Current Issues in Ethics and AI

University of Colorado Boulder via Coursera

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Provider

Coursera
Pricing

Paid Course
Languages

English
Certificate

Paid Certificate Available
Duration & workload

1 day 5 hours 20 minutes
Sessions

On-Demand
Subtitles

English

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Overview

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Artificial intelligence, particularly with the introduction of generative AI, is fundamentally impacting a huge spectrum of human experience. This ranges from the vast majority of jobs and professions to education, healthcare, media and entertainment, and much more. These rapid advances have been accompanied by a huge array of fundamental and greatly impactful ethical challenges, including bias and inaccuracy in AI systems, where AI systems should and shouldn’t replace humans, and potential benefits and harms from various types of autonomous systems, and existential issues including the future of human work and the possibility of AI systems whose intelligence exceeds that of humans. This course provides students with a broad exposure to the ethical issues arising from AI, along with the experience and ethical tools to analyze them. It is intended to help students recognize and deal with these issues in their professional careers and their lives. It is based on a combination of current media articles and recent research papers, and is designed so that it can be kept current by refreshing the references it is based on. This course can be taken for academic credit as part of CU Boulder’s Masters of Science in Computer Science (MS-CS) and the Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence (MS-AI) degrees offered on the Coursera platform. This fully accredited graduate degree offer targeted courses, short 8-week sessions, and pay-as-you-go tuition. Admission is based on performance in three preliminary courses, not academic history. CU degrees on Coursera are ideal for recent graduates or working professionals. Learn more: MS in Computer Science: https://coursera.org/degrees/ms-computer-science-boulder MS in Artificial Intelligence: https://www.coursera.org/degrees/ms-artificial-intelligence-boulder

Syllabus

Course and Ethics Overview

In the first module of this course introduces you to the topic of current ethical issues in AI from several perspectives. After providing an overview of the course including the learning objectives and what work is required of you, you’ll gain insights into key ethical theories that will underlie discussions throughout the course. These include Kantianism, Virtue Ethics, Utilitarianism, and Social Contract Theory. Then we’ll further motivate the course by looking at key ethical concerns that have been identified related to the uses of AI, and the range and pace of AI development and use.

General Ethical Issues in AI: Bias, Privacy, Misinformation

In this module, we look at fundamental ethical issues in AI: fairness, bias, and accuracy of algorithms based upon AI. Our lessons focus on three main topics: identity-related bias in large language models; bias in large language models related to images, both image generation and facial recognition; and misinformation and privacy issues in large language models. Through discussions and your independent assessment of current articles, you will gain an understanding of core ethical issues related to generative AI and large language models.

Ethical Issues in Uses of AI in Healthcare

In this module and the next, we switch from broad, general discussion of ethical issues associated with AI, to discussions focused on specific, important sectors. The first of those, which we cover in this module, is one of most important sectors for all people, healthcare. Our coverage includes a brief overview of the myriad uses of AI in healthcare, discussion of a few of many general ethical issues related to uses of AI in healthcare, and a particularly intriguing specific topic, the nascent field of neural implants. The discussions, readings, and an interview assignment will provide you with perspectives on this topic.

Ethical Issues in Uses of Robots/AI in Healthcare, Criminal Justice, and Warfare

In this module, we explore a very broad area of AI which has great importance and leads to many compelling ethical issues, robotics. The applications of robotics are diverse, and we explore issues associated with three different uses: in healthcare, in policing and the justice system, and in warfare. As is the case throughout the course, our readings reflect very recent developments and applications. The material covered in these lessons is enhanced by a report you will create in an article that pertains to either this topic or to the use of AI in healthcare.

Societal Impacts of AI: Artificial General Intelligence, Regulation, Energy Impact, Future of Work

In this final module of the course, we explore our broadest topic and a very interesting one: the societal impacts of AI. There are many topics in this category, and we explore four of them: the prospects and risks of artificial general intelligence; how AI should be regulated; the energy implications of AI, both negative and positive; and the implications of AI for the future of human work and employment. We sample reading about these topics, each of which could be a course by itself, and reinforce what we have learned by formulating our opinions on one of these topics and then having a conversation on the topic with an AI chatbot. We conclude with a brief course wrap-up which includes discussion of how AI professionals should deal with ethical considerations, in the workplace and generally.