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I did my PhD at Stanford and took all three classes. DB is a more fundamental class, and probably easier. AI and ML are both great but they are designed to be taken in sequence with AI first then ML (which is a sub-field of AI).

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>However, those topics are also easier to learn and understand on your own without guidance.

Yeah, by 'those topics' I meant the ones covered in the DB course, not the other two. Most aspiring programmers usually find relational theory and XML relatively easy to grok.

Thanks for your help! The syllabus for DB isn't up yet at my University, so I can't give more details [1]. But given that you say DB should be easier, and that I can take it at my school, I think I should take AI. Besides--I had the same gut feeling.

[1] writing this I now realize I could easily get last year's course, but I'm satisfied with my current decision

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