COGS 248 Artificial Artificial Intelligence: An Introduction to Critical AI
“Artificial Artificial Intelligence” is how Jeff Bezos once described the reliance of AI on extensive, and usually ignored, human labor. What goes into producing the sometimes bizarre and often mundane outputs of generative AI? This course will examine critical issues in AI in order to begin to answer this question. First, what are the histories of the AI present? For example, terms like artificial intelligence, neural network, automation, and grok, are not new. Where do they come from and how do they influence what our technologies look like? Second, alongside technical issues, we’ll situate AI and machine learning in relation to gender, race, and sexuality, and cognition and consciousness. We’ll also discuss the ways that AI is not only a Silicon Valley technology, but a global one: geopolitically and how each moment of user interface mobilizes a planetary infrastructure and ecologies of labor and extraction. In doing so, students will deepen their understanding of “AI,” a term that’s everywhere and whose meaning is elusive.
Core Requirements Met
- Mathematics/Science
- Global Connections