The University of Helsinki offers an online course on the ethics of artificial intelligence in Finnish and Swedish
Open and free The online course Ethics of AI is designed to help us understand what the ethical use of artificial intelligence means and what it requires of society and individuals. The course draws on practical examples from partners.
Massive open online course Ethics of artificial intelligence will open in Finnish and Swedish on 23 November in connection with the Ministry of Finance’s information policy seminar. The course helps public administrations, businesses and citizens to understand what the ethical use of artificial intelligence means and what it requires of both society and the individual. The course has been developed in co-operation with the cities of Helsinki, Amsterdam and London and the Ministry of Finance.
As artificial intelligence is increasingly used to support decisions that affect citizens, new types of questions arise that the course is intended to address. What ethical considerations should be taken into account by users and developers of different AI systems? What are the ethical stumbling blocks, for example, in the processing of human health data? How is our information used? Who is responsible for the decisions made by computers? How do we use facial recognition ethically?
Lecturer Anna-Mari RusanenThe person responsible for the content of the course would like to point out that the ethics of algorithms and smart technologies in general is still in its infancy and the whole discussion on the social evaluation of smart technologies is still ongoing.
– New examples of situations that require ethical evaluation come every day. That is why it is important to develop the capacity to assess the principles for weighing the admissibility of applications, Rusanen says.
Rusanen specializes in artificial intelligence and cognition research. He studies the data processing of intelligent systems and the ethical and social consequences of the development of artificial intelligence.
– The ethics of artificial intelligence is not just an assessment of the ethical acceptance of technology; it has become a matter of politics, money and power. The more they become entangled in the goals of artificial intelligence development, the more we need a discussion of the goals of development, Rusanen writes in the book. Smart tomorrow (Smart Tomorrow) (Gaudeamus), released in the fall of 2021.
Case studies from real life
The online course consists of seven parts; the definition of the ethics of artificial intelligence, the principles of goodwill and inviolability, accountability, transparency, human rights, justice and the ethics of artificial intelligence in practice. Parts include reading and assignments.
Project partners have brought real-life cases to the course. For example, the city of Helsinki has a case that focuses on the use of artificial intelligence in social and health services and on predicting the health risks of its citizens. The case of the Ministry of Finance, in turn, considers the use of recommendation algorithms to provide better public services.
The user does not need coding or special technical skills to participate in the ethics of artificial intelligence. The university also has a free online course – Elements of artificial intelligence – where you can learn the general principles of artificial intelligence. In November, Elements of AI won the International German Design Award in the category of Excellent Communications Design – Web.
New MOOC center The University of Helsinki began operations at the beginning of 2021. The purpose of the center is to bring continuity and method to the University of Helsinki’s open online courses. In Finland, the Ministry of Education and Culture has approached the threat of a decline in competence with projects in which universities provide supplementary education in the ICT sector through open online courses.
Source: University of Helsinki