Prof. Dr. Daniel D. Hromada
A Short History of the Learning Machine
Seminar, English/Deutsch, 2 SWS, 2 ECTS
Wednesdays, 14-16 h, weekly, starts 14.10.2026, Grunewaldstr. 2-5, Raum 110 (Aula)

Anmeldung auf Moodle ab / Registration on Moodle begins 12.10.2026:https://moodle.udk-berlin.de/moodle/course/view.php?id=3326
Einschreibeschlüssel / Enrollment Key: machine

Short History of Learning Machines explores humanity's age-old dream of creating artificial minds. From myths of hubris and ancient automata through Pythagoras, Al-Khwarizmi, Leibniz, Babbage, Ada Lovelace, Turing and Shannon, the seminar traces the intellectual and technological history of learning machines. It culminates in contemporary machine learning, neural networks, large language models and AI agents, examining how machines learn, represent and generate information. Combining historical perspective with practical AI literacy, the seminar asks not only how these systems work and how we can work with them, but also whether "artificial intelligence" is the right name for these new forms of mind.

Leistungsanforderungen für den unbenoteten Schein / Fulfilment criteria for ungraded accreditation: presentation or referat and/or artefact for winter Rundgang.
Depending on the additional coursework they complete, students may earn more than 2 ECTS credits for their own degree program.  

Course materials & Open Educational Resources: https://udk.ai/machine
Matrix room:https://udk.ai/classroom/#/room/#AI-literacy:medienhaus.udk-berlin.de

Daniel Devatman Hromada is UdK’s Juniorprofessor for Digital Education at Einstein Center Digital Future since August 2018. Born in 1982 in Bratislava, he holds bachelor degrees in humanities from Charles University (Prague) and linguistics from University of Nice Sophia-Antipolis; master degree in artificial and natural cognition from Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Paris). In 2016, a successful defense of his Thesis “Evolutionary modelis of ontogeny of linguistic categories”, entitled Daniel to carry a double doctorate from both Slovak Technical University (cybernetics) as well as University Paris 8 – Lumieres (psychology). Father of two children, he is a founder and first senator of oldest Slovak digital community kyberia.sk.