{ "source_file": "0930", "source_platform": "Medium", "author": "Shawhin Talebi", "title_listed": "How I'd Learn AI in 2025 (If I Could Start Over)", "keywords": "学习路线,AI", "domain": "机器学习", "content_type": "深度技术解析", "is_paid_flag": "部分免费/会员墙", "url": "https://towardsdatascience.com/how-id-learn-ai-in-2025-if-i-knew-nothing-0496dc9ab54c/", "publish_date": "2024-12", "corpus_stage": "预训练/SFT", "notes": "", "id": "1a0b8dc64835", "collected_at": "2026-10-01T22:22:11", "title": "How I'd Learn AI in 2025 (If I Could Start Over) | Towards Data Science", "body_markdown": "![Revisit consent button](https://cdn-cookieyes.com/assets/images/revisit.svg)\nWe value your privacy\nWe use cookies to enhance your browsing experience, serve personalised ads or content, and analyse our traffic. By clicking \"Accept All\", you consent to our use of cookies.\nCustomise Reject All Accept All\nCustomise Consent Preferences ![](https://cdn-cookieyes.com/assets/images/close.svg)\nWe use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.\nThe cookies that are categorised as \"Necessary\" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... Show more\nNecessaryAlways Active\nNecessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.\n * Cookie\nBCTempID\n * Duration\n10 minutes\n * Description\nNo description available.\n\n\n * Cookie\n__cf_bm\n * Duration\n1 hour\n * Description\nThis cookie, set by Cloudflare, is used to support Cloudflare Bot Management. \n\n\n * Cookie\nAWSALBCORS\n * Duration\n7 days\n * Description\nAmazon Web Services set this cookie for load balancing.\n\n\n * Cookie\n_cfuvid\n * Duration\nsession\n * Description\nCloudflare sets this cookie to track users across sessions to optimize user experience by maintaining session consistency and providing personalized services\n\n\n * Cookie\nli_gc\n * Duration\n6 months\n * Description\nLinkedin set this cookie for storing visitor's consent regarding using cookies for non-essential purposes.\n\n\n * Cookie\n__hssrc\n * Duration\nsession\n * Description\nThis cookie is set by Hubspot whenever it changes the session cookie. The __hssrc cookie set to 1 indicates that the user has restarted the browser, and if the cookie does not exist, it is assumed to be a new session.\n\n\n * Cookie\n__hssc\n * Duration\n1 hour\n * Description\nHubSpot sets this cookie to keep track of sessions and to determine if HubSpot should increment the session number and timestamps in the __hstc cookie.\n\n\n * Cookie\nwpEmojiSettingsSupports\n * Duration\nsession\n * Description\nWordPress sets this cookie when a user interacts with emojis on a WordPress site. It helps determine if the user's browser can display emojis properly.\n\n\n * Cookie\nBCSessionID\n * Duration\n1 year 1 month 4 days\n * Description\nBlueconic sets this cookie as a unique identifier for the BlueConic profile.\n\n\n * Cookie\n_octo\n * Duration\n1 year\n * Description\nNo description available.\n\n\n * Cookie\nlogged_in\n * Duration\n1 year\n * Description\nNo description available.\n\n\n * Cookie\n__Secure-YEC\n * Duration\npast\n * Description\nYouTube sets this cookie to stores the user's video player preferences using embedded YouTube video\n\n\n * Cookie\n__eoi\n * Duration\n6 months\n * Description\nDescription is currently not available.\n\n\n * Cookie\nAWSALBTGCORS\n * Duration\n7 days\n * Description\nNo description available.\n\n\n * Cookie\nlogin-status-p\n * Duration\npast\n * Description\nDescription is currently not available.\n\n\n * Cookie\nAWSALBTG\n * Duration\n7 days\n * Description\nNo description available.\n\n\n * Cookie\ncsrf_token\n * Duration\nsession\n * Description\nNo description available.\n\n\n * Cookie\ntoken_v2\n * Duration\n1 day\n * Description\nDescription is currently not available.\n\n\n * Cookie\nD\n * Duration\n1 year\n * Description\nDescription is currently not available.\n\n\n * Cookie\nPHPSESSID\n * Duration\nsession\n * Description\nThis cookie is native to PHP applications. The cookie stores and identifies a user's unique session ID to manage user sessions on the website. The cookie is a session cookie and will be deleted when all the browser windows are closed.\n\n\n * Cookie\nVISITOR_PRIVACY_METADATA\n * Duration\n6 months\n * Description\nYouTube sets this cookie to store the user's cookie consent state for the current domain. \n\n\n * Cookie\ncookietest\n * Duration\nsession\n * Description\nThe cookietest cookie is typically used to determine whether the user's browser accepts cookies, essential for website functionality and user experience.\n\n\n * Cookie\n__Host-airtable-session\n * Duration\n1 year\n * Description\nThis cookie is used to enable us to integrate the services of Airtable.\n\n\n * Cookie\n__Host-airtable-session.sig\n * Duration\n1 year\n * Description\nThis cookie is used to enable us to integrate the services of Airtable.\n\n\n * Cookie\nm\n * Duration\n1 year 1 month 4 days\n * Description\nStripe sets this cookie for fraud prevention purposes. It identifies the device used to access the website, allowing the website to be formatted accordingly.