Artificial Society

Full course description

The course Artificial Society will train students in addressing contemporary discussions on how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is embedded in society. The course starts from the acknowledgement that current debates about AI are predicated on earlier experiences, and on academic and societal discussions. The hopes and concerns of AI have varied over time  and this matters for current debates. In this course we follow eight decades of AI, roughly attributed to the following seven themes:

Themes of Artificial Society:

1950s/60s:  computers taking over manual labour
1970s:         computers taking over intellectual labour
1980s:         limitations of AI
1990s:         ideas on intelligence
2000s          utopias of AI
2010s:         algorithms & datafication
2020s:         contemporary societal, philosophical, and ethical issues

While the themes, of course, are not neatly limited to one particular decade, they characterise the discussion on the societal ramifications of AI in a particular era. It can help students to grasp current debates when they are able to recognise the longer context of the themes.

In this course we will follow the seven themes consecutively. In each theme, we will explore (i) the academic and societal debate at that time (ii) the technical progress at that time (iii) the state of philosophical reflection at that time.  Together, the themes provide a good introduction into what AI in society could mean.