Carnegie Mellon University

10-715: Advanced Topics in Machine Learning

Fall 2026

Key Information

Days: Monday, Wednesday, *Friday
Time: 2:00 PM — 3:00 PM
Location: POS 152
*Fridays are reserved for recitations and makeup classes.
Units: 12
Grading and Logistics: Will be discussed in the first lecture.

Syllabus

Course Description

This course covers advanced topics in machine learning, taught by faculty in the Machine Learning Department at CMU. Rather than cover a fixed syllabus in machine learning, each instructor will prepare a separate unit on a topic of their choosing. The structure and content of each module will vary over instructors, and can vary year-to-year. However, each module will have an associated homework, and there will be a single final exam for the course.

As this is an advanced topics course, students are expected to have already completed a graduate level course in machine learning. Students without such a course should take 10-701 offered by the department instead.

Course Technologies

Accommodations for Students with Disabilities

If you have a disability and have an accommodations letter from the Disability Resources office, I encourage you to discuss your accommodations and needs with me as early in the semester as possible. I will work with you to ensure that accommodations are provided as appropriate. If you suspect that you may have a disability and would benefit from accommodations but are not yet registered with the Office of Disability Resources, I encourage you to contact them at access@andrew.cmu.edu.


Schedule

Date Day of Week Lecture Lecture Notes
Aug 24, 2026MondayCourse intro
Aug 26, 2026WednesdayLLM Speedrun (Kolter)
Aug 28, 2026Friday
Aug 31, 2026MondayLLM Speedrun (Kolter)
Sep 2, 2026WednesdayLLM Speedrun (Kolter)
Sep 4, 2026Friday
Sep 7, 2026MondayBreak — Labor Day
Sep 9, 2026WednesdayLLM Speedrun (Kolter)
Sep 11, 2026FridayLLM Speedrun (Kolter)
Sep 14, 2026MondayLLM Speedrun (Kolter)
Sep 16, 2026WednesdayLLM Speedrun (Kolter)
Sep 18, 2026FridayRecitation
Sep 21, 2026Monday(Delayed to Friday)
Sep 23, 2026WednesdayHistory and Future of ML (Mitchell)
Sep 25, 2026FridayHistory and Future of ML (Mitchell)
Sep 28, 2026MondayApplied Agents for Autonomous Research (Dettmers)Slides
Sep 30, 2026WednesdayApplied Agents for Autonomous Research (Dettmers)Slides
Oct 2, 2026Friday
Oct 5, 2026MondayApplied Agents for Autonomous Research (Dettmers)Slides
Oct 7, 2026WednesdayApplied Agents for Autonomous Research (Dettmers)Slides
Oct 9, 2026Friday
Oct 12, 2026MondayBreak — Fall Break
Oct 14, 2026WednesdayBreak — Fall Break
Oct 16, 2026FridayBreak — Fall Break
Oct 19, 2026MondayGenerative Models / Control / Robot Imitation and RL (Simchowitz)Slides
Oct 21, 2026WednesdayGenerative Models / Control / Robot Imitation and RL (Simchowitz)Slides
Oct 23, 2026FridayRecitation
Oct 26, 2026MondayGenerative Models / Control / Robot Imitation and RL (Simchowitz)Slides
Oct 28, 2026WednesdayGenerative Models / Control / Robot Imitation and RL (Simchowitz)
Oct 30, 2026FridayRecitation
Nov 2, 2026MondayRecent Advances in Reinforcement Learning (Kumar)
Nov 4, 2026WednesdayRecent Advances in Reinforcement Learning (Kumar)
Nov 6, 2026Friday
Nov 9, 2026MondayMulti-Modal Machine Learning / Agentic Learning (Salakhutdinov)
Nov 11, 2026WednesdayMulti-Modal Machine Learning / Agentic Learning (Salakhutdinov)
Nov 13, 2026Friday
Nov 16, 2026MondayMulti-Modal Machine Learning / Agentic Learning (Salakhutdinov)
Nov 18, 2026WednesdayMulti-Modal Machine Learning / Agentic Learning (Salakhutdinov)
Nov 20, 2026FridayRecitation
Nov 23, 2026MondayRecent Advances in Reinforcement Learning (Kumar)
Nov 25, 2026WednesdayBreak — Thanksgiving Break
Nov 27, 2026FridayBreak — Thanksgiving Break
Nov 30, 2026MondayRecent Advances in Reinforcement Learning (Kumar)
Dec 2, 2026WednesdayRecent Advances in Reinforcement Learning (Kumar)
Dec 4, 2026FridayRecitation
Dec 7, 2026MondayExam Review Session
Dec 10, 2026ThursdayFinal Exam