# How to Install AI-For-Beginners: Complete Setup Guide for Microsoft's AI Curriculum

> Easily install AI-For-Beginners by cloning the repo, creating a Conda environment, and launching Jupyter Notebook. Start Microsoft's AI curriculum now.

- Repository: [Microsoft/AI-For-Beginners](https://github.com/microsoft/AI-For-Beginners)
- Tags: how-to-guide
- Published: 2026-08-24

---

**Clone the repository, create the Conda environment from [`environment.yml`](https://github.com/microsoft/AI-For-Beginners/blob/main/environment.yml), activate it, and launch Jupyter Notebook to start Microsoft's 12-week AI curriculum immediately.**

The **AI-For-Beginners** repository by Microsoft is a comprehensive, open-source curriculum covering artificial intelligence fundamentals through hands-on Jupyter notebooks and a Vue.js quiz application. To install AI-For-Beginners locally, you will configure a Python environment with specific deep learning libraries, optionally deploy the interactive quiz frontend, and verify that lesson notebooks execute correctly. This guide references the exact file paths and commands defined in the `microsoft/AI-For-Beginners` source code to ensure a reproducible setup.

## Step 1: Clone the AI-For-Beginners Repository

Retrieve the source code using Git. The repository contains lesson notebooks under `lessons/`, example scripts, and a Vue.js quiz application under `etc/quiz-app/`.

```bash
git clone https://github.com/microsoft/AI-For-Beginners.git
cd AI-For-Beginners

```

If you want to reduce download size by excluding the 50+ language translation directories, use a sparse checkout as documented in the repository's [`README.md`](https://github.com/microsoft/AI-For-Beginners/blob/main/README.md):

```bash
git clone --filter=blob:none --sparse https://github.com/microsoft/AI-For-Beginners.git
cd AI-For-Beginners
git sparse-checkout set --no-cone '/*' '!translations' '!translated_images'

```

## Step 2: Create and Activate the Conda Environment

The repository declares all Python dependencies in [`environment.yml`](https://github.com/microsoft/AI-For-Beginners/blob/main/environment.yml), including pinned versions of **NumPy**, **Matplotlib**, **OpenCV**, **PyTorch**, **TorchVision**, and **Scikit-learn**. Creating the Conda environment ensures that every notebook runs identically across platforms.

```bash
conda env create -f environment.yml
conda activate ai4beg

```

The environment name `ai4beg` is defined in the [`environment.yml`](https://github.com/microsoft/AI-For-Beginners/blob/main/environment.yml) file. This step installs the exact package versions required by the curriculum, preventing "module not found" errors when executing neural network or computer vision examples.

## Step 3: Launch Jupyter Notebooks

With the environment activated, start the Jupyter server to access the interactive lessons. The notebooks are located in the `lessons/` directory and automatically download required datasets (e.g., MNIST) to a local `data/` folder on first execution.

```bash
jupyter notebook

```

Alternatively, use JupyterLab:

```bash
jupyter lab

```

Open your browser to `http://localhost:8888` and navigate to the specific lesson `.ipynb` files. Each lesson includes both PyTorch and TensorFlow implementations where applicable, and all models train on CPU by default, though GPU acceleration is recommended for later deep learning modules.

## Step 4: Run the Optional Quiz Application

The curriculum includes a Vue.js 2.x quiz application located in `etc/quiz-app/` that provides interactive knowledge checks for each lesson. This component requires **Node.js (≥12)** and **npm**.

```bash
cd etc/quiz-app
npm install
npm run serve

```

The development server starts at `http://localhost:8080` with hot-reload enabled. The quiz data resides in `etc/quiz-app/src/assets/translations/` and requires no external API keys to function locally. For production deployment to Azure Static Web Apps, refer to the CI/CD workflow documented in [`etc/quiz-app/README.md`](https://github.com/microsoft/AI-For-Beginners/blob/main/etc/quiz-app/README.md).

## Alternative: Install Using Development Containers

For a reproducible, Docker-based setup without manual Conda configuration, use the VS Code Dev Container defined in `.devcontainer/Dockerfile`. Open the repository in Visual Studio Code and select **"Reopen in Container"**. This builds an image with the Conda environment pre-installed and automatically activates the `ai4beg` environment upon startup.

This method is documented in [`lessons/0-course-setup/how-to-run.md`](https://github.com/microsoft/AI-For-Beginners/blob/main/lessons/0-course-setup/how-to-run.md) and provides a consistent Linux-based development environment regardless of your host operating system. GitHub Codespaces users can also leverage this configuration for cloud-based development.

## Summary

- **Clone** the `microsoft/AI-For-Beginners` repository using standard Git or a sparse checkout to exclude translations and reduce disk usage.
- **Create** the Conda environment using `conda env create -f environment.yml` to install pinned versions of PyTorch, OpenCV, and scientific Python libraries.
- **Activate** the environment with `conda activate ai4beg` before running any code, as specified in [`lessons/0-course-setup/setup.md`](https://github.com/microsoft/AI-For-Beginners/blob/main/lessons/0-course-setup/setup.md).
- **Launch** Jupyter Notebook or JupyterLab to execute the curriculum's `.ipynb` files in the `lessons/` directory.
- **Optionally** serve the Vue.js quiz app from `etc/quiz-app/` using `npm run serve` for interactive lesson reviews.
- **Alternatively**, use the `.devcontainer/Dockerfile` configuration for a containerized development environment via VS Code or GitHub Codespaces.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### Do I need a GPU to run the AI-For-Beginners notebooks?

No. According to the source code in [`lessons/0-course-setup/setup.md`](https://github.com/microsoft/AI-For-Beginners/blob/main/lessons/0-course-setup/setup.md), all notebooks default to CPU execution and will train models successfully on standard hardware. However, GPU acceleration is highly recommended for later lessons involving deep learning to significantly reduce training time for complex neural networks.

### Can I install AI-For-Beginners without using Conda?

While the officially supported method uses Conda as defined in [`environment.yml`](https://github.com/microsoft/AI-For-Beginners/blob/main/environment.yml), advanced users can manually install the packages listed in that file using `pip` and the [`requirements.txt`](https://github.com/microsoft/AI-For-Beginners/blob/main/requirements.txt) reference. Note that the curriculum pins specific versions (e.g., `numpy==1.26`, `matplotlib==3.9`) to ensure compatibility, so exact version matching is essential to avoid runtime errors.

### How do I update the environment if the repository adds new dependencies?

If the upstream repository updates [`environment.yml`](https://github.com/microsoft/AI-For-Beginners/blob/main/environment.yml), run `conda env update -f environment.yml` while the `ai4beg` environment is activated. This command synchronizes your local installation with any new package additions or version changes committed to the curriculum.

### What if I only want the English content without translations?

Use the sparse checkout method documented in the installation steps. The command `git sparse-checkout set --no-cone '/*' '!translations' '!translated_images'` excludes all translation directories, reducing the repository size dramatically while preserving all English-language lessons, notebooks, and the quiz application referenced in [`etc/quiz-app/package.json`](https://github.com/microsoft/AI-For-Beginners/blob/main/etc/quiz-app/package.json).