[nicohayes]

Are you trying to build AI applications or research AI itself? Completely different paths.

If it's the former - skip the math and start calling APIs. OpenAI, Anthropic, or open-source models via Replicate. Spend a week building something real: add a chatbot to your product, build a document Q&A system, whatever solves an actual problem.

The deep learning theory? You can learn that later if you actually need to fine-tune models or optimize inference. Most developers never do. Don't let the AI hype convince you that you need a PhD to ship useful AI features.