AI as Global Cultural Artifact

Undergraduate

The course seeks to help develop an understanding of how Artificial Intelligence has been imagined, in global culture, by writers and artists hailing from, or affiliating with, various parts of the globe; and also how, to some extent, human cultural imagination and demands have influenced developments in AI. We address these questions in a global sense as much as we can: while the culture of Western modernity will figure very prominently in the readings and discussion, we take a more enlarged perspective, with some of the readings being about, and/or from, places and imaginaries beyond the West: China, Afrofuturism, and South Asia. Readings consist mostly of imaginative literary works (short stories, and excerpts from longer novels), but also encompasses some non-fiction and graphic fiction. At least two weeks of class also focuses on non-textual culture (theater, film, paintings, and music that is connected to AI). The readings combine with assignments involving both traditional essays (midterm essay and final essay) and short assignments (assigned on a rolling basis, which let students explore the questions addressed in the course to a further extent). HU MW 2:35pm-3:50pm