\n\n\n * Cookie\nBIGipServer*\n * Duration\nsession\n * Description\nMarketo sets this cookie to collect information about the user's online activity and build a profile about their interests to provide advertisements relevant to the user. \n\n\n * Cookie\n__cfruid\n * Duration\nsession\n * Description\nCloudflare sets this cookie to identify trusted web traffic.\n\n\n * Cookie\n_GRECAPTCHA\n * Duration\n6 months\n * Description\nGoogle Recaptcha service sets this cookie to identify bots to protect the website against malicious spam attacks.\n\n\n * Cookie\n__Secure-YNID\n * Duration\n6 months\n * Description\nGoogle cookie used to protect user security and prevent fraud, especially during the login process.\n\n\n * Cookie\ncookieyes-consent\n * Duration\n1 year\n * Description\nCookieYes sets this cookie to remember users' consent preferences so that their preferences are respected on subsequent visits to this site. It does not collect or store any personal information about the site visitors.\n\n\nFunctional\nFunctional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.\n * Cookie\nlidc\n * Duration\n1 day\n * Description\nLinkedIn sets the lidc cookie to facilitate data center selection.\n\n\n * Cookie\nbrw\n * Duration\n1 year\n * Description\nNo description available.\n\n\n * Cookie\nbrwConsent\n * Duration\n5 minutes\n * Description\nDescription is currently not available.\n\n\n * Cookie\nWMF-Uniq\n * Duration\n1 year\n * Description\nDescription is currently not available.\n\n\n * Cookie\nloom_anon_comment\n * Duration\n1 year\n * Description\nNo description available.\n\n\n * Cookie\nloom_referral_video\n * Duration\nsession\n * Description\nDescription is currently not available.\n\n\n * Cookie\nVISITOR_INFO1_LIVE\n * Duration\n6 months\n * Description\nA cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface.\n\n\n * Cookie\nyt-remote-connected-devices\n * Duration\nNever Expires\n * Description\nYouTube sets this cookie to store the user's video preferences using embedded YouTube videos.\n\n\n * Cookie\nytidb::LAST_RESULT_ENTRY_KEY\n * Duration\nNever Expires\n * Description\nThe cookie ytidb::LAST_RESULT_ENTRY_KEY is used by YouTube to store the last search result entry that was clicked by the user. This information is used to improve the user experience by providing more relevant search results in the future.\n\n\n * Cookie\nyt-remote-device-id\n * Duration\nNever Expires\n * Description\nYouTube sets this cookie to store the user's video preferences using embedded YouTube videos.\n\n\n * Cookie\nyt-remote-session-name\n * Duration\nsession\n * Description\nThe yt-remote-session-name cookie is used by YouTube to store the user's video player preferences using embedded YouTube video.\n\n\n * Cookie\nyt-remote-fast-check-period\n * Duration\nsession\n * Description\nThe yt-remote-fast-check-period cookie is used by YouTube to store the user's video player preferences for embedded YouTube videos.\n\n\n * Cookie\nyt-remote-session-app\n * Duration\nsession\n * Description\nThe yt-remote-session-app cookie is used by YouTube to store user preferences and information about the interface of the embedded YouTube video player.\n\n\n * Cookie\nyt-remote-cast-available\n * Duration\nsession\n * Description\nThe yt-remote-cast-available cookie is used to store the user's preferences regarding whether casting is available on their YouTube video player.\n\n\n * Cookie\nyt-remote-cast-installed\n * Duration\nsession\n * Description\nThe yt-remote-cast-installed cookie is used to store the user's video player preferences using embedded YouTube video.\n\n\n * Cookie\ncp_session\n * Duration\n3 months\n * Description\nCodepen sets this cookie for Help systems found in the website.\n\n\n * Cookie\nloid\n * Duration\n1 year 1 month 4 days\n * Description\nThis cookie is set by the Reddit. The cookie enables the sharing of content from the website onto the social media platform.\n\n\nAnalytics\nAnalytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.\n * Cookie\n__hstc\n * Duration\n6 months\n * Description\nHubspot set this main cookie for tracking visitors. It contains the domain, initial timestamp (first visit), last timestamp (last visit), current timestamp (this visit), and session number (increments for each subsequent session).\n\n\n * Cookie\nhubspotutk\n * Duration\n6 months\n * Description\nHubSpot sets this cookie to keep track of the visitors to the website. This cookie is passed to HubSpot on form submission and used when deduplicating contacts.\n\n\n * Cookie\n_ga\n * Duration\n1 year 1 month 4 days\n * Description\nGoogle Analytics sets this cookie to calculate visitor, session and campaign data and track site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognise unique visitors.\n\n\n * Cookie\n_ga_*\n * Duration\n1 year 1 month 4 days\n * Description\nGoogle Analytics sets this cookie to store and count page views.\n\n\n * Cookie\n__Host-psifi.analyticsTrace\n * Duration\n6 hours\n * Description\nDescription is currently not available.\n\n\n * Cookie\n__Host-psifi.analyticsTraceV2\n * Duration\n6 hours\n * Description\nDescription is currently not available.