Algorithmic bias

Algorithmic fairness

Education

Framing Society and Identity

Free Speech

Government Censorship and Surveilence

Labor and automation

Memes and Viral Content

Privacy

Social Connection and Time Well-Spent

Software Risks

The Optimization Mindset, Tech Policy, Big Tech

CS 195 Social Implications of Computer Technology UC Berkeley Fall 2022 This course is an in-depth discussion on the societal impacts of computer technology. The course content is drawn from various fields including sociology, philosophy, economics, and public policy. Students are expected to explore topics like privacy, algorithmic bias, tech policy, and the implications of tech on education and jobs. CS 195 is a discussion-intensive course about the social implications of computer technology. The purpose of this course is to help students make informed and thoughtful choices about their careers, participation in society, and future development activities. Readings and lecture topics are drawn from a range of fields that together seek to describe our contemporary global society: sociology, philosophy, economics, public policy, etc.   

CS 195 Social Implications of Computer Technology

Computer Ethics is a field of study that deals with how computing professionals should make decisions regarding professional and social conduct in relation to technology and its uses. It involves the examination of the ethical considerations and issues that arise from the use of computers and technology, such as privacy concerns, intellectual property rights, computer security, cybercrime, the impact of artificial intelligence, and the societal implications of emerging technologies.

Computer Ethics

Computer Science

CSE  480 Computer Ethics University of Washington Autumn 2022 This course focuses on understanding the societal and ethical implications of technology and computing. It covers historical tech issues, machine ethics, and science and technology studies. The course aims to train students to critically evaluate the socio-technical implications of their creations, with a focus on AI ethics, social good, governance, and privacy, among other topics. Be it social-media platforms, robots, or big data systems, the code Allen School students write—the decisions they make—influences the world in which it operates. This is a survey course about those influences and ways to think about them. We recognize, “the devil is in the implementation details.”

The course is divided into two parts: In the first part, we survey historical and local issues in tech, particularly those concerning data. We then engage with critical perspectives from disciplines such as machine ethics and science and technology studies as a framework for students to articulate their own beliefs concerning these systems. In the second part, we apply these perspectives to urgent issues in applied technologies; see the schedule for the topics we plan to consider this quarter.

Throughout, students hone their critical reading and discussion skills, preparing them for a life-long practice of grappling with the—often unanticipated—consequences of innovation.

We approach topics such as: AI ethics, social good, utopianism, governance, inclusion, facial recognition, classification, privacy, automation, platforms, speculative design, identity, fairness, power and control, activism, and subversive technologies.

We aim to have you feel this course experience is an essential part of your Allen School education despite being (or because it is!) very different from most CSE courses. By the end of this course students will:

- Obtain awareness of issues arising from the use of computers in contemporary sociotechnical systems
- Articulate technological harms to individuals and groups in the language of critical perspectives
- Appreciate how historical, cultural, economic, and political factors contribute to how technologies are built and designed
- View themselves as both subjects and creators of sociotechnical systems
- Understand and articulate complex arguments pertaining to values in technology
- Recognize the diversity of stakeholders and views when considering a technology
- Amplify voices and values not traditionally considered in technological development (e.g., in design processes)
- Re-imagine and speculate alternative histories and futures for using and coexisting with computers  

CSE  480 Computer Ethics

CS 182: Ethics, Public Policy, and Technological Change Stanford University Winter 2023 This course examines the intersections of philosophy, public policy, social science, and engineering in the context of recent computing technology and platforms. Key areas of focus include algorithmic decision-making, data privacy, AI, the influence of private computing platforms, and issues of diversity in tech. Students need to have completed CS106A. Examination of recent developments in computing technology and platforms through the lenses of philosophy, public policy, social science, and engineering.  Course is organized around five main units: algorithmic decision-making and bias; data privacy and civil liberties; artificial intelligence and autonomous systems; the power of private computing platforms; and issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the technology sector.  Each unit considers the promise, perils, rights, and responsibilities at play in technological developments.  ### Menu of Topics

The course will focus on six frontiers that (a) you are likely to play a role in shaping over the next decade and (b) where engagement with material from philosophy, social science, and public policy is likely to be helpful.

1. Algorithmic Decision-Making 
2. Political Economy of Tech Sector
3. Data Collection, Privacy, and Civil Liberties 
4. Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems
5. Power of Private Platforms
6. Blockchain, Decentralization, and Cryptocurrency
 CS106A ### Cross-Cutting Themes

Throughout the course, we will foreground two cross-cutting themes:

- First, issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion which focus our attention on who has power, voice, and influence in shaping the design and regulation of technology.
- Second, issues of political economy which focus our attention on the interplay of markets and governments in shaping what technology gets built, who benefits from that technology, and how any harmful impacts are/are not mitigated.

CS 182: Ethics, Public Policy, and Technological Change

CS 195 Social Implications of Computer Technology

Overview

Prerequisites

Learning objectives

Textbooks and other notes

Other courses in Computer Ethics

CSE 480 Computer Ethics

CS 182: Ethics, Public Policy, and Technological Change

Courseware availability

Covered concepts