The interdisciplinary 15-credit Artificial Intelligence and Society Certificate is designed to equip students with a comprehensive understanding of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its applications across various disciplines. AI's integration into fields ranging from healthcare and the arts to business and engineering necessitates a comprehensive educational program that not only imparts technical AI skills but also addresses the ethical and societal dimensions of this technology. The Certificate is designed to meet this need by offering a well-rounded interdisciplinary approach to AI education. The curriculum balances theoretical knowledge and hands-on experience to foster an understanding of AI that is both technically sound and ethically informed.
The Artificial Intelligence and Society Certificate is open to students in any major. It is tailored to students from diverse academic backgrounds, requiring only basic computer literacy as a prerequisite. The Certificate’s emphasis on General Education courses is designed to allow students across the college to complete this credential while also completing their General Education requirements.
The required core course explores the history of AI through a cultural and moral lens alongside the evolution of technology and computing. Through hands-on exploration, students will access, test, and evaluate common AI applications used for classification and generation.
The elective coursework in this certificate guides students to understand vital contexts for AI in our time, contexts that are necessary to learn, explore, and apply new developments in this rapidly changing and diverse field. Even if AI is not directly addressed in these courses, each course educates students in the underlying concepts and technologies that support AI systems.
For information about the Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Society Certificate, contact Pierce Salguero, Professor of Asian History and Health Humanities, [email protected]
For general information about the Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Society Certificate at Penn State, see the Penn State Bulletin!