical lessons, covering areas like the open-source scikit-learn machine learning library or something as targeted as how to use ColumnTransformer to apply different preprocessing to different columns.
At the same time, you can also dip into more general, conceptual videos, like ‘Making sense of the confusion matrix.” Check out the entire channel over here.
Two Minute Papers
Love research? Hate wading through boring academic language in order to figure out what the latest paper has to say? This YouTube channel is dedicated to offering concise, intelligent summaries of the most recent research papers.
Popular playlists include non-AI topics like 3D printing and the Metaverse, but you’ll want to check out the one dedicated to “ChatGPT, GPT4, OpenAI, Stable Diffusion and more!” for all the AI research news to know about.
It’s a sprawling playlist with 90 videos, but they’re all around five minutes long, making this channel a great option for quick check-ins, rather than lengthy homework-packed courses. You can check out the AI playlist here.
StatQuest With Josh Starmer
Josh Starmer takes a top-down approach to teaching the basics behind statistics, machine learning and data science.
Among the years-old playlists to check out are “Neural Networks / Deep Learning,” “Statistics Fundamentals,” “Linear Regression and Linear Models,” and “Machine Learning.” Recent videos cover podcast-style conversations in a series called “Human Stories in AI,” as well as incredibly nerdy quasi-animated guides like “Essential Matrix Algebra for Neural Networks, Clearly Explained.”
Starmer also has some original songs to debut, complete with guitar backing, so you’re definitely getting a tailored experience with this channel. Check it out over here.
Siraj Raval
Raval’s channel aims to spread data literacy, with topics that should be pretty familar to anyone who’s read this far in our YouTube guide: Artificial Intelligence, Mathematics, Science, and Technology are all on the table.
This time, however, the topics are immediately engaging, with a focus on experiences over rote courses. For example, some recent videos include “I Built a Sports Betting Bot with ChatGPT” or “AI Turned $10k into Profits in 24hrs (No Coding!)” They’re splashy and aimed at wowing an audience whose just as interested in the worlds of finance and gambling as Raval is.
You’ll get interesting podcast conversation and some AI tutorials as well. Try your luck over here.
Jeremy Howard
Jeremy Howard is a data scientist and the founder of fast.ai, a research institute focused on teaching people about neural networks. He created created ULMFiT, a system in use in major AI tools including ChatGPT and Google Gemini. Now, he’s trying to bring AI knowledge to everyone, and his YouTube channel is the place to start.
His focus is “deep learning,” a type of machine learning that emphasizes neural networks. His playlists include multiple recorded lecture series focused on “Practical Deep Learning for Coders,” with a 2020 version to update those who only took the 2018 edition.
In short, he’s the real deal. The fact that you can check out a range of free online courses from Howard right this instant is all part of the wonders of YouTube. Check out Howard’s work here.
