Class Sessions
Fifteen sessions exploring the social, political, and cultural dimensions of artificial intelligence.
Session 1: Introduction + Framing
What is at stake? Setting the stage for critical AI engagement.
Session 2: AI Is a Hot Mess I
Hype, Power, and Extraction - Setting the Stage
Session 3: AI Is a Hot Mess II
Continuing our examination of hype, power, and extraction
Session 4: Environment and Energy
The environmental costs of AI and connections to energy politics
Session 5: How Do We Know What We Know I
Mis/dis/fake information and the crisis of knowledge
Session 6: How Do We Know What We Know II
What is truth anymore? Student presentations
Session 7: Language and LLM Safety
How AI handles non-English languages and cultural biases
Session 8: Alchemy of Translation
NLP, LLMs, and the process of research
Session 9: Follow the Money
Capital, collapse, and concentration in AI
Session 10: Museums, Storytelling, and Digital Colonialism
Digital institution building with technology in service of story
Session 11: Ordinary Ethics of AI
Governing AI from the ground up
Session 12: The Algorithmic Gaze
What machines do and do not see
Session 13: The Data Body as Archive
Traces, ownership, and the self
Session 14: Legal Landscapes
Copyright, creativity, and AI regulation
Session 15: Final Presentations
Student presentations and course conclusion