Course Details

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have become ubiquitous elements of our 21^st century world – both in digital platforms and IRL. At times, it seems that the trajectory of AI development is outpacing the ability of global societies and citizens to both understand the technology and grapple with the ethical challenges it presents. Yet, we have also been actively debating many aspects of AI ethics for decades – in news and public arenas, as well as through literary and cinematic explorations. This course brings such explorations and debates together – taking fiction as a starting point for confronting the complexities of an AI-‘powered’ world.

Close reading of science-fiction novels and short stories, and viewing films & TV series, will be coupled with readings in critical theory (i.e. AI ethics; feminist, critical race, Indigenous, post-colonial and queer theory). These pieces will provide students with the tools to think critically about difference, inequality and social control, in order to analyze these elements within science-fiction & fantasy story-telling. News articles and policy documents will also provide context and fodder for discussion of what it means to ‘govern’ AI. Using these non-fiction texts, we will examine how sci-fi, fantasy and speculative fiction focused on AI present particular kinds of questions for our contemporary society, including: what exactly makes us human, and who gets to define what is and is not human? What is new and is familiar about the power dynamics surrounding the development and deployment of AI systems?