This Summer Institute reflects on the rapidly evolving social life of artificial intelligence. Course topics include technical matters of AI’s basic operation as well as theoretical discussions about AI's ethics. Over three weeks, participants work individually and in teams to learn key methods of assessing AI's social impacts.
Artificial intelligence has gone public. Once a matter of scientific research, AI has become a household name. ChatGPT introduced the public to the experimental large language models while Stable Diffusion and other text-to-image models helped millions imagine how an AI dreams. This Summer Institute reflects on the rapidly evolving social life of artificial intelligence, looking to understand the social impacts of many new applications of artificial intelligence.
Students will over the course of the three-week spring school will:
- Be introduced to the fundamentals of artificial intelligence;
- Apply emergent methods for AI auditing and impact assessment;
- Debate the foundations of ethical AI and the relationship between technology and social development;
- Participate in an international symposium and synthesize key debates in the field over the social shaping of AI
The class, like Concordia’s Applied AI Institute, is intentionally interdisciplinary. Course topics include technical matters of AI’s basic operation as well as theoretical discussions about AI’s ethics.
Over three weeks, participants work individually and in teams to learn key methods of assessing AI’s social impacts. Methodologies to be introduced include:
- Datasheets and data provenance;
- Algorithmic Impact Assessments
- Ethnopolitical Theory; and,
- Futures literacy.
Students will learn these methods through applied group activities facilitated by the Applied AI Institute. A typical day involves a morning check-in and discussion, a lunch-time keynote, and an afternoon of independent study on class activities applying key methods and readings introduced in the class.
Participants can apply to two streams:
- Social science and humanities students with aptitude in Computer Science
- Computer Science Students with specialization in Engineering in Society
All applicants are expected to submit a CV and complete a short entry form.
Participants will be invited to participate in a two-day international symposium gathering leading experts on AI’s public representation of AI. The symposium, (un)Stable Diffusion hosted at the Milieux Institute, involves two days of talks, keynote panels, and arts events meant to question ways to represent AI publicly.
Who can apply:
Graduate Students.
Requirements
Participants can apply to two streams:
- Social science and humanities students with aptitude in Computer Science
- Computer Science Students with specialization in Engineering in Society
All applicants are expected to submit a CV and complete a short entry form.
Schedule
May 8 from 1pm to 3pm: Introduction
May 10 from 10am to 3pm: Fundamentals of AI
May 11 from 10am to 3pm: Auditing AI Methods, Part 1
May 12 from 10am to 3pm: Auditing AI Methods, Part 2
May 16 from 10am to 2pm: AI Ethics
May 18 from 11am to 4pm: AI Futures
May 23 from 9am to 5pm: Symposium Day 1
May 24 from 9am to 5pm: Symposium Day 2
May 26 from 1am to 4pm: Closing Discussion
Faculty members
Fenwick Mckelvey and Tristan Glatard.
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