Course Schedule and Catalog

Long Title: AI ETHICS

Department: Computer Science

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Recent advances in machine learning and robotics have led technology users, developers, and policymakers to increasingly consider the role of AI in social, economic, and political life. Amid both utopian and dystopian visions for the potential of AI, important questions about the role of “artificial” intelligence in “human” society are newly emerging or being considered anew: what kinds of sociotechnical processes count as “AI”? What will be the moral status of “autonomous” entities? What will be the social, cultural, and political impact of AI? What will this impact be in different cultures and nations around the world? In this class, we will draw on a diverse set of historical and theoretical materials - including academic texts, historical analyses, technical reports, and science fiction film and literature - to examine the affordances and limitations of AI in areas such as education, manufacturing, transportation, healthcare, policing, and warfare. In so doing, the ultimate purpose of this course will be to deconstruct the epistemological, ontological, and ethical assumptions that have historically shaped and in many ways continue to shape the development of AI. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for COMP 566 if student has credit for COMP 510.