ETHICS FOR AI
Instructional goals
Our society’s economics, ethics, politics, and law—in short, our way of life—is being significantly and
rapidly transformed as Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems are embedded in more and more facets of
our lives. The course focuses on the ethical issues involved in the latest developments of AI, and in
particular on the algorithmic judgment at its core, which as of today is developing at an impressive
speed.
Intended learning outcomes
The course will give students the opportunity to develop their ability to approach ethical issues in
today’s data-driven society. A focus on different practical cases will provide students with the
necessary skills to apply knowledge and understanding to specific scenarios.
Course Contents
This course will explore the ethical issues related to digital technologies, in particular AI and
algorithms. In addition, the course will cover a range of current issues and topics through the
application of important moral theories, exploring how digital technologies often challenge what we
know about ethics, politics and law.
Reference Books
The course will be based on collection of top scientific articles and book excerpts. Articles and other
materials (cases) will be available through the myLearn platform.
Teaching Methods
The course will be based on lectures and classes organized around different lecture topics. Classes
will entail additional material and cases that will illustrate the key ideas presented on each lecture.
Students will be encouraged to actively participate in the lectures through questions, practical and theoretical elaborations.
Assessment Method
Assessment will consist of a written assignment.
In the written assignment students are required to demonstrate that they are able to:
· Understand the foundations of ethics broadly
· Understand the foundations of modern and ancient approaches to ethics and their main
differences.
· Have familiarity with the problems of ethics and some of the possible solutions specifically
related to algorithms and AI
· Apply their ethical understanding to analyze cases involving algorithms, AI, social media
and data.
Thesis assignment criteria
The overall assessment will take into account the level of knowledge and understanding of the ethical
issues in digital technologies; the students’ capacity for thinking creatively, innovatively, and critically;
and their capacity to present effectively findings and conclusions.
Week 1
In this segment we get a deep dive into the main ethical issues of AI.
Week 2
In this segment we get a deep dive into Ethics of information.
Week 3
In this segment we get a deep dive into "Artificial Unconsciousness"
Week 4
Moral machine
decision making
Week 5
Neuroethics
AI and future of work
Week 6
Chinese room
Week 7
Media ethics
Week 8
Ethics of technology: the empirical turning point
Achterhuis, H., American Philosophy of Technology: The Empirical Turn, Indiana University Press, Bloomington (IN), 2001.
Week 9
The digitization of the world and the platformization of reality (2000-2010)
Lacy, S., Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good: The Rebirth of Silicon Valley and the Rise of Web 2.0, Avery, New York, 2009.
Thiel, P., Zero To One, Random House, New York 2014.
Miller, D., Tales from Facebook, Polity, New York, 2011.
Newton, L., Facebook Nation: Total Information Awareness, Springer, Boston, 2015.
Week 10
The attention economy and its effects on the social sustainability of digital innovation (2011-2020)
Zuboff, S., The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power, Profile Books, New York, 2019.
Greenfield, A., Radical Technologies: The Design of Everyday Life, Verso, New York 2017.
McNamee, R., Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe, HarperCollins, New York, 2019.
Lanier, J., Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now, Henry Holt and Co, New York 2018
Week 11
The decade of AI (2021-2030)
Kiinger, H., Mundie, C., Schmidt, E., Genesis: Artificial Intelligence, Hope, and the Human Spirit, John Murray Pub, New York, 2024
Week 12
The technological society of the future
Karp, A., Zamiska, N., The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West, Crown Currency, 2025
Golumbia, D., Cyberlibertarianism: The Right-Wing Politics of Digital Technology, U of Minnesota Press, 2025