Artificial Intelligence and Society
Minor Artificial Intelligence and Society
The interdisciplinary AI & Society minor of Leiden University brings together students and lecturers from a wide range of disciplines. Together they look at the impact of AI on society.
Chatbots giving you personal advice (or completing your course work), computer generated music and art, smart cars, video games that adapt to your gaming behavior, law enforcement assigning your neighborhood a risk score, insurance rates determined by your behavior, finding your perfect match via an app: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly and radically transforming our interactions and the structure of our society. Our minor AI and Society provides you a basic understanding of AI and its applications in the world of today and tomorrow.
AI-tools are introduced within our infrastructure, work, communication, interpersonal relations, economy, democracy, health, science etcetera, to overcome limitations and/or increase efficiency, speed, reliability, convenience. Given the impacts across society, AI requires broad action and reflection on its embedding in society. This in turns requires broader knowledge and understanding of what AI is (and also what it is not), how it works, how it impacts our society and how it can (should) be developed, implemented and used responsibly.
Leiden University hosts a broad range of experts on different aspects of AI and its role in Society, and they join forces in creating such broader knowledge and understanding for students in the Minor AI and Society. The minor aims to host students from across all bachelors offered. It invites them to explore the perspective their discipline casts on the development and embedding of AI in Society, as well as to develop an understanding of other perspectives. In the interactive parts of the program students will practice with the challenges in integrating the different perspectives towards responsible and trustworthy applications of AI in society.
The minor AI and Society is an initiative and collaboration of the Leiden University SAILS network and will feature teachers from the Faculty of Law, LIACS, the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs, and the Faculty of Humanities.
Courses
Fundamentals of Artificial Intelligence
Philosophy, Ethics and Politics of Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence and Digital Skills
Governance of Artificial Intelligence
Privacy and Data Protection
Human Robot Interaction
Important remark
The course Privacy and Data Protection is included in both the minor AI and Society and the minor Recht en Digitale Technologie. The completed course only counts towards one minor certificate.
Terms / Learning objectives
Regarding Artificial Intelligence and Society:
· To have a fundamental understanding of the project of AI and vocabulary for critically reflecting on AI in Society;
· To develop a common frame of reference and terminology for AI
· To develop basic knowledge and understanding of the fundamentals of AI, including technical history, typology and current status of AI
· To develop basic knowledge and understanding of the history, philosophy and ethics of AI;
· To develop basic insight into functionality and limitations of different types of AI applications for different contexts
· To understand and communicate the challenges associated with governance of AI in regulating use and development of AI, and discuss potential solutions
· To identify the pros and cons of current approaches to AI governance
· To describe and explain the relevance to AI of laws, regulations, and institutions for EU privacy and data protection law
· To develop digital skills regarding simple coding and reading (pseudo)code (for students with no background in digital skills);
· To explain their disciplinary perspective on technical and societal aspects of AI to students from other disciplines;
· To combine different disciplinary perspectives on technical and societal aspects of AI;
· To think critically about the deployment of robotics in society.
Regarding the interdisciplinary character of the minor:
Apart from substantive learning objectives around aspects of AI and Society for each of the courses, the minor also has objectives regarding its interdisciplinary character:
To be able to understand contributions and limitations of your own disciplinary perspective; to demystify and appreciate the insights other disciplines bring.
To be able to understand the situatedness of your knowledge: recognizing that each perspective is shaped by not only a disciplinary lens but also by external/personal experiences,
To recognize how diverse mono-disciplinary knowledges (the vertical bars of the Ts that students and teachers bring into the room) are significant to complex challenges
To develop (translational and integrative) skills for integrating them for addressing complex challenges
Required prior knowledge
None. This minor is open to students from all bachelor programs taught at universities. Given the challenges of the interdisciplinarity, it is recommended to to follow the minor in the third (or higher) year of your study.
Registration
Students from Leiden University, Erasmus University and TU Delft can register for this minor via EduXchange.
Other students can apply by following these 5 steps.
The day-to-day schedule of this minor is not yet known.
Given the didactical design of this interdisciplinary minor, class attendance is generally required, and otherwise highly recommended. The courses Privacy and Data Protection, which is both part of the minor AI and Society and the minor Recht en Digitale Technologie, only counts towards one minor certificate.
Contact
The minor is coordinated by Dr. Francien Dechesne in the interdisciplinary eLaw - Center for Law and Digital Technologies of the Leiden Law School.
Are you giving serious thought to apply for the minor Artificial Intelligence and Society, and do you have questions that haven’t been answered on this website? Please contact the coordinator via elaw@law.leidenuniv.nl.
More information
More information about the minor AI and Society, including student testimonials, can be found here.