Ethics of AI

Catalog description

A first course on the many moral normative dimensions of AI. We begin with a comprehensive examination of the nature of morality and of the various moral theories and principles effective in moral deliberations. In the remaining two-thirds of the course, we put this background to use in exploring various moral issues and dilemmas that arise in the development and applications of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in the sciences, business, military, medicine, politics, art, and society. Topics include the nature of deep-learning algorithms, the acquisition of training data, the ‘black-box’ problem AI’s present, successful applications of deep-learning algorithms, the intrinsic limitations of AI, and the consequences of its use in the conduct of science, business, medical practice and research, politics and political decision-making, art-making, war making, and its complicated role in social relationships.