\n\n\n * Cookie\n_gh_sess\n * Duration\nsession\n * Description\nGitHub sets this cookie for temporary application and framework state between pages like what step the user is on in a multiple step form.\n\n\n * Cookie\nYSC\n * Duration\nsession\n * Description\nYSC cookie is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos on Youtube pages.\n\n\n * Cookie\najs_anonymous_id\n * Duration\n1 year\n * Description\nThis cookie is set by Segment to count the number of people who visit a certain site by tracking if they have visited before.\n\n\n * Cookie\nvuid\n * Duration\n1 year 1 month 4 days\n * Description\nVimeo installs this cookie to collect tracking information by setting a unique ID to embed videos on the website. \n\n\nPerformance\nPerformance cookies are used to understand and analyse the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.\n * Cookie\nAWSALB\n * Duration\n7 days\n * Description\nAWSALB is an application load balancer cookie set by Amazon Web Services to map the session to the target.\n\n\n * Cookie\nacq\n * Duration\npast\n * Description\nDescription is currently not available.\n\n\n * Cookie\nacq.sig\n * Duration\npast\n * Description\nDescription is currently not available.\n\n\n * Cookie\nptc\n * Duration\n2 years\n * Description\nNo description available.\n\n\nAdvertisement\nAdvertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customised advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyse the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.\n * Cookie\nmuc_ads\n * Duration\n1 year 1 month 4 days\n * Description\nTwitter sets this cookie to collect user behaviour and interaction data to optimize the website.\n\n\n * Cookie\nguest_id_marketing\n * Duration\n1 year 1 month 4 days\n * Description\nTwitter sets this cookie to identify and track the website visitor.\n\n\n * Cookie\nguest_id_ads\n * Duration\n1 year 1 month 4 days\n * Description\nTwitter sets this cookie to identify and track the website visitor.\n\n\n * Cookie\npersonalization_id\n * Duration\n1 year 1 month 4 days\n * Description\nTwitter sets this cookie to integrate and share features for social media and also store information about how the user uses the website, for tracking and targeting.\n\n\n * Cookie\nguest_id\n * Duration\n1 year 1 month 4 days\n * Description\nTwitter sets this cookie to identify and track the website visitor. It registers if a user is signed in to the Twitter platform and collects information about ad preferences.\n\n\n * Cookie\nbcookie\n * Duration\n1 year\n * Description\nLinkedIn sets this cookie from LinkedIn share buttons and ad tags to recognize browser IDs.\n\n\n * Cookie\n__Secure-ROLLOUT_TOKEN\n * Duration\n6 months\n * Description\nYouTube sets this cookie to manage feature rollout and experimentation. It helps Google control which new features or interface changes are shown to users as part of testing and staged rollouts, ensuring consistent experience for a given user during an experiment.\n\n\n * Cookie\nyt.innertube::nextId\n * Duration\nNever Expires\n * Description\nYouTube sets this cookie to register a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen.\n\n\n * Cookie\nyt.innertube::requests\n * Duration\nNever Expires\n * Description\nYouTube sets this cookie to register a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen.\n\n\n * Cookie\nsession_tracker\n * Duration\nsession\n * Description\nThis cookie is set by the Reddit. This cookie is used to identify trusted web traffic. It also helps in adverstising on the website.\n\n\n * Cookie\nedgebucket\n * Duration\nsession\n * Description\nReddit sets this cookie to save the information about a log-on Reddit user, for the purpose of advertisement recommendations and updating the content.\n\n\n * Cookie\ndid\n * Duration\n1 year\n * Description\nArbor sets this cookie to show targeted ads to site visitors.This cookie expires after 2 months or 1 year.\n\n\nUncategorised\nOther uncategorised cookies are those that are being analysed and have not been classified into a category as yet.\nNo cookies to display.\nReject All Save My Preferences Accept All\nToggle Search[](https://towardsdatascience.com/)Toggle Mobile Navigation\n[](https://towardsdatascience.com/)\nPublish AI, ML & data-science insights to a global community of data professionals.\nSign in[Submit an Article](https://write.insightmediagroup.io)\n[Latest](https://towardsdatascience.com/latest/)[Editor's Picks](https://towardsdatascience.com/tag/editors-pick/)[Newsletter](https://towardsdatascience.com/tag/the-variable/)[ShipAI](https://towardsdatascience.com/shipai/)\n* * *\n[Write For TDS](https://towardsdatascience.com/submissions/)\n[LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/towards-data-science/)[X](https://x.com/TDataScience)Toggle Search\n[Machine Learning](https://towardsdatascience.com/category/artificial-intelligence/machine-learning/)\n# How I'd Learn AI in 2025 (If I Could Start Over)\nA 5-step roadmap for today's landscape\n[Shaw Talebi](https://towardsdatascience.com/author/shawhin/)\nDecember 13, 20247 min read\nToday, more people than ever are trying to learn AI. Although there are countless free learning resources online, navigating this rapidly evolving landscape can be overwhelming (especially as a beginner). In this article, I discuss how I'd approach learning AI, given what I know now and the tools available today.