Reviews of professor Risto Miikkulainen

Rating: 1.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
This was the most useless class I took at UT. It covers everything in AI while also covering nothing at all. He is way too broad with what he covers, provides close to no guidance on the AI assignments, and makes tests that have some questions that were not even in the lectures. He is a nice guy tho.

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
His teaching style is about understanding rather than memorizing, e.g. the code you write is less important than why you wrote it that way, and the assignments and exams reflect this. Lectures are recorded and non-mandatory, and you won't pass without understanding them - they're dry and fast-paced, but he is eager to explain anything if you ask.

Rating: 4.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
His CS343 class is basically like a survey of AI, so you don't go into too much detail on any specific things. He records his lectures and puts all slides on his website at the beginning of the year, so he's very accommodating to people who can't always make it. Homeworks are easy, tests are a bit harder, there are a lot of extra credit chance

Rating: 1.0/5, difficulty: 1.0/5
He knows s /h /i /t for the hw, you need to figure all the code by yourself. Assignments take forever to get feedback. Tests cover materials never mentioned in class. You could pay little and have a so much better instructor on bootcamp if you want to learn AI. Never ever take him.

Rating: 1.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
The worst professor I've ever had at UT. The recorded lectures are too general and concepts are barely explained at all. Tests contain questions that aren't in the lecture notes or slides, and there is no indication as to what you are supposed to learn. Very memorization heavy. Projects have very little instructions and are difficult to figure out.

Rating: 1.0/5, difficulty: 5.0/5
The same issues mentioned previously still plague this class. Would not recommend taking it at all.

Rating: 1.0/5, difficulty: 5.0/5
If you want to work on broken projects, take tests that ask about stuff that was never discussed, and learn very little, then this is the class for you. Otherwise, stay away. Take AI with literally any other professor. I took this class with some friends and none of us can honestly say that we retained anything. The worst class I've taken at UT.

Rating: 2.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
Risto's class is characterized by an utter lack of depth. He covers way too much material for very little time, so you don't get any appreciation for it. The slides are incredibly hard to understand - they are this strange HTML format with scattered words on it, so you can't review anything without watching the lecture. Would not recommend.

Rating: 1.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
DO NOT TAKE AI WITH THIS PROFESSOR! All of the lectures are so vague that you only learn the surface level details of everything. And assignments are poorly explained! There are very few instructions, and there is no indication as to what you need to do. Not only that, but sometimes the code will be incorrect!