Schedule
🗓️ Course Schedule
Course Introduction
| Week | Date | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | Jan 13 | Class Introduction |
| 1.2 | Jan 15 | Intelligence, Consciousness, Sentience |
Unit I | Philosophy
| Week | Date | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 2.1 | Jan 20 | Crash Course: Emergence Phenomena & Systems Thinking |
| 2.2 | Jan 22 | Evaluating Intelligence |
| 3.1 | Jan 27 | AI Embodiment, Agency, & Responsibility |
| 3.2 | Jan 29 | Debate I |
Unit II | Technology
| Week | Date | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 4.1 | Feb 3 | Crash Course: Designing AI: Computers & Technology |
| 4.2 | Feb 5 | Data Privacy and Algorithmic Bias |
| 5.1 | Feb 10 | Energy |
| 5.2 | Feb 12 | Debate II |
Unit III | Business
| Week | Date | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 6.1 | Feb 17 | Crash Course: Building AI: Business & Economics |
| 6.2 | Feb 19 | Financing AI |
| 7.1 | Feb 24 | |
| 7.2 | Feb 26 | Debate III |
Unit IV | Geopolitics
| Week | Date | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 8.1 | Mar 3 | Core Exam |
| 8.2 | Mar 5 | Crash Course: Negotiating AI: Geopolitics & The World |
| 9.1 | Mar 17 | Geopolitics |
| 9.2 | Mar 19 | Debate IV |
Unit V | Policy
| Week | Date | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 10.1 | Mar 24 | Crash Course: Managing AI: Domestic Politics & Governance |
| 10.2 | Mar 26 | Labor Replacement |
| 11.1 | Mar 31 | Democracy & AI |
| 11.2 | Apr 2 | Debate V |
Unit VI | Humanity
| Week | Date | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 12.1 | Apr 7 | Crash Course: Assessing AI: Harms, Implications, and Futures |
| 12.2 | Apr 9 | Authoritarianism and AI |
| 13.1 | Apr 14 | Singularities, xRisk, & AGI |
| 13.2 | Apr 16 | Debate VI |
Project Presentations
| Week | Date | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 14.1 | Apr 21 | Graduate Presentations |
| 14.2 | Apr 23 | Undergraduate Presentations |
This is a tentative course schedule. Content subject to change.
Key
Crash Course - lecture day; no student discussion leader
🗒️ Notes
A Note on Readings
All readings may be found linked from the course content pages. Readings will be posted at least one week ahead of time. Each day will have one or two primary sources that should be read, listened to, or watched in full, a series of simpler secondary readings (often, news coverage, podcasts, and/or videos) that should be browsed or scanned, and (frequently) further secondary and background reference reading for those interested in diving deeper.
Undergraduate students are expected to read or listen to the primary source(s) for the day and scan background readings.
Graduate students are expected to read or listen to the primary source(s), scan secondary readings, and select one or more of the secondary or background readings to read in further depth, as well.
Digital Access to Readings
You may need to log in through the library with your Syracuse ID to access academic articles linked in the readings.
News stories are predominantly taken from sources you have free digital access to through the SU library: The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Syracuse Post Standard, and The Atlantic. Click through and make sure you set up your access to each publication so you can read the articles when assigned.