\n![Image from Canva.](https://assets.insightmediagroup.io/media/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/1YCBb6_ABdgqFfIO8yG4W-A.png)\nImage from Canva.\n* * *\nLearn this step by step with the interactive [Machine Learning](https://roadmap.sh/machine-learning) roadmap.\n## **Who is this for?**\nGiven the wide range of backgrounds interested in AI these days, I've tried to make this guide widely accessible. However, no guide can help everyone. Here are a few specific groups I have in mind.\n * **Technical professionals** trying to up-skill for career advancement\n * **Business leaders** who haven't coded in years, trying to keep up with the changing tech landscape\n * **Entrepreneurs** building AI-native products\n * **Students** trying to develop their technical AI skills\n\n\n_**About me**_ - I've worked in AI for the past 6 years. I started as an AI researcher while getting my PhD, then eventually worked as a data scientist at Toyota. Although I still have a lot to learn, the approach below covers (what I think are) the essentials based on my personal experience.\n## **My 5-Step Approach**\nThe guiding principle of this framework is to **learn by doing**. Each step outlines a clear and specific objective through which completion will naturally develop key skills. In other words, rather than reviewing a list of concepts and courses, **each step is a task** designed to force me to learn essential skills by completing it.\nHere's an overview of the 5-step approach. Each step builds upon the ones before it.\n 1. Use ChatGPT (or the like)\n 2. Install Python\n 3. Build an Automation\n 4. Build an ML Project\n 5. Build a Real-world Project\n\n\n## **Step 1: Use ChatGPT (or the like)**\nIf starting from zero, the first thing I would do is familiarize myself with modern AI tools i.e. ChatGPT, Claude, and the like. This is important because frequently using these models will give me a **practical understanding of what they can and can't do** and **** develop my ability to** use them effectively through promptin**g.\nOn a more meta level, these chat interfaces are incredible tools for learning AI (or anything else, really). I'd use it to explain confusing buzzwords and technical concepts (e.g. LLM, tokens, API, RAG) and be sure to **ask follow-up questions** until I have a solid understanding of each idea. For those that don't click, I'd seek alternative resources using Google search and YouTube.\n * **Task** : Pick an AI chat tool and use it in daily work\n * **Resources** : [ChatGPT](https://chatgpt.com/), [Claude](https://claude.ai/), [Together AI](https://api.together.ai/playground/chat/), [Gemini](https://gemini.google.com/app), [Perplexity](https://www.perplexity.ai/)\n\n\n## **Step 2: Install Python**\nAlthough I could go far with today's no-code AI tools, they are fundamentally limited. Namely, these tools **can't be easily used to build custom solutions** or process information in bulk. That's why the next thing I would do is install Python on my computer.\n**Python is the industry standard programming language for AI development**. To get it installed, I'd ask ChatGPT for step-by-step instructions. If I get stuck, I'd come back to ChatGPT, explain the issue, and ask for additional guidance.\nWhile using ChatGPT (or any other AI assistant) in this way can streamline the process significantly, I would still take the time to understand each step of the process and ask follow-up questions as needed. This is an important habit to develop because it will **avoid accumulating technical debt** , which I'll have to pay later _when_ something goes wrong.\n * **Task** : Install Python on your machine\n * **Resources** : [Python QuickStart](https://medium.com/towards-data-science/python-quickstart-for-people-learning-ai-58a1b76df0f4)\n\n\n> [**Python QuickStart for People Learning AI**](https://towardsdatascience.com/python-quickstart-for-people-learning-ai-58a1b76df0f4)\n## **Step 3: Build an Automation (Beginner)**\nOnce I've become comfortable using ChatGPT and installed Python on my machine, my next step would be to build a simple automation using Python. My approach to generating project ideas would be to **think of things I consistently use ChatGPT for** (e.g. summarizing research articles), then try and automate it with Python.\nThis would require me to become familiar with OpenAI's Python API. So, I'd start by reading their [documentation](https://platform.openai.com/docs/overview) and reviewing the example code there. Once I felt comfortable with the API, I'd start writing Python code.\nMy first step would be to **think through the steps of my automation**. For example, if summarizing research papers, the steps might be:\n 1. Read paper contents into Python\n 2. Construct prompt for GPT-4o\n 3. Make an OpenAI API call\n\n\nIf I got stuck, I'd turn to ChatGPT for assistance. For instance, if I didn't know how to read PDFs into Python, I could ask ChatGPT for help. If it spits out code I don't understand, I'd **ask follow-up questions** until I understand each line.