Artificial Intelligence (AI) increasingly permeates many facets of our life, from health care to education to changing labor relations to international politics and security. AI technologies also influence our relationship with "technology" itself and pose fundamental questions of what it means to be human and who (or what) possesses agency. At the same time, these socio-technical realities are reflected in and reproduce existing power relations on a political level. This course draws on theories from Science & Technology Studies to explore AI as a socio-technical system. We start by asking: What is technology? How does agency develop out of and within socio-technical systems? What does agency mean and where do we have agency? We explore the political dimensions of human-machine relations, including different understandings of social relations and hierarchies, and finally reflect on what it means to be human in a world increasingly filled with "intelligent" devices.
3 units · Letter (ABCD/NP)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) increasingly permeates many facets of our life, from health care to education to changing labor relations to international politics and security. AI technologies also influence our relationship with "technology" itself and pose fundamental questions of what it means to be human and who (or what) possesses agency. At the same time, these socio-technical realities are reflected in and reproduce existing power relations on a political level. This course draws on theories from Science & Technology Studies to explore AI as a socio-technical system. We start by asking: What is technology? How does agency develop out of and within socio-technical systems? What does agency mean and where do we have agency? We explore the political dimensions of human-machine relations, including different understandings of social relations and hierarchies, and finally reflect on what it means to be human in a world increasingly filled with "intelligent" devices.
Offered in Autumn 2025 at Stanford University.