Title: Lab 1 — Stand Up Your AI Dev Environment
Course: AIINFRA 100: AI Systems & Development Environments > Section: Week 01 — Introduction to AI Infrastructure

🛠️ Lab 1 — Stand Up Your AI Dev Environment (50 pts)

Goal: Build a working AI dev environment and run your first model locally — your first prototype. Steps

1. Install VS Code, Python 3.11+, and Docker Desktop. Verify each from a terminal (python --version, docker --version).
2. Create and activate a Python virtual environment (python -m venv .venv).
3. Choose ONE path to run a model locally:
  - Path A (Python): pip install transformers torch, then run a 5-line Hugging Face pipeline("sentiment-analysis") on a sentence of your choice.
  - Path B (Ollama): install Ollama, ollama pull llama3.2:1b, and prompt it from the terminal.
4. Capture a screenshot of your working output.
5. Write a 150-word reflection: what worked, what was confusing, and — using this week's framing — name two things that would need to change to make your setup production-grade instead of a prototype.

Deliverables (submit): (1) screenshot of model output, (2) terminal output of your version checks, (3) your 150-word reflection (text entry). Graded with: Lab / Hands-on Assignment Rubric (50 pts).