\nIt (again) is important that I take this approach to coding with ChatGPT because blindly copy-pasting code from it wouldn't teach me much. It would also accrue unforgiving **technical debt**. In other words, I'd get **short-term gains but would have to pay for them later via technical difficulties and headaches**.\n**Task** : Use OpenAI API (or the like) to build a simple automation\n**Resources** : [OpenAI API Intro](https://towardsdatascience.com/cracking-open-the-openai-python-api-230e4cae7971) | [Paper Summarizer Example](https://towardsdatascience.com/python-quickstart-for-people-learning-ai-58a1b76df0f4#4117)\n## **Step 4: Build an ML Project (Intermediate)**\nAfter Step 3 gets easy for me, I'd seek out more sophisticated projects. Rather than simply making ChatGPT-like API calls, I'd build a project that required me to **use embedding models or to train a model myself**.\nPotential project ideas would be things like:\n * [Semantic search tool](https://towardsdatascience.com/text-embeddings-classification-and-semantic-search-8291746220be)\n * [Basic RAG system](https://towardsdatascience.com/how-to-improve-llms-with-rag-abdc132f76ac) (i.e. semantic search + LLM)\n * [Clustering documents based on similarity](https://towardsdatascience.com/text-embeddings-classification-and-semantic-search-8291746220be)\n * [Training a text classifier](https://towardsdatascience.com/fine-tuning-bert-for-text-classification-a01f89b179fc)\n * [Fine-tuning an LLM](https://towardsdatascience.com/qlora-how-to-fine-tune-an-llm-on-a-single-gpu-4e44d6b5be32)\n\n\nFor example, if I went with the [RAG](https://towardsdatascience.com/how-to-improve-llms-with-rag-abdc132f76ac) project, I'd first educate myself on RAG by watching YouTube [videos](https://youtu.be/Ylz779Op9Pw?si=TzPffKSGutA-D76q) and reading [blog](https://towardsdatascience.com/how-to-improve-llms-with-rag-abdc132f76ac) posts. Then, I'd break down the system's basic components and the steps to implement it. Finally, I'd start coding the project, using ChatGPT as a co-pilot like Step 3.\n * **Task** : Build an ML project that goes beyond ChatGPT-like API call\n * **Resources** : [More Project Ideas](https://towardsdatascience.com/5-ai-projects-you-can-build-this-weekend-with-python-c57724e9c461)\n\n\n> [**5 AI Projects You Can Build This Weekend (with Python)**](https://towardsdatascience.com/5-ai-projects-you-can-build-this-weekend-with-python-c57724e9c461)\n## **Step 5: Build a Real-world Project (Advanced)**\nAlthough I would have learned a lot about the technical side of AI from Steps 3 and 4, this is **not sufficient for generating value with it**. For that, I'd need to use what I learned to solve real-world problems.\nThere are two ways to do this. I could, one, solve my own problem, or two, solve someone else's problem. Since I (hopefully) already did the former way in Steps 3 and 4, here are a **few different ways I'd approach the latter**.\n 1. Reach out to business owners and professionals in my network\n 2. Join a research group at my University (if I was a student)\n 3. Find an internship (if I was a student)\n 4. Find a freelance gig on Upwork\n\n\nLet's say I had graduated from college and wasn't quite confident enough to freelance yet so that leaves **Option 1**. I'd start by making a list of people to reach out to. Ideal contacts would be small business owners or professionals working at a small to medium-sized business.\nThen, I would craft a message like the one below and send it to everyone on my list via LinkedIn DM or email. If I struggle to find the right wording, I'd use ChatGPT (yet again) to help out.\nmarkdown\n\n```\nSubject: Offering Free Help with AI Projects\n\nHi [Name],\n\nYour work at [Company Name] caught my attention—[insert a detail from their \nLinkedIn or company page you find interesting].\n\nOver the past few months, I've been building practical AI projects to develop \nmy skills. You can see some examples [here](link to portfolio).\n\nNow, I'm looking to apply my learnings to solve real-world problems \nby helping businesses like yours—**completely free of charge**. If there's a \ntask you've been looking to automate or improve with AI, I'd be happy to \nexplore how I can contribute.\n\nWould you be opposed to a short conversation to discuss this?\n\nBest regards,\nShaw\n```\n\n * **Task** : Find a real-world problem to apply AI skills to\n * **Resources:** [Project Discovery Questions](https://towardsdatascience.com/5-questions-every-data-scientist-should-hardcode-into-their-brain-3948e215750f) | [Project Management](https://towardsdatascience.com/data-science-project-management-e8787d818ad0)\n\n\n## **Final Thoughts**\nAlthough AI entails an interdisciplinary collection of technical skills and knowledge, with today's tools and resources, it's never been more accessible. Here, I shared the 5-step approach I'd take to learning it today.\nThat said, it's important to remember that **learning (itself) is hard**. You will get confused, you will get frustrated, and you will question why you're putting yourself through this. However, if you are willing to see it through, you will be rewarded with clarity and knowledge, which is an amazing gift.