Course Description

601:517. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE & THE LAW (2) WI

Goodman/Swedloff


LE 20


Artificial intelligence (AI) is a pervasive part of our daily lives. At a personal level AI can influence our social media experience, what we buy, how much we pay, and the way we drive. At an institutional level, AI influences criminal investigations and punishment, banking, employment, health care decisions, school admissions, and all manner of government regulation from electricity distribution to insurance sales. The use of AI has a chance to disrupt our constitutional rights and our democratic institutions. 

In this class, we will first unpack the meaning of AI and discuss the way that algorithms are created and implemented, how biases get built into them, and what political choices data analytics can make. We will then consider the legal rules and regulatory obligations governing and being disrupted by AI. The reading for this class will be quite heavy and cover legal, ethical, and scientific material. Grades will be based on: class participation, two short papers, an in-class presentation, and a final longer paper.