Sociology of Ai

The course develops a critical sociological perspective on Artificial Intelligence, intended as both an idea and a set of technological tools.
The first part of the course provides a synthetic social and intellectual history of the idea of Artificial Intelligence, of algorithms, computational reasoning, and the process of datafication. This part of the course introduces students to major current issues underpinning critical approaches to Artificial Intelligence and algorithmic studies vis a vis the political economy of media and communication; develop the students' understanding of the underlying ideological assumptions behind digital media technology, mediated representations and informational and communicative labor; and aims to shift the perspective from 'artificial' to social intelligence.
The second part of the course develops a conceptual and methodological repertoire useful to critically analyze machine learning systems and platform-based algorithms in light of their sociocultural roots and societal implications. Through an overview of state-of-the-art sociological research on artificial conversational agents, generative AI tools, recommendation systems, and other common applications of machine learning techniques, students will learn how to study Artificial Intelligence systems as agents powerfully shaping society while being recursively shaped by it.
The two parts of the course will run in parallel, and intersect in the context of group research projects.

- To use an array of conceptual tools to deconstruct complex ideological constructs such as 'technological solutionism,' 'technological determinism' and 'technological fetishism;'
- To be able to assess the role played by AI (and Information Communication Technology in general) in producing and reproducing capitalist structures and social inequalities;
- To be able to treat technology not as a product or a black box, but a socially and historically determined process;
- To apply a wide range of social science methods to the sociological study of AI technologies, and produce original research outputs;
- To acquire general knowledge of the sociocultural and political implications of existing AI-driven technologies, and how they both shape and are shaped by society.