MA-INF 4116: AI ETHICS SEMINAR
Summer Semester 2024
Content:
What is the AI Ethics seminar about?
The seminar aims to introduce students to the ethical dilemmas of artificial intelligence. Students will develop skills in assessing AI systems, identifying ethical dilemmas and social impacts, reasoning through ethical and social issues, and communicating their reasoning.
Students will learn about the design of ethical and socially responsible systems. They will gain practice engaging with multidisciplinary perspectives from behavioral and social science. At the end of the course, students will write a final term essay on one of the course topics.
A typical lecture will consist of 2-3 student presentations that focus on a research article and the broad context of its topic. Following each presentation, we discuss the work with a focus on assessing relevant ethical issues and potential approaches for ethical design and engineering.
Six broad modules structure the seminar:
- Foundations of AI and AI ethics
- Bias & fairness
- Privacy & data privacy
- Social networks & civility of communication
- Politics & policy
- AI for “social good”
NOTE: Previously attended classes in machine learning, robotics, data mining, or related, can be useful for understanding the topics but are not a must.
Logistics:
- Seminars: are on Wednesday 2:15 PM - 3:45 PM in B-IT 2.113 (Friedrich-Hirzebruch-Allee 6). ZOOM LINK
- Note: The class is hybrid, it is fine to attend/ present online, but be ready to share your screen for the hands-on results!
- Course Materials: will be uploaded every week on eCampus.
- Contact: Students should ask all course-related questions in our forum discussion on eCampus. For external inquiries, emergencies, or personal matters, you can contact Prof. Flek or Vahid.
- Office Hours: Please reach out to us first via mail to arrange any in-person meeting.
- Prof. Dr. Lucie Flek: Friedrich-Hirzebruch-Allee 6 (B-IT) – Room: 2.123
- Vahid Sadiri Javadi: Friedrich-Hirzebruch-Allee 6 (B-IT) – Room: 2.120
- Allison Lahnala: Friedrich-Hirzebruch-Allee 6 (B-IT) – Room: 2.107
NEWS / UPDATES:
- 30.03.2024: The first class will take place on Wednesday, 17.04.2024 at 2:15 PM in Room 2.113.
Instructors:
Seminar Work:
1. Presentation (50%):
During the semester, you will give an oral presentation focusing on a topic related to the seminar modules. A typical presentation will center on one research paper. You must survey reliable resources on your topic to gain depth on the subject and to provide background / broad context in your presentation. The background shall pave the way for describing the problem addressed by the paper. In presenting the main article, provide a high-level technical overview, and assess its contributions and ethical dilemmas. The presentation should be interactive. You will have 20 - 25 minutes to present.
Presenter responsibilities:
1. Prepare your presentation. You should submit an annotated bibliography listing the references consulted and a capsule summary of the important concept associated with each. Use a proper and consistent format for bibliographic entries. This should be appended as part of the presentation slides.
2. Submit your final slides by 9 am the day of your presentation by emailing them to by emailing them to flek(at)bit.uni-bonn.de. Please include both PowerPoint (or Google Slides) and PDF format.
3. Upload your slides to eCampus for seminar participants’ reference. (Optional)
2 x Moderator / Devil’s Advocate:
You can choose (or will be assigned) two papers during the semester for which you will act as a discussant. Discussants play an essential role in stimulating class discussion. They will engage with the paper content more deeply and prepare questions for the class discussion. You must prepare at least three discussion questions relating to the work and ethical considerations. You are encouraged to collaborate with the presenter and the other discussants. I suggest you provide the questions to the presenter at the beginning of their slides to support audience engagement.
Expectations on your role:
1. Select your assigned discussion HERE, and submit your questions/ thoughts on your assigned paper by 9 am on the day of the discussion by emailing them to flek(at)bit.uni-bonn.de in a PDF format.
2. Participate in class (virtually or in person) during the discussion of your assigned paper. The discussion period for a paper will be between 10-15 minutes.
2. Final Essay (50%):
In addition to being able to assess AI systems and identify and reason through ethical dilemmas and social impacts, an important skill is to be able to communicate your reasoning. You are assigned to write a five-page essay that engages deeply with a seminar topic and demonstrates the skills you develop throughout the seminar. The paper should survey the relevant work and perspectives related to the topic, assess AI systems, and explore and present an argument about their ethical dilemmas. You are encouraged to pursue an essay on the same topic as your oral presentation and build on the discussions from your presentation session.
You will develop the essay throughout the semester.
Submission: Final Essay should be submitted via eCampus. Further instructions will be announced soon.
Deadlines:
- Block your presentation slot until: 04.05.2024
- Register your essay plan until: <DATE>
- Hand in your essay until: <DATE>
Allocation:
- Master in Media Informatics: 4 ECTS credits
- Master in Computer Science: MA-INF 4116
- Students must register for the exam on POS/BASIS.
Literature:
| Week | Date | Description | Events | Deadlines |
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| Week 0 | 17.04.2024 | Organization & Outline | ||
| Week 1 | 24.04.2024 |
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