This course, Recent Trends in AI: Neural Networks Architectures and Machine Learning Paradigms, delves into the latest advancements in artificial intelligence. It covers state-of-the-art neural network architectures, such as Transformers, alongside paradigms like self-supervised learning, reinforcement learning, and generative models. The course lays the foundation for understanding foundational models that have enabled breakthroughs in conversational AI (e.g., ChatGPT) and image generation (e.g., Stable Diffusion), offering insights into the technologies driving modern AI applications.