Policy Issues: Big Data and AI

3 Credits · Level: Graduate

This seminar explores the policy issues surrounding the advent of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence, such as privacy, data fairness, future of work, warfare and policing and other issues impacting how policymakers are approaching the exponential increase in data volume, variety, and velocity, as well as the rise of machine learning. We will first set a foundation by learning about the current (and future) scale and computational power brought by Big Data and AI. We then will explore how policy principles are being applied and reevaluated today, including the ongoing debate about how -- and whether -- these principles continue to retain their vitality in the age of AI and exponential data. Students will learn a variety of skills, such as analyzing policy in the hi-tech arena and communicating their analysis and arguments through writing and oral presentations, including participating in a mock workshop and an in-class policy advocacy exercise. Our goal will be to understand the vibrant debate surrounding Big Data and AI policy, and how policymakers' choices will impact this rapidly evolving technology and society overall, for better or worse.