Artificial intelligence is everywhere now: on the news, at work, built into your phone, and in your apps. But what exactly is AI? How did we get the AI we have today? And how are industries, communities, and individuals grappling with its ramifications? In this course, we’ll critically explore how AI works, where it came from, and how it’s reshaping the media landscape. Throughout the course, you will be exposed to critical scholarship while experimenting with AI tools and platforms to gain a hands-on understanding of their possibilities and limitations. Beginning with the early days of calculating machines and the post-war rise of digital computers, we’ll explore how today’s AI connects to longer histories, material hardware, human labour, and political and economic priorities and conflicts. From machine learning to large language models to deepfakes, you’ll learn to see through the tech industry hype to understand what’s new about AI – and what’s not. We’ll uncover who AI technologies benefit, who they harm, how they can be regulated, and why we should be sceptical about buzzwords like ‘AI ethics.’ By the end of this course, you will have a strong grasp of how AI works, where it comes from, who it benefits, and whether it really is changing the world.
