The Ideologies & Geopolitics of AIand Technology (SSC 5372)
Term: 2025-2026 Academic Year - Spring Semester
Description
a. War, Surveillance, and Geopolitics: The use of AI in recent wars has been a shock to many, but only a continuation of the usual for others. This course looks at cases in which AI has been deployed in situations of war and conflict and to disrupt and intervene in the workings of sovereign states, not to mention the invasion of privacy of regular citizens to serve certain agendas, without their consent. Can AI be used for good, and for peaceful diplomatic ends? We assess where things go wrong, and where they could be made right to serve to resolve conflicts, and to empower citizens toward peace.
b. The Contemporary Technological, Environmental, and Political AI World Order: This course serves as an introduction to the current landscape of Artificial Intelligence, its production, its utilization, and its negotiations with existing structures and experience at the individual, social, economic, pedagogical, political and more. Readings will be drawn from an array of news and documentary sources, including academic and industry journals, to give students an idea of how this technological shift has emerged, and how it is configuring, and stands to configure, our realities and experience, and how it is connection to transformations in other areas of knowledge and practice.