I took a deep learning course in late 2019, during which we implemented transformers as described in Attention is All You Need and fine-tuned GPT-2. The output was amusing, but useless, but I still remember the basic principles.

Now, a few years later, transformers are the tech, and GPT-2's successors are the most hyped technologies of the century so far.

All of which is to say that I wouldn't assume that coursework without immediate application is useless. I'm in a much better position to jump in on the latest AI stuff than I would be if I hadn't taken that course.