Artificial Intelligence
This term involves following a list of instructions or rules to follow in order to complete a task or solve a problem
What is an algorithm?
This stretchy, bouncy toy helps show how some materials have both solid-like and liquid-like parts, what scientists call a mix of “glassy” and “rubbery” fractions.
What is silly putty?
No, nothing is crawling around in your laptop -- just this pesky problem in code that makes your software do the wrong thing.
What is a bug?
This process uses a metal alloy and heat to join electrical components together, kind of like metal glue.
What is soldering?
UM-Ann Arbor includes Central, Medical, and South Campuses -- along with this fourth campus, home to the College of Engineering; the School of Music, Theatre & Dance; and Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning.
What is North Campus?
Named after the father of computing, this test is designed to determine whether you're interacting with a human or a machine.
What is the Turing test?
This type of material is used in computer chips because it can sometimes conduct electricity and sometimes block it.
What are semiconductors?
In programming, this happens when a code keeps running forever because it never meets a condition to stop.
What is an infinite loop?
This tiny electronic component controls how much current flows through a circuit, often marked with colorful bands to show its value.
What is a resistor?
Michigan Stadium is affectionately known by this nickname and holds over 100,000 fans.
What is The Big House?
AIs can play these types of games -- such as checkers and connect four -- because we can predict any outcome (win, lose or draw) based on the placement of the game pieces.
What is a solved game?
This common beach material is made mostly of silicon dioxide and is often the starting point for making silicon wafers used in electronics.
What is sand?
All types of programs are built from these, the only type of process that the CPU can handle.
What are instructions?
AI computers need a lot of this to temporarily hold information while they think. It’s faster than a hard drive but forgets everything when the power turns off.
What is RAM (Random Access Memory)?
It's said that if you step on this embedded campus symbol before your first blue book exam, you’ll fail it.
What is the Block M?
You're seeing things! This term refers to when a large language model confidently makes up information that isn’t true.
What is an AI hallucination?
The XRD machine uses these invisible waves to look inside crystals and reveal how atoms are arranged.
What are X-rays?
In coding, this is the fancy word for a reusable block of code that can be “called” to do something, like make a sandwich or sort a list.
What is a function?
Gamers and AIs alike use these small, powerful chips that make images, animations, graphics to display on the computer's screen.
What is a graphics processing unit (GPU)?
He played Othello many times, but this UM alum is better known as the voice of Darth Vader in the “Star Wars” films and Mufasa in "The Lion King".
Who is James Earl Jones?
This type of machine learning algorithm doesn't use labeled data, but instead improves based on positive and negative responses.
What is reinforcement learning?
This term means adding tiny amounts of other elements to silicon to change how electricity flows (No Olympic metals for these materials, though!)
What is doping?
Dueling can't help you here! This computer program takes computer code written in one programming language and changes it into another programming language.
What is a compiler?
No, not money! This is a separate type of memory that is the closest to the processor and the fastest of the memory types.
What is a cache?
A common myth is that U-M’s Law Library was featured in this movie series. While it wasn’t actually filmed there, the rumor still casts a spell on campus tours.
What is Harry Potter?