AAI101 Introduction to AI and Prompt Engineering Syllabus — AKTU 2026-27

Syllabus

5 units · weightage in %

Unit1

Unit 1: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence

20%

Definition and scope of AI; brief history — from Alan Turing to ChatGPT
Types of AI — Narrow AI, General AI, Super AI (concept)
AI vs Machine Learning vs Deep Learning — what is the difference
How machines learn — data, patterns, and predictions (concept, no maths)
AI today — where it already exists in daily life (Google Maps, Spotify, Netflix, Google Photos, voice assistants)
Machine Learning Concepts, Learning Strategies- Supervised, Unsupervised, Reinforcement Learning
Data, Data Visualization, Data Preprocessing Class Activity: Students list 5 AI tools they use every day and discuss how each one 'learns'. Branch connect: CE — AI in structural health monitoring; ME — AI in predictive maintenance; EE — smart grid; CSE — AI in compilers; BT — drug discovery; AG — crop yield prediction.

Unit2

Unit 2: Core AI Concepts

20%

Machine learning: Classification Techniques- K- Nearest Neighbors (KNN), Naïve Bayes, Clustering Technique-K-Means
Classification metrics-accuracy, precision, recall, F1 score, MAE.
Neural networks — concept of neurons, layers, weights (simple diagram)
Deep learning — what makes it 'deep'; why it needs GPUs, CNN
Computer vision — how AI sees images (face recognition, medical imaging)
Natural Language Processing (NLP) — how AI understands text and speech Class Activity: Show Google Teachable Machine (teachablemachine.withgoogle.com) — train a simple image classifier in 5 minutes, no code. Branch connect: ECE — image sensors + AI; BT — protein structure prediction (AlphaFold); AG — plant disease detection from photos; TX — fabric defect detection.

Unit3

Unit 3: Generative AI and Large Language Models

20%

What is Generative AI — AI that creates text, images, code, audio, video
Large Language Models (LLMs) — what they are, how they are trained (concept)
Popular LLMs — ChatGPT (OpenAI), Gemini (Google), Claude (Anthropic), Llama (Meta)
Tokens, context window, temperature — simple explanation
Multimodal AI — text + image + voice in one model (GPT-4o, Gemini concept)
AI image generation — Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, DALL-E (concept + demo)
Limitations of LLMs — hallucination, knowledge cutoff, bias
Responsible use — academic integrity, plagiarism, AI-generated content disclosure Class Activity: Students interact with ChatGPT/Gemini/Claude; observe how different inputs give different outputs; identify one hallucination example. Every professional today uses at least one Generative AI tool. Understanding how LLMs work makes students better users and future developers.

Unit4

Unit 4: AI Applications Across Engineering Domains

20%

AI in Civil Engineering — structural health monitoring, smart cities, traffic optimisation
AI in Mechanical Engineering — predictive maintenance, design optimisation, robotics
AI in Electrical and Electronics — smart grids, fault detection, VLSI design automation
AI in CSE — code generation (GitHub Copilot), cybersecurity, natural language interfaces
AI in Biotechnology and Healthcare — drug discovery, medical imaging, genomics, wearables
AI in Agricultural Engineering — precision farming, crop monitoring, drone-based spraying, soil analysis
AI in Chemical and Textile Engineering — process optimisation, quality control, material design
Ethical concerns — bias in AI, data privacy, job displacement, responsible AI Class Activity: One case study per student group — each group presents a 2-minute real AI application from their own engineering branch. This unit ensures every student, regardless of branch, sees AI as directly relevant to their future career.

