Rhetoric of AI

3 Credits

For every, “Okay, Google” or “Hey, Siri” to help us with tasks, there is the potential for “Help me understand something” and “Help me through something.” Thus, while we have the ability to give AI commands, conversational AI has the power to influence, persuade, and help us grow, all of which have equally interesting and alarming possibilities. In this course, we will examine this while testing our assumptions. By relying on multidisciplinary knowledge from anthropology, art, linguistics, philosophy, professional writing, psychology, rhetoric, and technical writing -including selections from the Western canon- to develop interdisciplinary skills in creative thinking, critical thinking, collaboration, presentations, public speaking, and research, our work in AI will necessarily bridge the humanities with the technical. To that end, we will begin with the history and theories of rhetoric and AI. Then, we will survey the landscape of AI developers and developments.