\nIf you have questions or want feedback on project ideas, feel free to share them in the comments :)\n* * *\nI'm hosting a **6-week (live) AI Bootcamp** starting Jan 10 ([Learn more](https://maven.com/shaw-talebi/ai-builders-bootcamp))\n👉 Get a 40% discount using promo code [SAVE40](https://maven.com/shaw-talebi/ai-builders-bootcamp?promoCode=SAVE40)\n## Register Now to Continue Reading\n### Unlock Towards Data Science with a Free Account\nAll articles on Towards Data Science are available to registered users. Create a free account today to access this article and thousands more.\nRegister for freeSign in to your account\n* * *\n![](https://assets.insightmediagroup.io/media/1787657074748_utev3i.jpeg)\nWritten By\n## [Shaw Talebi](https://towardsdatascience.com/author/shawhin/)\n[See all from Shaw Talebi](https://towardsdatascience.com/author/shawhin/)\n[AI](https://towardsdatascience.com/tag/ai/)[Genai](https://towardsdatascience.com/tag/genai/)[Machine Learning](https://towardsdatascience.com/tag/machine-learning/)[Professional Development](https://towardsdatascience.com/tag/professional-development/)[Tips And Tricks](https://towardsdatascience.com/tag/tips-and-tricks/)\nShare This Article\n * [](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftowardsdatascience.com%2Fhow-id-learn-ai-in-2025-if-i-knew-nothing-0496dc9ab54c%2F&title=How%20I'd%20Learn%20AI%20in%202025%20\\(If%20I%20Could%20Start%20Over\\))\n * [](https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Ftowardsdatascience.com%2Fhow-id-learn-ai-in-2025-if-i-knew-nothing-0496dc9ab54c%2F&title=How%20I'd%20Learn%20AI%20in%202025%20\\(If%20I%20Could%20Start%20Over\\))\n * [](https://x.com/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftowardsdatascience.com%2Fhow-id-learn-ai-in-2025-if-i-knew-nothing-0496dc9ab54c%2F&text=How%20I'd%20Learn%20AI%20in%202025%20\\(If%20I%20Could%20Start%20Over\\))\n\n\nTowards Data Science is a community publication. Submit your insights to reach our global audience and earn through the TDS Author Payment Program.\n[Write for TDS](https://towardsdatascience.com/submissions/)\n## Related Articles\n * [![](https://assets.insightmediagroup.io/media/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/0IQCBrZIYvAmHLYFO-scaled.jpg)](https://towardsdatascience.com/a-primer-on-foundational-concepts-you-need-to-start-running-statistical-tests-ae6b6c79e9a4/)\n## [A Primer on Foundational Concepts You Need to Start Running Statistical Tests](https://towardsdatascience.com/a-primer-on-foundational-concepts-you-need-to-start-running-statistical-tests-ae6b6c79e9a4/)\n[Machine Learning](https://towardsdatascience.com/category/artificial-intelligence/machine-learning/)\nQuantitative study design, significance testing, and different classes of statistical tests.\n[Murtaza Ali](https://towardsdatascience.com/author/murtaza5152-ali/)\nSeptember 9, 20239 min read\n * [![](https://assets.insightmediagroup.io/media/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/0yso28Wiw4Ga5IeUe.png)](https://towardsdatascience.com/concise-guide-to-unsupervised-learning-with-clustering-4924cdbb27cb/)\n## [Concise Guide To Unsupervised Learning With Clustering!](https://towardsdatascience.com/concise-guide-to-unsupervised-learning-with-clustering-4924cdbb27cb/)\n[Artificial Intelligence](https://towardsdatascience.com/category/artificial-intelligence/)\nDetailed understanding of the concepts of unsupervised learning with the help of clustering algorithms.\n[Bharath K](https://towardsdatascience.com/author/bharath-k1297/)\nOctober 14, 202010 min read\n * [![](https://assets.insightmediagroup.io/media/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/1nwtN1GETh_fc5onNoTcAcQ.jpeg)](https://towardsdatascience.com/imputing-numerical-data-top-5-techniques-every-data-scientist-must-know-587c0f51552a/)\n## [Imputing Numerical Data: Top 5 Techniques Every Data Scientist Must Know](https://towardsdatascience.com/imputing-numerical-data-top-5-techniques-every-data-scientist-must-know-587c0f51552a/)\n[Artificial Intelligence](https://towardsdatascience.com/category/artificial-intelligence/)\nFrom simple to advanced - but essential for every data science project.\n[Dario Radečić](https://towardsdatascience.com/author/radecicdario/)\nJuly 6, 20219 min read\n * [![](https://assets.insightmediagroup.io/media/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/0beIoqgAkaeZL810D-scaled.jpg)](https://towardsdatascience.com/data-quality-issues-that-kill-your-machine-learning-models-961591340b40/)\n## [Data Quality Issues that Kill Your Machine Learning Models](https://towardsdatascience.com/data-quality-issues-that-kill-your-machine-learning-models-961591340b40/)\n[Artificial Intelligence](https://towardsdatascience.com/category/artificial-intelligence/)\nNavigating the complexity of imperfect data\n[Miriam Santos](https://towardsdatascience.com/author/miriam.santos/)\nJanuary 19, 20239 min read\n * [![](https://assets.insightmediagroup.io/media/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/1BSu8BlnxWaBEpV_TyrkUHA-scaled.jpeg)](https://towardsdatascience.com/what-when-how-extratrees-classifier-c939f905851c/)\n## [What? When? How?: ExtraTrees Classifier](https://towardsdatascience.com/what-when-how-extratrees-classifier-c939f905851c/)\n[Machine Learning](https://towardsdatascience.com/category/artificial-intelligence/machine-learning/)\nWhat is ExtraTrees Classifier? When to use it? How to implement it?