Responsible Artificial Intelligence Curriculum Design Project | National Humanities Center

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Responsible Artificial Intelligence Curriculum Design Project

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National Humanities Center Institute for College/University Faculty

Overview Speakers Participants

Artificial intelligence permeates our daily lives—in the ways we conduct business, govern, provide healthcare and security, and communicate. The large-scale cultural and societal implications of these changes—and the ethical questions they raise—pose a serious challenge as we embrace a future increasingly shaped by the implementation of artificial intelligence technology. Inspired by recommendations that emerged from the In Our Image: Artificial Intelligence and the Humanities conference held in spring 2021, the role of the humanities in understanding and harnessing the enormous power and potential of artificial intelligence is clear.

Course Development

Over the past year, the National Humanities Center (NHC) has hosted 23 university faculty in building courses that introduce undergraduates to methodologies developed in humanities disciplines to address the topic of responsible artificial intelligence. Fifteen courses were developed by faculty at participating schools, which included major research universities, liberal arts colleges, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, and an HBCU. Faculty represented a wide range of disciplines including literary studies, ethics, cinema studies, government, computer science, data science, philosophy, and gender studies. We recognize that the rise of artificial intelligence affects everyone but not all institutions are prepared and able to host these technology-rich courses without support. By offering curricular guidance and funding, and with assistance from university administrators at each institution, we ensured these courses were registered in the course catalogs at all 15 institutions for the 2023–24 academic year.

NHC Responsible AI Cohort in the News

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  • Arizona State University, “Human Impacts of Artificial Intelligence,” Fall 2023
  • North Carolina State University, “Responsible AI and Society,” Fall 2023
  • Rice University, “Responsible AI for Health,” Fall 2023
  • Texas A&M University, “Ethics of Artificial Intelligence,“ Fall 2023
  • The University of Utah, “Responsible AI: A Praxis Lab,” Spring 2024
  • The University of Utah, “Writing for Humans in the Age of AI,“ Fall 2023
Institution Course Instructor(s) Semester
Arizona State University Human Impacts of AI Gaymon Bennett, Erica O’Neil Fall 2023
Bowdoin College AI Ethics Eric Chown, Allison Cooper, Michael Franz, Fernando Nascimento Fall 2023
Case Western Reserve University Responsible AI: Cultivating a Just and Sustainable Socio-technical Future through Data Citizenship Timothy Beal, Michael Hemenway Spring 2024
Davidson College Critical AI Studies Raghu Ramanujan, Mark Sample Spring 2024
Duke University Artificial Intelligence in Literature and Film Aarthi Vadde (NHC Fellow, 2020–21) Spring 2024
George Mason University Equitable AI Nupoor Ranade Fall 2023
Johnson C. Smith University Responsible Artificial Intelligence Felesia Stukes Spring 2024
North Carolina State University Responsible AI and Society Huiling Ding Fall 2023
Rice University Responsible AI for Health Kirsten Ostherr Fall 2023
Swarthmore College Ethics and Technology Lisa Meeden, Krista K. Thomason (NHC Fellow, 2021–22) Spring 2024
Texas A&M University Ethics of Artificial Intelligence Glen Miller Fall 2023
University of California, Santa Cruz Artificial Intelligence and Human Imagination Zac Zimmer Fall 2023
University of Florida Gender, Race, and Worldbuilding with AI Hina Shaikh Fall 2023
University of Georgia AI for Humans: Learning to Live with AI Kimberly Van Orman Spring 2024
The University of Utah Praxis Lab in Responsible AI Elizabeth Callaway Fall 2023, Spring 2024
The University of Utah Responsible AI in the Literary Imagination Elizabeth Callaway Spring 2024
The University of Utah Writing for Humans in the Age of AI Elizabeth Callaway Fall 2023, Spring 2024

About the Project

Working in partnership with fifteen of the nation’s top universities and colleges, the Center facilitated the development of undergraduate courses that address ethical questions about the role of artificial intelligence in our world. Each course was designed by a nominated faculty member, and each institution made the course available for credit. Considered together, these courses offer insights into the emerging role of artificial intelligence in our world, and the part post-secondary institutions can play in preparing students to assess the impact and value of those technologies.

Details

Participants developed a semester-long course that addressed key themes and topics in responsible artificial intelligence. With university commitment, these courses were added to the 2023–24 catalog and offered for credit to eligible undergraduate students.

The program provided the following support:

  • Five-day institute at the NHC on June 20–24, 2022 with full travel support
  • Stipend to individual faculty member for two-year commitment (curriculum design in year 2022–23, course instruction in 2023–24)
  • Stipend to university for course support
  • Ongoing curriculum design support and facilitation

Participants will reconvene in summer 2024 to share experiences about developing and implementing the courses on their campuses.

For more information, contact Meredith Graham, associate director of Education Programs and Digital Projects.

Facilitators

  • Artificial Intelligence; Higher Education; Curriculum

    Charlotte Dungan

    Director of Implementation, The AI Education Project

  • Artificial Intelligence; Higher Education; Curriculum

    Meredith Graham

    Associate Director of Education Programs, National Humanities Center

  • Artificial Intelligence; Higher Education; Curriculum

    Sarah Rispin Sedlak, J.D.

    Lecturing Fellow, Duke Initiative for Science & Society, Duke University

with support from Google