Technology, Artificial Intelligence, and Society - Major

The B.A. in Technology, AI, and Society is an interdisciplinary major that integrates the social sciences and humanities to explore the role of technology in society. The major focuses on understanding the role of advanced technologies in modern life and evaluating the risks and benefits that they present for individuals and society.

The courses in the major address such issues as:

• Considerations of race, class, gender/gender identity, sexual orientation, and disability in applications of technology.
  • Can facial recognition software be biased, and if so, how can this be avoided?
  • What do the huge swaths of data collected from online dating sites and apps tell us about preferences for interracial dating?
• The role technology has in shaping human nature, personal identity, and the natural environment.
  • In what ways are programs like Siri and Alexa similar to humans? How are they different?
  • How do advanced technologies classify and interpret personal identities, especially among marginalized communities?
• The impact of advanced technologies on major social institutions, including work, politics, healthcare, law, family and education
  • What are the implications of social media algorithms and the proliferation of deepfakes for democracy?
  • How can algorithms be used to improve health diagnostics and care?
  • How is the gig economy different from previous changes in American labor?
  • How does technology shape romantic and parenting decisions and experiences?
• The ethical, legal, and political implications of using computers, “big data,” and algorithms to help humans make decisions.
  • Does using algorithms result in fairer sentencing practices than human judges?
  • What are relevant considerations in terms of privacy, security, and confidentiality in regard to artificial intelligence technologies?
• The impact of artificial intelligence technologies on organizations and business models.
  • Do companies have a duty to workers replaced by computer systems?  
  • How might corporate social responsibility practices change or stay the same in companies using artificial intelligence technologies? 
• The future of emerging technologies, such as gaming, smart textiles, physical computing, and animal-computer interaction. 
  • Do new technologies demand new ways of thinking about ethics and privacy? 
  • How can students best prepare for cutting-edge technology careers?

Students in the major will be prepared for work in a wide variety of fields including healthcare, education, non-profit work, communications, law, business, and finance

Student Learning Outcomes:

Students will be able to:

• Identify and explain the role of technology in exacerbating or improving inequality across lines of race, gender, and ability.
• Evaluate the role of technology in shaping human nature, personal identity, organizations, social institutions, and the natural environment.
• Interrogate the ethical and political implications of using computers, “big data,” and algorithms to help humans make decisions.
• Use various programming languages to create computer programs in order to solve a variety of real-world problems.
• Critically evaluate the capacity for advanced technologies to promote fairness, accountability, trustworthiness, transparency, and ethics in computing.