Entry requirements

General eligibility for university studies and English level 2 + 30 credits at university level.

Progression level in relation to degree requirements

The course is not part of any main field of studies

Course contents

The course is designed for the undergraduate level and welcomes all students with an interest in Artificial Intelligence (AI). It does not require previous knowledge of AI technologies, ethics, policy-making, or everyday politics. This course is intended to fill the gap in English curriculum bachelor’s level education within Swedish universities which addresses the topics of AI technologies and their everyday ethical implications within society as well as policy-making processes. Students will be asked to consider the ethical position of the everyday in relation to existent and emerging AI technologies within global and transnational societies, as well as how the policy sciences help us understand the context in which AI has emerged and it is being innovated, including issues of bias within data and models.

This course adopts an interdisciplinary body of research to develop the current and future societal implications, through an approach to the everyday and transnational context of digitalization. The aim of this course is to provide students with a general understanding of the ethical issues around AI and their societal impacts, as well as policy-making, without the need for intensive knowledge of the technologies. The course explores the topic of Ethics and policy in AI through the themes of citizenship, data capitalism, legislation, discrimination, trustworthiness, peace and conflict, discourse determination and future technologies. The research and cases discussed will be of value to both students working directly with development, design, and deployment of AI, as well as those with a focus on its broader societal implications.

Learning outcomes

1. On completion of the course the student will be able to:
   Demonstrate an understanding of the ethical and societal challenges of AI.
2. Assess the ethical challenges to AI development and implementation.
3. Discuss how policies are developed at multi-levels and the actors in involved, with relevance to AI.
4. To conceptualise the role of different everyday actors in relation to AI’s development, ownership, and usage.
5. To critically discuss the conditions necessary for innovation in AI technology.

Learning activities

Lectures, seminars and presentations.

Assessment

This course is examined through a series of written assignments and active participation. The course is examined through a combination of a) independent writing of a paper, which is presented orally and in writing (ILOs 1-4); and, b) active participation in the seminars (ILO 5).

Course literature

• Coeckelbergh, M. (2022)* The Political Philosophy of AI* (Bristol: Polity Press)
• D’Ignazio, C. (2020). Data Feminism (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press). (Open Source electronic Book) https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11805.001.0001
• Hintz, a., Dencik, l. and Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2018) Digital Citizenship in a Datafied Society (Bristol: Polity Press).

Course literature will consist primarily of articles announced prior to the course start, meaning there may be approximately 300 pages in addition to the listed texts. Literature will be both academic and non-academic to ensure relevance to ongoing developments in AI and ethics.

Course evaluation

Malmö University provides students who participate in, or who have completed a course, with the opportunity to express their opinions and describe their experiences of the course by completing a course evaluation administered by the University. The University will compile and summarise the results of course evaluations. The University will also inform participants of the results and any decisions relating to measures taken in response to the course evaluations. The results will be made available to the students (HF 1:14).

Interim rules

If a course is no longer offered, or has undergone significant changes, the students must be offered two opportunities for re-examination based on the syllabus that applied at the time of registration, for a period of one year after the changes have been implemented.

Additional information

If a student has a Learning support decision, the examiner has the right to provide the student with an adapted test, or to allow the student to take the exam in a different format. The syllabus is a translation of a Swedish source text.