Course Highlights

Professor and students in classroomDemocracy, Dissent, and Emerging Technologies
Nojang Khatami, PhD, Assistant Professor of Political Science
Course Description: Political dissent is vital for democratic engagement, and it has played a crucial role in the establishment and maintenance of democratic societies. Recent developments in the use of emerging technologies (including AI and the proliferation of social media platforms) have presented new challenges for these democratic struggles. Public knowledge and citizen engagement have been increasingly threatened by the rise of AI deployers alongside influencers, podcasters, streamers, and others who use digital platforms to affect political opinions and behaviors. At the same time, emerging technologies and platforms offer possibilities for dissent and democracy, as these tools can also aid the spread of knowledge among the public. This course aims to explore these challenges and possibilities through theoretical and empirical approaches, drawing sources from political philosophy, cultural studies, and science and technology studies. The goal of the course will be to help better understand when and how emerging technologies may be a threat to democracy, and in what instances they may benefit democratic movements and dissidence. To broaden the ethical and social justice implications of these questions, the course materials will include comparative analysis of social movements in the U.S. and Iran, where dissent and democratic aspirations have had to contend with and adapt to uses of technology in recent years.

Emerging Technologies & Human Development
Selin Gulgoz, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychology
Course Description: This course explores the relationship between child and adolescent development and emerging technologies, including its empirical effects and its ethical challenges. Students will explore and discuss the impacts of new technologies, such as mHealth, social media, using digital apparatus for research, video recording of parent-child interactions, and the associated justice-related challenges to human development.

Algorithmic Ethics: Bias, Power, and Justice
Mathias Klang, PhD, Associate Professor in Digital Technologies and Emerging Media
Course Description: This interdisciplinary course offers students a critical toolkit to analyze the ethical and societal issues raised by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data-driven technologies. AI is a profound influence on society, and understanding the ethical factors influencing its design and deployment is crucial for information professionals, developers, and citizens alike. We will examine how and why ethical issues arise in the design, development, and deployment of AI technologies in high-stakes domains, from large language models and facial recognition to predictive policing and autonomous weapons. The course begins with a historical and theoretical grounding in ethical frameworks—including non-Western and feminist perspectives—and foundational concepts like rights, social justice, and moral agency. We will then explore contemporary challenges, focusing on the technical and societal dimensions of AI ethics, such as fairness, accountability, transparency, bias, and privacy. Through critical analysis of academic research, policy debates, and real-world case studies, the goal is to prepare students for the ethical responsibilities that come with developing and using systems with profound societal and, potentially, life-and-death consequences.

Ethics, Social Justice, and Generative Artificial Intelligence 
Ruhul Amin, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer and Information Science
Course Description: This course examines the ethical, social, and cultural dimensions of generative artificial intelligence (GAI), with particular attention to frameworks rooted in humanistic and social justice traditions. Drawing on the recent advancements in machine learning systems and value-aligned AI design, students will critically explore how GAI technologies are built, what assumptions and biases they encode, and how they can be redesigned to serve diverse, pluralistic communities. The course integrates Ignatian principles — including Cura Personalis (care for the whole person), Magis (the pursuit of greater good), and discernment — as a humanistic lens through which emerging AI systems can be evaluated and reimagined.