Connection by Design: Can AI Strengthen Human Connection?

(3 Credits)

We are facing a global crisis of connection, reflected in the rising levels of depression, loneliness, partisan divides, suicide, and violence. While technology is often blamed, there is a growing consensus that the problem is not technology but the way it is designed with a wide variety of design features that inevitably promote disconnection and isolation. How can digital technology and AI be designed to deepen human-to-human connection? Drawing on the science of human connection, this course examines the skills that enable human to human connection and bridge divides, and has students work in pairs to develop research grounded proposals for Connection-by-Design technology that strengthens human relationships rather than disconnecting them. The UAE will serve as the first country to offer such opportunities within a rapidly changing, technologically ambitious, and culturally diverse society. Students will learn and practice the skills necessary for human connection through interviews with local community members and apply this fieldwork to their UAE-specific product designs.