Assignments
All weekly assignments must be done individually. If you wish to use material from either the course readings or readings you find yourself, please make sure to cite properly. The syllabus offers rules about whether and how to appropriately use generative AI systems in this course; please don't violate our expectations!
Most weeks, there will be an assigned topic for that week's writing; these will also appear in the course Slack page. Your submissions will be due to the LEARN dropbox for the course by 11:59 on the Mondays before the Tuesday class meetings. Students must complete six of these essays in the term; see the grading pane for more details.
Late essays will not be accepted except under extreme circumstances; please contact the instructor in those situations. Otherwise, please just respond to the next submission prompt; there will be nine or ten of them across the term.
Example papers that have been previously submitted to courses similar to this offering of CS 492 are available on the course's LEARN site, under the Sample Papers tab under Content.
| # | Due Date | Subject | Prompt |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15 Jan | Introduction and case studies | What is the current best solution to address discriminatory outcomes arising from AI systems? |
| 2 | 22 Jan | Definitions of discrimination, case studies | What definition of fairness most resonates with you? Why is that the case, and why do you support this definition instead of the alternatives? |
| 3 | 29 Jan | Race and the criminal justice system | What are two concrete technical changes you would make to the health care allocation algorithm described in the readings in order to reduce discriminatory outcomes? Why would you implement these specific changes and not others? |
| 4 | 5 Feb | Indigenous people and technology | Choose a technology (not the internet), and do some research on Indigenous perspectives on that technology. How could you incorporate those perspectives into the design of a new version of that technology? |
| N/A | N/A | Gender discrimination and violence against women | No writing assignment this week; Milestone 1 of the course project is due 16 Feb. |
| 5 | 26 Feb | Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity; deepfakes and porn | Given our readings and discussion in class about gender-based violence, and how technology can facilitate it, what do you think is the responsibility of big technology companies to address this problem? (Here, we do not want essays focusing on the diversity of corporate teams.) |
| 6 | 4 Mar | Discrimination against disabled people | Suppose that you have a family member with a mental health issue. Would you encourage them to use a mental health chatbot as part of their treatment? Why or why not? |
| N/A | N/A | Privacy and the right to be forgotten | No writing assignment this week; Milestone 2 of the course project is due 15 March. |
| 7 | 18 Mar | Global issues including government surveillance | How can technology companies from wealthy countries responsibly gather data in developing countries? Are there particular principles they should keep in mind? |
| 8 | 25 Mar | Fixes: inclusivity in education and tech | What other topics should we have covered in this course? Identify one or more missed topics, describe what you have learned from some articles on that subject, and explain how it fits with other topics that we did talk about. |
| 9 | 1 Apr | Fixes: law, regulation, and other approaches | What do you think is the best way to regulate AI, if at all?
What are the benefits and limitations of your proposed approach?
Also, final project report is due on 8 April. |