AI and Epistemology

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

Contemporary Artificial Intelligence technologies raise a number of difficult epistemological and ethical questions. In what circumstances can we trust the outputs of AI tools such as chatbots? How can AI systems be biased, and what can we do to ensure they are fair and just? What is algorithmic opacity, and how can it be avoided? Whose speech should be heard in the public sphere? How can we avoid the spread of misinformation? What is privacy, and how can it be promoted? Questions like these are epistemological, as they concern information, knowledge, testimony, and inductive inference. They are also of enormous ethical and political importance, given the prominence of AI in contemporary life. In this course, we will seek answers to epistemological questions about contemporary AI. We will read literature from a variety of research programs, including: traditional, social, and feminist epistemology; philosophy of science; science and technology studies; and computer science research concerning fair, accountable, and transparent AI.