\n[Karun Thankachan](https://towardsdatascience.com/author/selfstarter/)\nAugust 6, 20224 min read\n * [![](https://assets.insightmediagroup.io/media/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/1YHVfmgVMhNRH4OCkBAZmGw.png)](https://towardsdatascience.com/choosing-the-right-number-of-neighbors-k-for-the-k-nearest-neighbors-knn-algorithm-fbc635279ec7/)\n## [Choosing the Right Number of Neighbors (k) for the K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN) Algorithm](https://towardsdatascience.com/choosing-the-right-number-of-neighbors-k-for-the-k-nearest-neighbors-knn-algorithm-fbc635279ec7/)\n[Artificial Intelligence](https://towardsdatascience.com/category/artificial-intelligence/)\nSix methods to measure the effect of the number of neighbors on KNN model evaluation\n[Rukshan Pramoditha](https://towardsdatascience.com/author/rukshanpramoditha/)\nFebruary 27, 202411 min read\n * [![](https://assets.insightmediagroup.io/media/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/18f6Vg7UJniIOUm7THLSZ7g-scaled.jpeg)](https://towardsdatascience.com/knowledge-retrieval-takes-center-stage-183be733c6e8/)\n## [Knowledge Retrieval Takes Center Stage](https://towardsdatascience.com/knowledge-retrieval-takes-center-stage-183be733c6e8/)\n[Artificial Intelligence](https://towardsdatascience.com/category/artificial-intelligence/)\nGenAI Architecture Shifting from RAG Toward Interpretive Retrieval-Centric Generation (RCG) Models\n[Gadi Singer](https://towardsdatascience.com/author/gadi-singer/)\nNovember 16, 202313 min read\n * [![](https://assets.insightmediagroup.io/media/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/13nHBuVAG51GSDDF3xLgsXQ.png)](https://towardsdatascience.com/multi-headed-cross-attention-by-hand-37c07b3ee8f2/)\n## [Multi-Headed Cross Attention - By Hand](https://towardsdatascience.com/multi-headed-cross-attention-by-hand-37c07b3ee8f2/)\n[Machine Learning](https://towardsdatascience.com/category/artificial-intelligence/machine-learning/)\nHand computing a fundamental component of multimodal models\n[Daniel Warfield](https://towardsdatascience.com/author/danielwarfield1/)\nJanuary 24, 20255 min read\n * [![](https://assets.insightmediagroup.io/media/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/1_lhl78yndn7W2EH1TI0DvrQ.png)](https://towardsdatascience.com/branching-out-4-git-workflows-for-collaborating-on-ml/)\n## [Branching Out: 4 Git Workflows for Collaborating on ML](https://towardsdatascience.com/branching-out-4-git-workflows-for-collaborating-on-ml/)\n[Machine Learning](https://towardsdatascience.com/category/artificial-intelligence/machine-learning/)\nMy unversioned code left me swimming through a sea of scripts. Then I found Git.\n[Julie Ripplinger](https://towardsdatascience.com/author/julie.ripplinger.phd/)\nFebruary 12, 202510 min read\n\n\n * [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/c/TowardsDataScience)\n * [X](https://x.com/TDataScience)\n * [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/towards-data-science/)\n * [Threads](https://www.threads.net/@towardsdatascience)\n * [Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/towardsdatascience.com)\n\n\n[](https://towardsdatascience.com/)\nYour home for data science and AI. The world's leading publication for data science, data analytics, data engineering, machine learning, and artificial intelligence professionals.\nSubscribe to Our Newsletter[Write For TDS](https://towardsdatascience.com/submissions/)•[About](https://towardsdatascience.com/about-towards-data-science-d691af11cc2f/)•[Advertise](https://contact.towardsdatascience.com/advertise-with-towards-data-science)•[Privacy Policy](https://towardsdatascience.com/privacy-policy/)•[Terms of Use](https://towardsdatascience.com/website-terms-of-use/)\n© Insight Media Group, LLC 2026•[The New Stack](https://thenewstack.io)•[roadmap.sh](https://roadmap.sh)•[Creator Network](https://insightmediagroup.io/creator-network)\n#### Recommended Articles \nClose\n * [ ![](https://h030.towardsdatascience.com/rest/v2/contentStores/d7d3a4ab-7caf-4383-bbd2-fbf7fb4f1787/items/3642/image?etag=1780830904480&width=500&height=500) Check Your Biases ](https://towardsdatascience.com/check-your-biases-ba2685a7f799/ \"Check Your Biases\")\n * [ ![](https://h030.towardsdatascience.com/rest/v2/contentStores/d7d3a4ab-7caf-4383-bbd2-fbf7fb4f1787/items/607930/image?etag=1782124566054&width=500&height=500) The Subset Sum Problem Solved in Linear Time for Dense Enough Inputs ](https://towardsdatascience.com/subset-sum-problem-solved-in-linear-time-for-dense-enough-inputs/ \"The Subset Sum Problem Solved in Linear Time for Dense Enough Inputs\")\n * [ ![](https://h030.towardsdatascience.com/rest/v2/contentStores/d7d3a4ab-7caf-4383-bbd2-fbf7fb4f1787/items/3660/image?etag=1780176246070&width=500&height=500) Does Your Company Have a Data Strategy? ](https://towardsdatascience.com/does-your-company-have-a-data-strategy-e8944dbec4ae/ \"Does Your Company Have a Data Strategy?