AI and Society

Artificial Intelligence is a transformative general-purpose technology (GPT) poised to impact all sectors of our economy and of our society in the years and decades to come. It is fundamentally reshaping what is possible and over time will affect how work is done, it will unlock new frontier opportunities while disrupting established norms and ways of living and working. Over the past decade, and especially over the past few years, AI investment is increasing and its capabilities are improving at a pace that is significantly faster than the speed at which organizations and society is adapting. This course examines AI as a societal phenomenon — not how to build or deploy AI products, but how one can be thinking AI as a GPT, how the AI transition is reshaping the economy, affecting infrastructure and energy systems through the physical buildout, industrial organization, work, geopolitics, and policy, and what leaders in business and government should or could be doing about it.