Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Ethical Implications of AI

when 16 August 2021 - 27 August 2021
language English
duration 2 weeks
credits 4 EC
fee EUR 500

In case that an on-campus Summer School is not possible due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this module will take place online.

AI is becoming a sophisticated tool in the hands of a variety of stakeholders, including political leaders. Some AI applications may raise new ethical and legal questions, and in general have a significant impact on society (for the good or for the bad or for both). People motivation plays a key role here. With AI the important question is how to avoid that it goes out of control, and how to understand how decisions are made and what are the consequences for society at large.

Students will learn the ethical implications of the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

What are the consequences for society?
For human beings resp. individuals?
Does AI serve human kind?

Discussion and debate of ethical issues is an essential part of professional development— both within and between disciplines— as it can establish a mature community of responsible practitioners.

Through ethical reflection students can gain orientation and competencies that will help them in their ethical decision making.

Students will work in small group and learn how to apply an AI Ethical Inspection Process, called Z-inspection, to real AI use cases.

The course will provide an ethical framework (called Z-inspection), domain-specific resources, metrics, processes, tools and case studies, to guide teams of students in their efforts to assess ethical issues in AI, such as for example:

Fairness/ bias/ discrimination;
Transparencies / Explainability/ intelligibility/ interpretability;
Privacy/ Responsibility/ Accountability;
Safety;
Human-in the loop.

Z-inspection is being currently developed by the team of Prof. Zicari at the Frankfurt Big Data Lab and it could be part of an Ethics by Design process, or if the AI has already been designed, it can be used to do an ethical sanity check, so that a certain AI Ethical standard of care is achieved. It can be used by a variety of AI stakeholders.

The overall goal of the course is to contribute to closing the gap between “principles” (the “what” of AI ethics) and “practices” (the ”how”).

The course comprises 28 contact hours (8*3.5 hours). Upon successful completion, 4 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) points will be awarded for the module. A single ECTS point is defined as the equivalent of 25 to 30 hours of student workload. This includes class hours, additional preparations for class activities, readings, assignments as well as final assessments.

Attendance: Participants have to attend at least 80 % of the classes.

Course leader

Roberto V. Zicari, Founder Frankfurt Big Data Lab.

Prof. Thomas Ploug, Aalborg University, DK

Irmhild van Halem, Ethics Advisor Frankfurt Big Data Lab.

Target group

Open for all disciplines and all levels of study (Bachelor, Master, PhD).

Course aim

Learn about the ethical implications of the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Gain orientation and competencies that will help you in your ethical decision making

Apply an AI Ethical Inspection Process (Z-inspection) to real AI use cases

Fee info

EUR 500: Includes all study materials and transcript of records.