Critical AI and Data Studies

Catalog description

In this course, we will investigate the complex ways that data and AI technologies are shaped by human values, social processes, and power structures. We will engage with 1) social theory, exploring concepts such as situated knowledge, intersectionality, and positionality and 2) recent research that bridges these concepts with modern machine learning & AI technology and practice. Students will develop both critical and imaginative ways of thinking: understanding how to situate technology in its sociotechnical context, while building alternative and more just futures. The course will introduce different research methodologies and applications areas relevant to scholars in this interdisciplinary space. Students will complete reading reflections, class discussions, and a final project engaging with the course themes.