English - Elective Subject, topic 3: Ethics in AI - Navigating Fairness, Biases, and Transparency Challenges in the Humanities

This course introduces students to artificial intelligence applications, with particular attention to the current use of AI systems in the humanities. Students will reflect on the ethical implications of AI in teaching and learning contexts (e.g. for text production, translation, and language learning) as well as in a series of real-world cases. Contexts and cases will focus on English language use, learning and teaching.

The structure of the course consists of four blocks, an introduction and a week of wrapping up the course. Students are introduced to how generative AI systems work, including its reliance on the English language and Anglophone cultures, and to the general issues covered in the course. The four blocks focus on 1) Bias, hallucinations and transparency, 2) The workings of generative AI systems (LLMs and prompting), as well as data security and privacy, 3) Social inclusion and exclusion caused by the application of AI systems, and 4) Environmental impacts of using generative AI. Each block introduces students to a series of ethical issues surrounding AI use in the humanities and within the context of the English degree programme. These examples allow students to analyse the implications of AI in society. Throughout, important ethical issues concerning AI use will be presented and critically discussed in class.

As part of the teaching, students will analyse and discuss different types of AI systems and their applications in a series of case studies placed at the end of each block. Students who complete this course will thus have the skills and competencies to understand how AI systems work and to interact with generative AI tools, as well as critically evaluate the ethical use of generative AI in various contexts related to their educational profile as experts in English.