Generative AI is everywhere - in your social media accounts and word processing programs, in your search engine and your doctor's office. What is it? Why is it everywhere? And should it be? This course will offer an introduction to generative AI, explaining how it works, what it can and can't do, what ethical problems trouble it from development to deployment, and how to protect yourself if you or others choose to use it.

Kathryn Conrad is professor of English at the University of Kansas, where her current research focuses on technology and culture and critical AI studies. She is an associate editor for the journal Critical AI and has published on critical AI literacy, most recently with Sean Kamperman, with whom she co-directs the AI & Digital Literacy project in partnership with the Hall Center and the National Humanities Center Institute, and with Tania Duarte and Ismael Garcia, of the UK nonprofit We and AI. In 2024, she was the US representative on an international expert panel advising the UN's Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education. She is also a founding member of the international Library of Babel group for technocritical educators currently housed by the Georgetown Law Center on Privacy and Technology.

Course pre-requisites
(required) Osher Membership Fee