Sociology of AI

Generative AI is rapidly developing, threatening, or already causing major shifts throughout society. What are these shifts and who are they most impacting? Where is the use of Generative AI creating social benefit and where might it be exacerbating existing inequalities, or even introducing new ones? In this course we will take up these questions and more to differentiate between the much-hyped promises of generative AI and the actual consequences of its employment. Over the course of the class, we will discuss the promises and actualities of AI use in education, health, and work, as well as how engagement with tools like ChatGPT shifts people’s relationships to each other, to expertise, and to the environment. Students will engage weekly with creative prompts for thinking critically about AI, document an AI-dependent society as imagined in cinema, and write a final paper about the impact of AI on topic of their choosing. (SOCI 0101)