Custom Models, Layers, and Loss Functions with TensorFlow (Coursera)

Offered by DeepLearning.AI,
Custom Models, Layers, and Loss Functions with TensorFlow (Coursera)

In this course, you will: • Compare Functional and Sequential APIs, discover new models you can build with the Functional API, and build a model that produces multiple outputs including a Siamese network; • Build custom loss functions (including the contrastive loss function used in a Siamese network) in order to measure how well a model is doing and help your neural network learn from training data; • Build off of existing standard layers to create custom layers for your models, customize a network layer with a lambda layer, understand the differences between them, learn what makes up a custom layer, and explore activation functions; • Build off of existing models to add custom functionality, learn how to define your own custom class instead of using the Functional or Sequential APIs, build models that can be inherited from the TensorFlow Model class, and build a residual network (ResNet) through defining a custom model class.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see Coursera's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

The DeepLearning.AI TensorFlow: Advanced Techniques Specialization introduces the features of TensorFlow that provide learners with more control over their model architecture and tools that help them create and train advanced ML models.
This Specialization is for early and mid-career software and machine learning engineers with a foundational understanding of TensorFlow who are looking to expand their knowledge and skill set by learning advanced TensorFlow features to build powerful models.
Course 1 of 4 in the TensorFlow: Advanced Techniques Specialization.

Syllabus

WEEK 1
Functional APIs
Compare how the Functional API differs from the Sequential API, and see how the Functional API gives you additional flexibility in designing models. Practice using the functional API and build a Siamese network!

WEEK 2
Custom Loss Functions
Loss functions help measure how well a model is doing, and are used to help a neural network learn from the training data. Learn how to build custom loss functions, including the contrastive loss function that is used in a Siamese network.

WEEK 3
Custom Layers
Custom layers give you the flexibility to implement models that use non-standard layers. Practice building off of existing standard layers to create custom layers for your models.

WEEK 4
Custom Models
You can build off of existing models to add custom functionality. This week, extend the TensorFlow Model Class to build a ResNet model!

WEEK 5
Bonus Content - Callbacks
Custom callbacks allow you to customize what your model outputs or how it behaves during training. This week, implement a custom callback to stop training once the callback detects overfitting.

Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Neural Networks and Deep Learning (Coursera) Coursera
DeepLearning.AI

Neural Networks and Deep Learning (Coursera)

If you want to break into cutting-edge AI, this course will help you do so. Deep learning engineers are highly sought after, and mastering deep learning will give you numerous new career opportunities. Deep learning is also a new "superpower" that will let you build AI systems that just weren't possible a few years ago. In this course, you will learn the foundations of deep learning.

Jun 8th 2026
4 Weeks
Machine Learning: Classification (Coursera) Coursera
University of Washington

Machine Learning: Classification (Coursera)

Case Studies: Analyzing Sentiment & Loan Default Prediction. In our case study on analyzing sentiment, you will create models that predict a class (positive/negative sentiment) from input features (text of the reviews, user profile information,...). In our second case study for this course, loan default prediction, you will tackle financial data, and predict when a loan is likely to be risky or safe for the bank.

Jun 8th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Machine Learning: Regression (Coursera) Coursera
University of Washington

Machine Learning: Regression (Coursera)

Case Study - Predicting Housing Prices. In our first case study, predicting house prices, you will create models that predict a continuous value (price) from input features (square footage, number of bedrooms and bathrooms,...). This is just one of the many places where regression can be applied. Other applications range from predicting health outcomes in medicine, stock prices in finance, and power usage in high-performance computing, to analyzing which regulators are important for gene expression.

Jun 8th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Machine Learning With Big Data (Coursera) Coursera
University of California, San Diego

Machine Learning With Big Data (Coursera)

Want to make sense of the volumes of data you have collected? Need to incorporate data-driven decisions into your process? This course provides an overview of machine learning techniques to explore, analyze, and leverage data. You will be introduced to tools and algorithms you can use to create machine learning models that learn from data, and to scale those models up to big data problems.

Jun 8th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI) (Coursera) Coursera
IBM

Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI) (Coursera)

In this course you will learn what Artificial Intelligence (AI) is, explore use cases and applications of AI, understand AI concepts and terms like machine learning, deep learning and neural networks. You will be exposed to various issues and concerns surrounding AI such as ethics and bias, & jobs, and get advice from experts about learning and starting a career in AI. You will also demonstrate AI in action with a mini project.

Jun 8th 2026
4 Weeks
Advanced Algorithms and Complexity (Coursera) Coursera
University of California, San Diego,Higher School of Economics - HSE University

Advanced Algorithms and Complexity (Coursera)

You've learned the basic algorithms now and are ready to step into the area of more complex problems and algorithms to solve them. Advanced algorithms build upon basic ones and use new ideas. We will start with networks flows which are used in more typical applications such as optimal matchings, finding disjoint paths and flight scheduling as well as more surprising ones like image segmentation in computer vision.

Jun 8th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Managing Machine Learning Projects with Google Cloud (Coursera) Coursera
Google Cloud

Managing Machine Learning Projects with Google Cloud (Coursera)

Business professionals in non-technical roles have a unique opportunity to lead or influence machine learning projects. If you have questions about machine learning and want to understand how to use it, without the technical jargon, this course is for you. Learn how to translate business problems into machine learning use cases and vet them for feasibility and impact.

Jun 8th 2026
4 Weeks
Practical Machine Learning (Coursera) Coursera
Johns Hopkins University

Practical Machine Learning (Coursera)

One of the most common tasks performed by data scientists and data analysts are prediction and machine learning. This course will cover the basic components of building and applying prediction functions with an emphasis on practical applications. The course will provide basic grounding in concepts such as training and tests sets, overfitting, and error rates.

Jun 8th 2026
4 Weeks
Machine Learning: Clustering & Retrieval (Coursera) Coursera
University of Washington

Machine Learning: Clustering & Retrieval (Coursera)

Case Studies: Finding Similar Documents. A reader is interested in a specific news article and you want to find similar articles to recommend. What is the right notion of similarity? Moreover, what if there are millions of other documents? Each time you want to a retrieve a new document, do you need to search through all other documents? How do you group similar documents together? How do you discover new, emerging topics that the documents cover?

Jun 8th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Cloud Computing Applications, Part 2: Big Data and Applications in the Cloud (Coursera) Coursera
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Cloud Computing Applications, Part 2: Big Data and Applications in the Cloud (Coursera)

Welcome to the Cloud Computing Applications course, the second part of a two-course series designed to give you a comprehensive view on the world of Cloud Computing and Big Data! In this second course we continue Cloud Computing Applications by exploring how the Cloud opens up data analytics of huge volumes of data that are static or streamed at high velocity and represent an enormous variety of information. Cloud applications and data analytics represent a disruptive change in the ways that society is informed by, and uses information.

Jun 8th 2026
4 Weeks