Introduction to AI, LLMs and NLP

About

This two-week course provides an accessible introduction to Artificial Intelligence, Natural Language Processing (NLP), and Large Language Models (LLMs). Beginning with the foundations of human language—how sounds, words, and grammar create meaning—the course gradually shifts toward the computational methods that power modern AI systems, including chatbots, machine translation, and voice assistants.
Students will explore key concepts such as linguistic structure, corpus analysis, statistical modelling, neural networks, and Transformer architectures. Through hands-on labs, they will work with industry-standard tools like NLTK, spaCy, Hugging Face Transformers, LLM platforms gaining practical experience in processing, analysing, and modelling language data.

During the final sessions, participants will work in teams to design and build a small prototype application, applying the concepts and tools learned throughout the course.

By the end of the programme, students will understand both the theoretical foundations and the real-world relevance of modern NLP and LLMs

Course leader

Yan Asadchy, MSc, Junior Research Fellow at Tallinn University, is an interdisciplinary researcher and a Ph.D. student at CUDAN Open Lab, Tallinn University. He works at the intersection of computer science and humanities and uses computational methods to examine digital culture and self-representation on social media. He is a member of MIT’s Connection Science group and the DTx Research Group at Oulu University. Yan founded Affinity OÜ, a design agency that provides ethical design consultancy and solutions to startups and research groups in digital health, wellbeing, and AI. Yan has a background in UX/UI design and earned his MSc in Human-Computer Interaction from Tallinn University.
Francesca Carlon, MSc, is a Junior Research Fellow and PhD student at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) Data Analytics Lab, Belgium. Her research explores the intersection of language, artificial intelligence, and natural language processing (NLP), with a particular focus on applying NLP to real-world problems. She earned an MSc in Computational Linguistics from the University of Stuttgart (Germany), where she also worked as a research assistant in the field of AI safety. Francesca additionally holds an MA in Linguistics from Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (Italy).

Target group

The course is designed for students, researchers, and professionals interested in Artificial Intelligence, computational linguistics, and language technologies who have basic knowledge of Python programming and statistics and want to gain hands-on experience with modern NLP and LLM tools

Course aim

The aim of the course is to introduce participants to the fundamental concepts of Artificial Intelligence, Natural Language Processing (NLP), and Large Language Models (LLMs), while developing practical skills in analysing and modelling language data using modern computational tools and Python-based NLP frameworks

Fee info

Accommodation and meals are not included in the price