Unit5

Unit 5: Prompt Engineering

What is a prompt — the instruction you give to an AI model
Why prompt quality matters — same AI, very different results with different prompts
Principles of good prompting — clarity, context, specificity, role assignment, format instruction
Prompting techniques: • Zero-shot prompting — direct question • Few-shot prompting — give examples in the prompt • Chain-of-thought prompting — ask AI to think step by step • Role prompting — 'Act as a civil engineer and...'
Prompt for different tasks — summarisation, explanation, code generation, report writing, brainstorming, translation
Domain-specific prompting — students write prompts relevant to their own branch (CE, ME, BT, AG, etc.)
AI tools for engineers — GitHub Copilot (code), Grammarly (writing), Consensus (research), Wolfram Alpha, Canva AI, Notion AI Hands-on Practice (every lecture): Students write prompts, compare outputs, refine and improve. Graded prompt assignment: write prompts for an engineering problem from their own branch. Prompt Engineering is already a job role (avg. salary $100K+ globally). Every engineer who can communicate well with AI has a significant career advantage. 20% Suggested Assignments / Practice Tasks but not limited to Assignment Task Assignment 1 (Unit I) Research task — no AI tool interaction required. Find 3 real AI applications in your engineering branch. For each: name the product/system, what data it uses, and what it predicts or generates. Submit as a one-page note (250–300 words). Assignment 2 (Unit II) Concept-check task. Pick one real ML-based system relevant to your branch (e.g., a recommendation engine, a defect detector, a chatbot). Identify: (a) Is it supervised, unsupervised, or reinforcement learning? (b) What could cause it to overfit or underfit? (c) Sketch a simple diagram showing its inputs, a basic neuron/layer concept, and output. Submit as a half-page note (200–250 words) with diagram. Assignment 3 (Unit III) Hands-on task — direct AI interaction required. Interact with any free LLM (ChatGPT/Gemini/Claude). Ask it a question related to your branch. Identify one correct and one incorrect (hallucinated) response. Explain why the hallucination occurred (150–200 words), with screenshots of both responses. Assignment 4 (Unit IV) Group case study: Each group (3–4 students) picks one AI application in their domain, prepares a 2-minute presentation covering: problem → data → AI solution → impact. Submit slides/notes plus a 1-page group summary handout. Assignment 5 (Unit V) Write 5 prompts for an engineering problem from your branch using: (a) Zero-shot (b) Few-shot (c) Chain-of-thought (d) Role prompting (e) Format-specific prompt. Submit the prompt + AI response + your evaluation of the output quality, as a single document (2–3 pages). Assignment 6 (Unit V) Use an AI tool to help complete one academic task (summarise a topic, generate a study plan, explain a concept, translate a text). Document the prompt used, output received, and how you verified/corrected it. In a 200–300 word reflection, address: (a) what you changed or verified and why, and (b) one way AI use in this task could raise a bias, privacy, or academic-integrity concern.

Course Objectives5 points

Understand what Artificial Intelligence is, its history, and how it is changing every engineering field
Understand key AI concepts — Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and Neural Networks — at a conceptual level
Explore how AI is applied across domains — healthcare, agriculture, manufacturing, finance, and education
Understand Generative AI — how large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Gemini work
Learn and practise Prompt Engineering — the skill of communicating effectively with AI tools to get useful results

Course Outcomes (COs)5 outcomes

After completion of the course student will be able to:

CO1Explain what AI is, its types, and identify AI applications in everyday life and their own engineering domainK2
CO2Describe key AI concepts — ML, Deep Learning, NLP, Computer Vision — and relate them to real applicationsK2
CO3Analyse the working principles, capabilities, limitations, and responsible use of Generative AI and Large Language Models.K4
CO4Analyse the applications of Artificial Intelligence across engineering domains and their societal, ethical, and professional implications.K4
CO5Design and refine effective prompts using zero-shot, few-shot, chain-of-thought, and role prompting techniques for domain-specific tasksK3

Note: The ME, EE and ECE Stream 2026-27 PDFs print CO3 and CO4 with 'Apply' instead of 'Analyse' ('Apply the working principles, capabilities, limitations, and responsible use of Generative AI and Large Language Models.'; 'Apply the concept of Artificial Intelligence across engineering domains and their societal, ethical, and professional implications.') and gives CO3–CO5 the level K3 instead of K4.

Suggested Textbooks / Reference Books

The Quick Guide to Prompt Engineering, I. Khan, John Wiley & Sons Inc.
AI: Its Nature and Future – Margaret Boden (Oxford University Press) — accessible, non-technical introduction to AI concepts
Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control – Stuart Russell (Penguin) — accessible reading
The Age of AI – Henry Kissinger, Eric Schmidt, Daniel Huttenlocher — for AI and society context
Prompt Engineering for Generative AI – James Phoenix and Mike Taylor (O’Reilly) — practical guide to LLMs and prompting, supports Units IV & V

Online Resources

Google Teachable Machine – teachablemachine.withgoogle.com (train AI with no code, free)
Elements of AI – elementsofai.com (free, beginner course by University of Helsinki + MinnaLearn)
Microsoft AI for Everyone – learn.microsoft.com (free beginner modules)
ChatGPT – chat.openai.com / Gemini – gemini.google.com / Claude – claude.ai (free tier for prompt practice)
Prompt Engineering Guide – promptingguide.ai (free, comprehensive reference)
Ethics of AI – ethics-of-ai.mooc.fi (free, beginner course by University of Helsinki on bias, privacy, and responsible AI)
3Blue1Brown – Neural Networks series (YouTube, free) — visual, no-maths-heavy explanation of how neural networks work

Official AKTU syllabus

This subject is on page 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49 of the original AKTU PDF.

Official AKTU syllabus PDF ↗