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Ariadne Technology · AI Research Academy

Find your way through the labyrinth of AI.

Become an AI research scientist one chamber at a time. Build intuition from video, derive the mathematics, train living models in your browser, and practise the craft of research, with XP, badges and a Minotaur to keep you honest.

Start the first course Explore courses
26
chambers
54
problems to code
3
guardians

Learn like a scientist

Four ways in, one golden thread.

Every chamber weaves the same four strands together, because research needs all of them: feel it, derive it, test it, write it.

Intuition

Hand-picked video lectures and visual explanations build the picture before the symbols arrive.

Mathematics

Every idea is derived, not just stated. Then you prove it yourself and code it up, Project Euler style.

Living labs

Roll gradient descent downhill, train real networks in your browser, and compute backprop by hand.

Research craft

Read papers, design rigorous experiments, review like Reviewer #2, and write it up in LaTeX.

Try it now

Your first XP is one question away.

No sign-up, no setup. Answer correctly on the first try for the full 20 XP. Your progress is saved right here in your browser, and you're already on the ladder.

See your lab
A question from Mathematics for Machine Learning +20 XP

Almost every machine-learning paper contains a line like θ⋆=arg min⁡θ L(θ)\theta^\star = \argmin_{\theta}\, \mathcal{L}(\theta). What is θ⋆\theta^\star?

ENTRANCE123456789
Cleared You are here Ahead

The first course

Mathematics for Machine Learning

Learn to read the language every machine-learning paper is written in.

  1. IThe Outer Ring: The alphabet of mathematics. Reading Mathematics Aloud · Sets: The Nouns of Mathematics · Logic: For All and There Exists
  2. IIThe Middle Ring: The grammar of expressions. Functions: Machines That Map · Σ and Π: Loops Written in Maths · Vectors and Matrices: Reading the Shapes
  3. IIIThe Inner Ring: The language of papers. Change: The Notation of Calculus · Chance: The Notation of Probability · Reading the Equations of a Paper
  4. The centre: the Sphinx's exam, and your certificate.
Enter the labyrinth

Play is part of the method

Every step up the thread counts.

Learning research is a long climb, so we made the climb visible. Earn XP for every question, lab and chamber, and watch your rank rise from Curious Mind to Distinguished Scientist.

  1. 1Curious Mind0 XPYou
  2. 2Undergraduate Researcher100 XP
  3. 3Research Intern250 XP
  4. 4PhD Student450 XP
  5. 5PhD Candidate700 XP
  6. 6Postdoctoral Fellow1,000 XP
  7. 7Research Scientist1,400 XP
  8. 8Senior Research Scientist1,900 XP
  9. 9Principal Scientist2,600 XP
  10. 10Distinguished Scientist3,500 XP
XP & research ranksClimb from Curious Mind to Distinguished Scientist.
Streaks & daily challengesOne question a day keeps your thread unbroken.
Badges, some secret75 to earn. A few you'll only find by breaking things.
Collectible concept cardsEvery chamber adds cards to your Codex, from common to legendary.
Problems to codeProject Euler–style challenges: work it out in code, submit one answer.
A guardian at every centreFace the Sphinx, Talos and the Minotaur to earn your certificates.
A lab notebookYour progress, research notes and achievements in one place.

A few of the badges waiting in the labyrinth

First Thread

Alpha to Omega

Q.E.D.

Euler's Apprentice

Codebreaker

Eigen Hunter

Beyond the Perceptron

Reviewer #2

Riddle Solver

Polymath

Why “Ariadne”?

“She gave him a ball of thread, and told him to tie it at the entrance and unwind it as he went.”

The myth of Theseus and Ariadne, retold

In the Greek myth, Theseus entered the labyrinth of Crete to face the Minotaur. Many had gone in before him, and none had come back. Ariadne's gift wasn't a weapon. It was a thread: a simple, continuous path that made an impossible maze navigable.

That's what Ariadne Technology builds. AI research can feel like a labyrinth of jargon, equations and hype. Our courses are the thread: one clear step after another, from your first line of best fit to your first research paper.

The curriculum

One thread, labyrinth after labyrinth

Start by learning to read the language of machine learning, then the linear algebra underneath it, then build neural networks from first principles. Each course has its own guardian at the centre.

All courses
  1. 1BeginnerMathematics for Machine LearningLearn to read the language every machine-learning paper is written in. Guardian: The Sphinx
  2. 2BeginnerLinear Algebra for Machine LearningVectors, matrices and the geometry hiding inside every model. Guardian: Talos
  3. 3BeginnerNeural Networks from First PrinciplesFrom a single neuron to your first research write-up. Guardian: The Minotaur

Coming next to the academy

Probability & Statistics for ML

Beginner

Transformers & Attention from Scratch

Intermediate

Reinforcement Learning: Agents that Learn

Intermediate

Generative Models: VAEs, GANs & Diffusion

Advanced

The Research Workflow: Idea to Publication

Intermediate

Pick up the thread.

Chamber 1 takes about half an hour. By the end you'll read the Greek alphabet of machine learning aloud, write your first proof and solve your first coding problem.

Begin Chamber 1