A Strategist's Introduction to Artificial Intelligence

Catalog description

How do AI technologies influence politics, governance, and conflict? This course provides an overview of AI technologies, beginning with unpacking the term 'artificial intelligence' itself. Students will examine AI applications and their implications in political and governance contexts. The course begins with a foundational and applied understanding of machine learning, covering core concepts such as unsupervised, supervised, and reinforcement learning, natural language processing, and embodied AI. This course takes an applied approach rooted in public policy literature and assumes no prior knowledge of the concepts or technical expertise. Following this introduction, the course explores the use of AI technologies in various political and public policy scenarios, including surveillance, defense, online information environments, political campaigns, environmental sustainability, and global trade. Students will critically examine how these technologies are deployed, their capabilities and limitations, regulatory issues, and ethical considerations, such as bias and fairness.