STS.S91 AI Technology, Policy and Society: Priorities, Opportunities and Trade-Offs
January 13-17, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm (includes one-hour lunch break)
E51-385
Units: 2-0-0
Graduate-level. Undergraduates may enroll with the permission of the instructors.
Same subject as 16.S498
This seminar will explore the current alignment of AI Technology, Public Policy and Society with an eye toward identifying a wide range of governance approaches that can guide the ongoing integration of AI-driven systems in our economy and society. We will assess the relative maturity of technologies that are essential to AI’s positive contribution to society, consider governance tools available to support positive developments of AI and protect citizens around the world from harmful effects of these new systems. By considering legal, policy, ethical and social-theoretical perspectives on current and proposed uses of AI, we will learn about how society’s values and priorities are and can be reflected in the future, and what trade-offs we should be prepared to address. Each day we will hear presentations from scholars who focus on engineering, social-scientific, and public-policy topics. At the close of the course students will have an opportunity to develop recommendations for how the MIT community should engage with the technology, public policy, industrial and civil society actors in the future of AI Policy.
Lead Instructors: Julie Shah (AeroAstro and CSAIL), David Kaiser (STS), and Daniel Weitzner (CSAIL)