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Curricular information is subject to change
Students who successfully complete this course will have:
(1) a good grasp of some central issues in the philosophy and ethics of AI
(2) engaged critically with some important views and arguments in this area, and
(3) developed their own independent thoughts and arguments concerning some of those
issues.
In this module we will examine some of the philosophical issues that arise from the use of AI technologies in order to better understand and evaluate the risks and opportunities that they present. It will include issues in the philosophy of mind and cognitive science concerning the nature of mind and intelligence, and in applied ethics, such as how to develop and apply ethical frameworks to AI systems and the values that they encode.
Sample content and questions that may be covered include:
• Could a machine understand or be conscious?
• Do AI systems think and reason like we do, or do they possess a different form of intelligence from humans?
• Will the values of AI systems align with human interests, or could they develop their own (potentially hostile) agenda?
• How can we prevent machine learning algorithms from acquiring morally objectionable
biases?
Note: this module will require use of AI systems, including for assessment purposes, for
which instruction and guidance will be given. No prior familiarity with AI is assumed.
Student Effort Type | Hours |
---|---|
Autonomous Student Learning | 94 |
Lectures | 24 |
Tutorial | 7 |
Total | 125 |
Not applicable to this module.
Description | Timing | Component Scale | % of Final Grade | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Assignment: Assignment due at the end of the Trimester | Coursework (End of Trimester) | n/a | Graded | No | 50 |
Continuous Assessment: Participation and attendance in tutorials, assessed by submission of short questions for discussion in tutorials, consisting of 10% of the final mark. | Throughout the Trimester | n/a | Graded | No | 10 |
Assignment: Assignment due in week 8 | Week 8 | n/a | Graded | No | 40 |
Resit In | Terminal Exam |
---|---|
Spring | No |
• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment
Feedback will be given to individually to students post-assessment.
Name | Role |
---|---|
Dr Silvia Ivani | Lecturer / Co-Lecturer |
Samuel Ferns | Tutor |
Lecture | Offering 1 | Week(s) - Autumn: All Weeks | Tues 15:00 - 15:50 |
Lecture | Offering 1 | Week(s) - Autumn: All Weeks | Wed 15:00 - 15:50 |
Tutorial | Offering 1 | Week(s) - 3 | Tues 14:00 - 14:50 |
Tutorial | Offering 1 | Week(s) - 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 | Tues 14:00 - 14:50 |
Tutorial | Offering 2 | Week(s) - 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 | Mon 14:00 - 14:50 |