A multi-disciplinary view on ethical AI

Ethical AI has to start with good engineering and business practices, mandated by laws and industry standards, both of which are currently largely absent. Too much of AI thus far has consisted of short-term solutions, code that gets a system to work immediately, without a critical layer of engineering guarantees that are often taken for granted in other fields. If AI is modeled, to some extent, after own image, how may we shape them to adopt the values we cherish to ensure a sustainable future?

Programma

This course sets out to interrogate this important question together with the students having different backgrounds (technical, business, sociology, etc). This interdisciplinary point of view pushes us together to not only consider the immediate moral and legal repercussions of the AI presence in our world, but also reflect on the fundamental principles of ethical life for the systems we will create in the future. Without a proper acknowledgement and understanding of how the “make” and “meaning” of AI and automated decisioning go hand in hand, we run the risk of creating an unbalanced future for humanity.

Responding to this crucial need, the course is setup to equip the students with both the high-level scientific/technological knowledge and critical capacity to engage with this rapidly evolving sector while asking the right questions at design phase. Students from different disciplines will cultivate versatile thinking by looking at varied strains of AI systems and automated decisioning systems to comprehend their functioning, while situating their learnings within the framework of ethical responsibility through a set of realistic use cases.