General Education Requirements
Not currently certified for a requirement. Courses are typically considered for Ways certification a quarter in advance.
Course Description
A historically-informed and transdisciplinary approach to designing artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies, and the systems in which they exist to be equitable and just.
Throughout history, innovations in science and technology, while bold and visionary, have historically resulted in catastrophic consequences for Indigenous and Black communities, immigrants and the natural world. Today's emerging technologies, which span everything from generative AI to synthetic media, have incredible capabilities, and at the same time are plagued with algorithmic bias and lack accountability. What can we learn from our precarious past that we are not learning today, but need to? This class welcomes the curious and the creative, from a wide range of fields including design, computer science, art, history, political science, ethics, feminist and gender studies, African and African-American studies, and professionals of diverse backgrounds. Through a variety of hands-on speculative design projects and group discourse, students will learn how to prototype with emerging technologies across physical and digital mediums (with a focus on artificial intelligence), and evaluate their implications on diverse communities, the natural world, and our past and future selves.
Meet the Instructor: Ariam Mogos
"I'm a learning technologist and designer at the d.school. Before I came to Stanford I had diverse experiences working with organizations across Africa, Asia, the United States and Europe to understand how different communities use technology and the impacts, both beneficial and harmful, on Education. These experiences have fueled a lot of my passion around designing equitable technologies, and right now that passion is being channeled into this course and REP, a play-based magazine for young people and educators which exposes them to different emerging technologies like voicebots and blockchain, and the implications on society and nature. I’m a National Geographic explorer, and my work on digital inclusion in education has been recognized by Mozilla and Fast Company. I’m also an avid maker, and I enjoy experimenting with coding, sewing, origami and perfumery, which is where I spend much of my free time."
