The recent rise of AI, thirty-something years after the advent of the Internet, heralds the beginning of another technical revolution. What is AI? Where has it come from? Where is it going? This course, aimed at a non-technical audience, attempts to answer these questions by taking a historical and cultural journey through the development of AI from the 1950s to the present day. Among other things, the tutor will draw on vignettes drawn from history, literature and philosophy to discuss: a) how and why recent AI tools work so well, b) their strengths and weaknesses, c) how to use them well and, d) the fascinating question of whether they can reason. 

DELIVERY MODE

• Face-to-Face

COURSE RESOURCES

• Library of Babel, Jorge Luis Borges
• The Kekule Problem, Cormac McCarthy
• What is ChatGPT and Why Does it Work, Stephen Wolfram

COURSE OUTLINE

• What is AI and how does it work?
• What are the differences between AI and human thinking?
• Keeping in mind the above, how can one use AI well?

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

• Understand how modern AI works
• Understand how AI 'thinks' and 'reason'
• Understand how to use AI in a thoughtful and critical manner