ai-education on S Anand

Tools in Data Science - Jan 2026

Thu, 29 Jan 2026 07:33:22 +0800

My Tools in Data Science course is available publicly, with a few changes from last year.

First, I removed all the content! Last year, Claude generated teaching material using my prompts. But what’s the point? I might as well give students the prompts directly. They can tweak it to their needs.

This time, TDS shares the questions needed to learn a topic. Any AI will give you good answers.

Second, it focuses on what AI does NOT do well. Coding syntax? Who cares. Basic analysis? ChatGPT can do that. In fact, each question now has an “Ask AI” button that dumps the question into your favorite AI tool. Just paste the answer and move on.

But, these questions (hopefully) teach you where AI fails. Putting tools together, prompting well, debugging and evaluating the output, etc. These matter more.

Third, it’s easier to audit. Anyone can take the course, even outside IITM. You can join the public Google Group for announcements. All questions are discussed publicly on GitHub.

So, check the new version out, learn, and please share feedback!

Thu, 25 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Tools in Data Science Sep 2025 edition is live: https://tds.s-anand.net/. Major update: a new AI-Coding section and fresh projects.

I teach TDS at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras as part of the BS in Data Science. Anyone can audit. The course is public. You can read the content and practice assessments.

I fed the May 2025 term student feedback into The Sales Mind and asked:

What are the top non-intuitive / surprising inferences?

What are interesting observations?

What are high impact actions?

Full analysis: https://chatgpt.com/share/68cba081-afc0-800c-9da3-75222e84a499: summary, outliers, and action ideas.

Most students find the course tough (or at least time-consuming), especially the Remote Online Exam (ROE).

Surprise: students who mentioned ROE time limits rated it 2.61 vs 2.33 (+12%!). Those who felt time pressure also saw more value – suggesting “desirable difficulty,” rather than frustration.

A minority even asked for tougher projects.

The main actions are faster feedback loops, automated pre-checks, mock ROEs, clear rubrics, etc.

But my two takeaways are:

Students value rigor and challenge, even if it makes the course harder.
Using LLMs to analyze student feedback is a force multiplier for instructors.

Fri, 12 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

My Tools in Data Science course uses LLMs for assessments. We use LLMs to

Suggest project ideas (I pick), e.g. https://chatgpt.com/share/6741d870-73f4-800c-a741-af127d20eec7
Draft the project brief (we edit), e.g. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VgtVtypnVyPWiXied5q0_CcAt3zufOdFwIhvDDCmPXk/edit
Propose scoring rubrics (we tweak), e.g. https://chatgpt.com/share/68b8eef6-60ec-800c-8b10-cfff1a571590
Score code against the rubric (we test), e.g. https://github.com/sanand0/tds-evals/blob/5cfabf09c21c2884623e0774eae9a01db212c76a/llm-browser-agent/process_submissions.py
Analyze the results (we refine), e.g. https://chatgpt.com/share/68b8f962-16a4-800c-84ff-fb9e3f0c779a

This changed our assessments process. It’s easier and better.

Earlier, TAs took 2 weeks to evaluate 500 code submissions. In the example above, it took 2 hours. Quality held up: LLMs match my judgement as closely as TAs do but run fast and at scale.

LLM-graded reviews aren’t just a cost hack. They’re a scale and quality lever.

We create new assessments fast. The example took ~2 hours to ideate.
We run, analyze and iterate just as fast. This full loop now takes ~2 hours.

I no longer have an excuse to teach outdated content.

Prompts & code: https://github.com/sanand0/tds-evals/tree/main/llm-browser-agent

Tue, 05 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

At the DoMS, IIT Madras 2025 commencement, I shared how MBA students might adapt to an AI world.

Takeaways

The MBA syllabus will age fast; adaptability is a core competency https://youtu.be/sSyBUSuLduQ?t=02m03s
LLMs have a “jagged-edge”. Management tools—redundancy, cross-checks, human escalation—still work https://youtu.be/sSyBUSuLduQ?t=07m02s
LLMs already deliver hours of analyst work in minutes. Entry-level roles WILL vanish https://youtu.be/sSyBUSuLduQ?t=14m21s
High-value knowledge jobs—strategy, finance, contract risk, market research—are being refactored by AI https://youtu.be/sSyBUSuLduQ?t=23m01s
Learn less of grunt-work. LLMs can handle that https://youtu.be/sSyBUSuLduQ?t=45m22s
Study with LLMs as Socratic sparring. Run “draft-critique-rewrite” sprints https://youtu.be/sSyBUSuLduQ?t=49m17s

Funny bits

“It’s awkward when you don’t know whether to clap… I’ll give you a signal right at the end.” https://youtu.be/sSyBUSuLduQ?t=01m08s
Grok-4: “Apparently it basically repeats whatever Elon Musk says.” https://youtu.be/sSyBUSuLduQ?t=12m22s
To the lone student without a phone: “I love you… the rest of you, scan the QR code.” https://youtu.be/sSyBUSuLduQ?t=20m02s
“At least for the next few years, use AI. Don’t talk about AI.” https://youtu.be/sSyBUSuLduQ?t=39m09s
“Please sleep. Tell the LLM to do the assignments… This is going on record, but I’m not faculty, so I can say what I want.” https://youtu.be/sSyBUSuLduQ?t=49m52s