AI Explorers · lesson 13 of 24 · 25 min
Time to stop talking about models and build one. In this unit you will train a real machine learning model in your web browser, using your own webcam or microphone, in a few minutes.
The tool
Teachable Machine is a website made by Google that lets anyone train a simple machine learning model in a web browser. You can open it at teachablemachine.withgoogle.com.
Good news for this course: you do not need to sign in or make an account to train and test a model. Saving a project to Google Drive does need a Google account. Google accounts are for ages 13 and up in the US; younger students need a parent-managed account. For this unit, you can skip saving completely.
You need: a computer or Chromebook with a recent web browser (Chrome works well), and a webcam or microphone. If you don’t have a webcam, the tool also lets you upload image files.
Privacy check
Teachable Machine says the training runs on your own computer, inside the browser, and your webcam images are not sent to its servers to train the model. Even so, follow good habits:
- Ask a parent or guardian before turning on a webcam or microphone.
- Train on objects, not on other people’s faces, unless they agree.
- Close the tab when you are done if you don’t want to keep the project.
The three project types
When you click Get Started, you choose a project type:
| Project | What it learns from | Example idea |
|---|---|---|
| Image project | Pictures from a webcam or files | Tell a pencil from a pen |
| Audio project | Short sound clips from a microphone | Tell a clap from a snap |
| Pose project | Body positions from a webcam | Tell “arms up” from “arms down” |
In this unit we focus on image and audio projects.
How the screen is laid out
The Teachable Machine screen matches the learning loop you learned in Unit 4:
- Classes (left): each box is one class. You name it and add example samples.
- Training (middle): a Train Model button. Click it and the browser learns from your samples.
- Preview (right): your live webcam or mic feed, with bars showing how confident the model is in each class.
Input, training, output. It is the same pattern from earlier lessons, now in a real tool.
Teachable Machine is a simple tool, but it uses the same core idea as much bigger systems. It starts from a model that has already learned general patterns from lots of images or sounds, then quickly adjusts it to your classes using your samples. That is why it can learn your thumbs-up in less than a minute instead of needing millions of examples.
Try it
- With a parent’s OK, open teachablemachine.withgoogle.com, click Get Started, and choose Image Project, then the standard image model.
- Rename “Class 1” to “Thumbs up” and “Class 2” to “Thumbs down.”
- For each class, click Webcam and hold the record button to capture about 30 samples. Move your hand around a little: closer, farther, slightly turned.
- Click Train Model and wait. Keep the tab open while it trains.
- In Preview, show thumbs up and thumbs down. Watch the confidence bars. Then try something in between, like a flat hand. Write down what the model guessed and why you think it did that.
Check yourself
Do you need an account to train a model in Teachable Machine?
No. You can train and test without signing in. Saving to Google Drive needs a Google account (13+ in the US, or parent-managed if younger).
What does the Preview panel show?
The live input and the model’s confidence for each class.
Why did the flat hand still get a guess?
The model must pick among the classes it knows. It has no “neither” class unless you create one.
Key words
- Teachable Machine: a browser tool for training simple models without coding.
- Sample: one example you give a class, like one webcam frame.
- Class: one category the model learns to recognize.
- Preview: the panel where you test your trained model live.
Previous lesson: Testing: is the model any good?
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Next lesson: Build and test an image model