\")\n * [ ![](https://h030.towardsdatascience.com/rest/v2/contentStores/d7d3a4ab-7caf-4383-bbd2-fbf7fb4f1787/items/4973/image?etag=1782232567105&width=500&height=500) Machine Learning Tricks, Learning with ChatGPT, and Other Recent Must-Reads ](https://towardsdatascience.com/machine-learning-tricks-learning-with-chatgpt-and-other-recent-must-reads-f277648a1921/ \"Machine Learning Tricks, Learning with ChatGPT, and Other Recent Must-Reads\")\n\n\nword word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word\n \nmmMwWLliI0fiflO&1 \nmmMwWLliI0fiflO&1 \nmmMwWLliI0fiflO&1 \nmmMwWLliI0fiflO&1 \nmmMwWLliI0fiflO&1 \nmmMwWLliI0fiflO&1 \nmmMwWLliI0fiflO&1\n", "metadata": { "title": "How I'd Learn AI in 2025 (If I Could Start Over) | Towards Data Science", "description": "A 5-step roadmap for today's landscape", "keywords": null, "author": "Shaw Talebi", "og:locale": "en_US", "og:type": "article", "og:title": "How I'd Learn AI in 2025 (If I Could Start Over)", "og:description": "A 5-step roadmap for today's landscape", "og:url": "https://towardsdatascience.com/how-id-learn-ai-in-2025-if-i-knew-nothing-0496dc9ab54c/", "og:site_name": "Towards Data Science", "og:image": "https://assets.insightmediagroup.io/media/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/1YCBb6_ABdgqFfIO8yG4W-A.png", "og:image:width": "1280", "og:image:height": "720", "og:image:type": "image/png", "twitter:card": "summary_large_image", "twitter:site": "@TDataScience", "twitter:creator": "@TDataScience", "twitter:label1": "Written by", "twitter:data1": "Shaw Talebi", "twitter:label2": "Est. reading time", "twitter:data2": "7 min read", "article:published_time": "2024-12-13T14:02:21.000Z", "article:modified_time": "2024-12-13T14:02:21.000Z", "article:author": "https://towardsdatascience.com/author/shawhin/" }, "paywall": { "listed_paid": true, "detected": false, "marker": "", "public_only": true, "policy": "付费/会员内容只保留页面公开可见部分，不绕过付费墙" }, "crawl": { "success": true, "status_code": 200, "error": "", "retried": true }, "code_blocks": [ { "language": "txt", "file": "attachments/1a0b8dc64835/code/block_000.txt", "chars": 662 } ], "images": [ { "src": "https://assets.insightmediagroup.io/media/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/1YCBb6_ABdgqFfIO8yG4W-A.png", "alt": "Image from Canva.", "local_path": "attachments/1a0b8dc64835/images/000.png", "bytes": 1504694, "downloaded": true }, { "src": "https://assets.insightmediagroup.io/media/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/0IQCBrZIYvAmHLYFO-scaled.jpg", "alt": "", "local_path": "attachments/1a0b8dc64835/images/001.jpg", "bytes": 241692, "downloaded": true }, { "src": "https://assets.insightmediagroup.io/media/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/0yso28Wiw4Ga5IeUe.png", "alt": "", "local_path": "attachments/1a0b8dc64835/images/002.png", "bytes": 11221709, "downloaded": true }, { "src": "https://assets.insightmediagroup.io/media/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/1nwtN1GETh_fc5onNoTcAcQ.jpeg", "alt": "", "local_path": "attachments/1a0b8dc64835/images/003.jpeg", "bytes": 644528, "downloaded": true }, { "src": "https://assets.insightmediagroup.io/media/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/0beIoqgAkaeZL810D-scaled.jpg", "alt": "", "local_path": "attachments/1a0b8dc64835/images/004.jpg", "bytes": 630016, "downloaded": true }, { "src": "https://assets.insightmediagroup.io/media/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/1BSu8BlnxWaBEpV_TyrkUHA-scaled.jpeg", "alt": "", "local_path": "attachments/1a0b8dc64835/images/005.jpeg", "bytes": 357454, "downloaded": true }, { "src": "https://assets.insightmediagroup.io/media/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/1YHVfmgVMhNRH4OCkBAZmGw.png", "alt": "", "local_path": "attachments/1a0b8dc64835/images/006.png", "bytes": 2991281, "downloaded": true }, { "src": "https://assets.insightmediagroup.io/media/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/18f6Vg7UJniIOUm7THLSZ7g-scaled.jpeg", "alt": "", "local_path": "attachments/1a0b8dc64835/images/007.jpeg", "bytes": 645325, "downloaded": true }, { "src": "https://assets.insightmediagroup.io/media/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/13nHBuVAG51GSDDF3xLgsXQ.png", "alt": "", "local_path": "attachments/1a0b8dc64835/images/008.png", "bytes": 1057658, "downloaded": true }, { "src": "https://assets.insightmediagroup.io/media/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/1_lhl78yndn7W2EH1TI0DvrQ.png", "alt": "", "local_path": "attachments/1a0b8dc64835/images/009.png", "bytes": 903408, "downloaded": true } ], "audio": [], "videos": [], "links": [], "retry_at": "2026-10-03T08:00:18", "repair_version": 2, "repaired_at": "2026-10-14T11:11:49Z", "source_url": "https://towardsdatascience.com/how-id-learn-ai-in-2025-if-i-knew-nothing-0496dc9ab54c/", "delivery_status": "excluded_paid", "discovery_status": "excluded_paid", "missing_reason": "按原约定排除付费/会员全文" }