AI and Society: Understanding Cultural Transformations

FaculteitFaculty of Humanities

NiveauBachelor

Studiejaar2026-2027

Beschrijving

Course goals

Goals:

Students learn to analyze the historical context of media panics surrounding new technologies, including AI, and learn to write a state of the art review to situate these discussions in empirical and theoretical insights
Students gain a global and cross-cultural perspective of AI’s implications on diverse geopolitical and cultural contexts by examining global developments in AI ethics, policies, institutional frameworks, and design practices.
Students build future oriented strategies via speculative and creative exercises to imagine alternative futures for AI
Students develop interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral collaborative communication skills by engaging with AI experts from various disciplines and organizations to explore real-world challenges and opportunities

Content

The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has generated deep social anxieties, reflected in the kinds of questions being asked in mainstream media - Will AI kill creativity? Will AI reduce our trust in media? Is AI the beginning of the end of democracy? Will AI replace us at work? Is AI an existential threat? Fundamentally, there is a sweeping belief that AI might be creating a cultural turn in the way we think, feel, work, play, and everything in between. Historically, every major new technology has fostered media panics. Over the course of time, these technologies have shaped and have been shaped by diverse social practices and policies, and at times, birthed new cultural turns. This course lays the foundation for such social queries through historical embedding, critical engagements with major media narratives around AI, alongside cross-cultural analysis of ongoing global developments in AI ethics, policies, institutional and design practices. AI experts from different organizations and disciplines will serve as guest speakers to share their perspectives on the opportunities and challenges they face with these technological innovations. Students taking this course will learn to assess AI interventions by situating them in diverse and global cultural contexts and actively participate in shaping future-oriented inclusive and ethical approaches to AI. Through such speculative, creative and collective efforts, this course offers the space to rethink and reimagine aspirational AI cultures and institutions in the face of contemporary social and planetary challenges.

This is the first course in the specialisation AI Cultures & Global Digital Society.

Additional information

Priority rules
This course has priority rules and a waiting list. Your enrolment is guaranteed if you

- are a student in the BA Media and Culture and this course is part of your specialisation (verdiepingspakket)
- are a student in the BA Liberal Arts and Sciences or Taal- en Cultuurstudies and this course is part of your specialisation (kernpakket)
- are enrolled in the Media Data and Platform Studies minor
- are an exchange student and meet the course’s entry requirements

In all other situations, you will be placed on a waiting list if you enrol in this course. For any remaining slots in the course, lots are drawn among the students on the waiting list.

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