This intermediate-level philosophy course focuses on moral, social, and political questions raised by the increasing capability, complexity, and ubiquity of AI systems. Who, or what, should be held responsible for the actions of such systems? How can we ensure that decisions made by AI are fair to all those affected? And where people disagree, how can we align AI with diverse human values? Should all stakeholders be involved in its design and deployment? How do AI intermediaries stand to reshape political, economic, and social relations? And what are the most urgent risks presented by this rapidly evolving technology? Through critical reading, writing, and discussion, students will consider the central role of philosophy in identifying, clarifying, and addressing these and other pressing issues.
Andreas Matthias, “The Responsibility Gap: Ascribing Responsibility for Actions of Learning Automata” Ethics & Information Technology
Daniel W. Tigard, “There Is No Techno-Responsibility Gap” Philosophy & Technology
Luciano Floridi & J. W. Sanders, “On the Morality of Artificial Agents” Minds & Machines
Carissa Véliz, “Moral Zombies: Why Algorithms Are Not Moral Agents” AI & Society
John Zerilli, “Bias” A Citizen’s Guide to Artificial Intelligence
Reuben Binns, “Fairness in Machine Learning: Lessons from Political Philosophy” Proceedings of Machine Learning Research; Writing Assignment 1 due
Pak-Hang Wong, “Democratizing Algorithmic Fairness” Philosophy & Technology
Jenny L. Davis, Apryl Williams, & Michael W. Yang, “Algorithmic Reparation” Big Data & Society
Stuart Russell, “Artificial Intelligence: A Binary Approach” Ethics of Artificial Intelligence
Iason Gabriel & Vafa Ghazavi, “The Challenge of Value Alignment: From Fairer Algorithms to AI Safety” The Oxford Handbook of Digital Ethics
Edmond Awad, Sohan Dsouza, Jean-François Bennefon, Azim Shariff, & Iyad Rahwan, “Crowdsourcing Moral Machines” Communications of the ACM
Nick Schuster & Daniel Kilov, “Moral Disagreement and AI Value Alignment” ; Writing Assignment 2 due
Annette Zimmerman, Elena Di Rosa, & Hochan Kim, “Technology Can’t Fix Algorithmic Injustice” Boston Review
Johannes Himmelreich, “Against ‘Democratising AI’” AI & Society
John W. Murphy & Randon R. Taylor, “To Democratize Or Not To Democratize AI? That Is the Question” AI & Ethics
Ognjen Arandjelovic, “AI, Democracy, and the Importance of Asking the Right Questions” AI Ethics Journal
Daniel Susser, Beate Roessler, & Helen Nissenbaum, “Technology, Autonomy, and Manipulation” Internet Policy Review
Claire Benn & Seth Lazar, “What’s Wrong with Automated Influence” Canadian Journal of Philosophy; Writing Assignment 3 due
John Danaher & Sven Nyholm, “Automation, Work and the Achievement Gap” AI & Ethics
Shannon Vallor, “Moral Deskilling and Upskilling in a New Machine Age” Philosophy & Technology
Bales, D'Alessandro, & Kirk-Giannini, “Artificial Intelligence: Arguments for Catastrophic Risk” Philosophy Compass
David Thorstad, “Against the Singularity Hypothesis” Philosophical Studies
Hilary Greaves & William MacAskill, “The Case for Strong Longtermism” Oxford Global Priorities Institute
Seth Lazar & Alondra Nelson, “AI safety on whose terms?” Science
Writing Assignment 4 due by the end of the exam period