This course takes seriously the claim that AI is not primarily a technology story but a political economy story — one about power, production, distribution, and the transformation of social relations. It is designed for students who are intellectually restless and willing to move across economics, political science, philosophy, sociology, and science fiction.
The organizing arc moves through five movements:
- What is AI? — contested framings, before we accept anyone's narrative
- How is it made? — the political economy of AI's inputs and production
- What does it do? — AI as a force reshaping markets, states, labor, and culture
- What does it demand of us? — the moral and political philosophy of AI, at four scales: individual conscience → epistemic → democratic public → institutional
- How do we think about the future? — usable frameworks for navigating uncertainty
This arc is deliberately different from the standard "AI ethics" course (too applied too fast) and from the standard "AI governance" course (too policy-focused, not enough political economy). It draws heavily on Henry Farrell's syllabus for the Political Economy of AI, reordered toward normative and philosophical questions — the terrain where game theory, moral philosophy, and political economy meet.[1]
A note on difficulty: readings are chosen to reward re-reading. You should expect to read some things twice. Discussion should be prepared to sit with genuine uncertainty.
[1] Compiled with the aid of Claude, and drawing heavily on Henry Farrell's Programmable Mutter (2024–2026) and the Social Science Foo session readings
- Teacher: Shyam Gouri Suresh