AI Policy and Governance for People, Society, and the Planet

(3 Credits)

This seminar-style class will address the available legislative, legal, and regulatory mechanisms to maximize potential benefits from Artificial Intelligence and minimize its potential for harms. The class will develop a safety framework and draft model legislation as its final project. Class discussion and assignments will encourage students to contribute their views which we will address as the course progresses. Students and other young people have the greatest stake in decisions made to permit and restrict AI development and use. It will be a class priority to include direction from new voices in discussions and assignments. Governments oversaw the introduction of previous generations of transformative technologies and created systems to support their use for public benefit; they need to do the same with Artificial Intelligence. Class sessions will include developing a common vocabulary to define Artificial Intelligence and its variations, what may separate it from Machine Learning, and if those distinctions are important. We’ll study how AI works, how to use it effectively, and review its promised benefits including: a. improving access to knowledge b. increasing productivity c. accelerating research d. advancing complex reasoning e. personalized medicine and education f. creating more efficient energy sources with fewer externalities g. performing boring and dangerous tasks h. decreasing personal isolation We’ll also discuss serious existing and potential harms such as: a. violating privacy, personal agency, and security b. undermining democracy, authenticity and legitimate authority c. weakening cybersecurity and degrading commercial and national security d. widening existing wealth and income gaps e. causing net job losses f. increasing global warming g. undermining national financial stability h. increasing personal isolation The class will analyze the current national and international AI legislative landscape and discuss the objectives and limitations of enacted laws. Students will collaborate to create a safety legislative and regulatory framework to encourage AI for beneficial use while sufficiently minimizing AI harms in the contexts of people, society, and the planet. The class's final project will use the class-created framework as a foundation for drafting model legislation that replicates existing best practices and addresses insufficiently managed risks.