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2020/2021  BA-BINTV2003U  Who Owns the Future? The Promise and Perils of the Tech Revolution

English Title
Who Owns the Future? The Promise and Perils of the Tech Revolution

Course information
Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Elective
Level Bachelor
Duration One Quarter
Start time of the course Second Quarter
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Max. participants 120
Study board
Study Board for BSc/MSc in Business Administration and Information Systems, BSc
Course coordinator
  • Daniel Hardt - Department of Management, Society and Communication (MSC)
Main academic disciplines
  • Philosophy and ethics
  • Information technology
  • Communication
Teaching methods
  • Online teaching
Last updated on 05-02-2020

Relevant links
Learning objectives
  • Explain and critically examine central Big Data concepts: what is special about Big Data? How does Big Data relate to Moore's Law?
  • Describe and discuss key principles underlying relevant Artificial Intelligence technologies, including the relation between Machine Learning and AI
  • Assess positive and negative views on the future potential of AI, including the potential for General Artificial Intelligence (GAI), including historical and current discussions of these issues. Also assess views on the social and economic effects of AI.
  • Assess the value and relevance of Big Data concepts and related computational tools presented throughout the course in relation to their application in specific cases/scenarios. This includes technologies such as Social Media Analysis and Data Mining, 3D Printing, Digital Assistants, and Automatic Translation.
  • Demonstrate the ability to reflect on your own activities and interactions throughout the course by identifying a portfolio of own online contributions and arguing for their relevance to the exam. These contributions must be made during the course period -- before the exam period begins.
Examination
Who Owns the Future: Promise and Perils of the Tech Revolution:
Exam ECTS 7,5
Examination form Home assignment - written product
Individual or group exam Individual exam
Size of written product Max. 10 pages
Assignment type Report
Duration Written product to be submitted on specified date and time.
Grading scale 7-point grading scale
Examiner(s) One internal examiner
Exam period Winter
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
A new case and/or a new series of essay questions will form the basis of the re-exam. Please note that the assessment will partly be made based on the student’s online activities/interactions made throughout the teaching period of the course. It will not be possible to make new online contributions. However, if the student – in accordance with the CBS rules on make-up exams – has documented that illness during the teaching period has resulted in his/her not making any online contributions during the teaching period, the student will be given the opportunity to make online contributions prior to the re-exam.
Description of the exam procedure

Note that online activities and interactions posted on Canvas throughout the course form part of the basis for the assessment, as stated in the learning objectives. Thus it is important that the students actively participate in the course each week.
Course content, structure and pedagogical approach

Scarcely a day goes by without reports of revolutionary new technologies, many of which promise to transform whole industries, from finance to health care to translation. This technological development is powered by exponential growth in the availability of Big Data, together with similar growth in the computing power to exploit that data. Many believe that this development is ushering in an era of genuine Artificial Intelligence (AI), with unprecedented improvements in productivity and general living standards. In this course we will critically examine this utopian vision, looking at the technology and its potential impact.
 
Technology: AI practitioners themselves are deeply divided about the question of whether General AI is right on the horizon, or is in fact a long way off.  We will take a detailed look at key AI technologies to better understand this debate, and separate the hype and misunderstanding from the true potential. An understanding of these technologies is rapidly becoming essential for managers and decision makers in business and government. 
 
Impact: the utopian future being ushered in by Big Tech and AI seems almost inevitable. At the same time, there is a dark side to these developments: Big Tech is central to the abuses of privacy which also seem to be increasing dramatically from both business and government. Also disturbing is that the undeniable technological progress we are witnessing does not seem to be contributing to general well-being -- instead, there is the paradox of accelerating productivity improvements coinciding with economic stagnation.

 

 
Description of the teaching methods
This is a fully online course. The course will run over 8 weeks. The course will consist of asynchronous and/or synchronous online lectures, asynchronous and/or synchronous online discussions, quizzes and individual and/or group assignments. Literature on the specific topics will be assigned during the quarter. The readings will also build the foundation on which we will discuss cases online, and they provide the necessary knowledge to work with home assignments. The lecturer will be available for asynchronous and/or synchronous online discussions throughout the 8 weeks in which the course runs. Students will get hands-on experience in the development, deployment and assessment of computational tools.While students will gain an understanding of key principles underlying these computational tools, students are not required to know how to program, and the focus will be conceptual rather than technical. Student participation will be targeted at producing insights that are meant to be covered in the final exam project.
Feedback during the teaching period
Each session, students make contributions to online forums, based on topics identified in the readings and online material. Students receive feedback from other students in the forum; in addition, the teacher provides overall feedback for the student contributions after each session.
Student workload
Reading 40 hours
Online Lectures and other videos 46 hours
Online activities 60 hours
Exam and Preparation for Exam 60 hours
Total 206 hours
Further Information

As this is a online course, no rooms are booked.
Online course will run from week 44-51
Expected literature

The literature can be changed before the semester starts. Students are advised to find the final literature on Canvas before they buy the books.

 

Who Owns the Future? Jaron Lanier, Simon & Schuster, 2013

The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies, Brynjolfsson, E., & McAfee, A. W. W. Norton & Company, 2014
Last updated on 05-02-2020