The Ethics of Technology and Artificial Intelligence (Level 7)

• Credit value: 30 credits at Level 7
• Convenor: Dr Alex Grzankowski  
• Assessment: a 2000-word essay (40%) and 2500-word essay (60%)

In this module we introduce you to some of the most important ethical questions currently faced by human beings in our relation to each other, to machines and to nature:

• How should we think about the ethical issues raised by the development of artificial intelligence and other forms of sophisticated information technologies?
• Is artificial intelligence capable of rational or moral agency, and, if so, should humans relate to AI in comparable ways to how we relate to blameworthy or praiseworthy human beings as morally responsible agents with duties and rights?
• Is AI a threat to human freedom in virtue of the ability to predict, manipulate or control human thought and behaviour?
• Is the development of AI a potential threat to human existence as we know it?
• To what extent does the development of AI present challenges relating to gender bias, racism or the entrenchment of historical injustice, oppression prejudice?
• Are the technological advances promised by AI a threat to the cultivation or preservation of existing ecosystems, or do they represent an opportunity for ecological preservation and control?

Indicative syllabus

• AI and agency
• AI and responsibility
• AI, rights and duties
• AI, freedom and manipulation
• AI and transhumanism
• AI and gender norms
• AI and racial prejudice
• AI, justice, markets and oppression
• AI and the environment
• AI and existential risk.

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• demonstrate a deep and systematic understanding of different philosophical approaches to ethical questions that arise from our relationships with artificial intelligence and other forms of technology, as well as their interrelationships with theories in moral philosophy
• demonstrate thorough understanding of different ideas, contexts and frameworks deployed by contributors to philosophical debates over applied and practical ethics; their strengths and weaknesses; and their relevance to the broader discussion in society
• develop critical responses to different philosophical theories of our rights and duties in relation to artificial intelligence, suggesting new concepts or approaches
• creatively and flexibly apply knowledge to critically challenge philosophical accounts of the ethics of technology and artificial intelligence, while situating these in relation to ethical theories and societal debates.