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COLLEGE OF INTEGRATIVE STUDIES

AY2022-23 Term 1

Course Code : COR2221

Course Title : AI and Humanity
Times & Venues : TBC

Instructor : Andrew Koh, Senior Lecturer

Email : andrewkoh@smu.edu.sg
Office : TBC
Virtual office : TBC
Office hours : By appointment

PRE-REQUISITE/CO-REQUISITE/MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE COURSE(S)

There are no prerequisites for this course.

ELIGIBILITY

1. This course is open to all undergraduates from SMU.

2. For cohorts enrolled from AY2019/2020, this course falls under the Communities Pillar
of the Core Curriculum, under the Technology and Society basket of modules.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Technology (specifically AI) has evolved beyond a technical proposition to a shaping force
of our future, interwoven into social, cultural and political elements of human society.

We are at the genesis of how the relationship between humans and AI is evolving. More than
ever, it is crucial to examine a fundamental question of what does it mean to be a human (and
AI). Can AI perceive, communicate and sense as well as humans do, or perhaps even better?

Such pertinent questions require a multidisciplinary lens, which this course equips you with
to dexterously navigate an unfolding future as leaders of today. Venture beyond an academic
discourse and gain hands-on experience as a psychologist and engineer to develop a chatbot.

COURSE GOALS

Through lectures and hands-on labs, this course invites students to:

1. Critically consider what it means to be a human and AI.

2. Be aware of the synergy and implications arising from the evolving relationship
between humans and AI.

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3. Experience the considerations and challenges faced by AI engineers in developing

real world solutions.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Disciplinary and multidisciplinary knowledge: Articulate the uniqueness of humans and AI

from psychological and technical perspectives.

Intellectual and creative skills: Recommend ways in which humans and AI can live with each
other in a synergistic manner.

Personal mastery: Demonstrate design and technical competencies in developing a chatbot.

COURSE READINGS/SCHEDULE

Week 1: Introduction

Nowak, Andrzej, Paul Lukowicz, and Pawel Horodecki. "Assessing Artificial Intelligence for
Humanity: Will AI be the Our Biggest Ever Advance? or the Biggest Threat [Opinion]."
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine 37.4 (2018): 26-34.

Week 2: Communications

Introduction to Communication and Artificial Intelligence by David J. Gunkel (Chapter 2)

Verma, Pawan Kumar, et al. "Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications: A survey."

Journal of Network and Computer Applications 66 (2016): 83-105.

Week 3: Hands-on tech exploration - Chatbot

Dialogflow Documentation | Google Cloud

Week 4: Identity

Gündüz, Uğur. "The effect of social media on identity construction." Mediterranean Journal
of Social Sciences 8.5 (2017): 85-85.

Schmiljun, A.: Why can’t we regard robots as people? Eth. Prog. 9(1), 44–61 (2018).
https://doi.org/10.1474/eip.2018.1.3

Nabben, Kelsie. "Imagining Human-Machine Futures: Blockchain-based “Decentralized

Autonomous Organizations”." Available at SSRN (2021).

Week 5: Emotions

Barrett, L. F. (2017b). How emotions are made: The secret life of the brain. Chapter 7
Emotions as Social Reality. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Markič, Olga. "Rationality and emotions in decision making." Interdisciplinary Description

of Complex Systems: INDECS 7.2 (2009): 54-64.

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Week 6: Hands-on tech exploration – Sentiment analysis

Kaur, Harpreet, and Veenu Mangat. "A survey of sentiment analysis techniques." 2017
International Conference on I-SMAC (IoT in Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud)(I-
SMAC). IEEE, 2017.

Natural language | Google Cloud

Week 7: Mid-term exam

Week 8: Recess week

Week 9: Memory

Egan, Kieran. "Memory, imagination, and learning: Connected by the story." Phi Delta
Kappan 70.6 (1989): 455-459.

Pentti Kanerva , "Parallel structures in human and computer memory", AIP Conference
Proceedings 151, 247-258 (1986) https://doi.org/10.1063/1.36276

Week 10: Visual Perception

Wade, N., & Swanston, M. (2012). Visual Perception: An Introduction, 3rd Edition (1st ed.).
Psychology Press. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203082263 (Chapters 1 and 2)

Dalvi, Chirag, et al. "A Survey of AI-based Facial Emotion Recognition: Features, ML & DL
Techniques, Age-wise Datasets and Future Directions." IEEE Access (2021).

Week 11: Human learning VS machine learning

Dehaene, S. (2021). How we learn why brains learn better than any machine ... for now.
Penguin Books.

Week 12: Project presentation on chatbot

Week 13: Navigating the future

Lee, K.-F. (2021). Ai 2041: Ten visions for our future. Penguin Books, 2021. (Introduction,
Chapters 2 and 3)

Nourbakhsh, Illah Reza, and Jennifer Keating. AI and Humanity. Mit Press, 2020. (Chapter
7)

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COURSE FORMAT

1. Face to face lectures, discussions and labs (approximately 3 hours) will take place
every week.
2. At the end of most learning sessions, 15min will be given to crystalize, journal and
articulate key learnings. This will contribute to your class participation, along with
your attendance and participation in the rest of the class activities and discussions.

ASSESSMENT MODE

1. The course is assessed on the standard SMU grading scheme.

2. The grading for this course is divided into 70% from Continual Assessment, and 30%
from a final group project submitted at the end of the term.
3. The 70% Continual Assessment is apportioned in the following manner:-
a. Pre class assignments - 30%
b. Class participation - 20%
c. Mid-term assessment - 20%
4. Pre class assignments (30%)
These are short assignments to stimulate your thinking and drive engagement for your
learnings in class. On selected weeks, you are to submit your responses in eLearn at
least 48 hours before class. Some examples are:
a. Write a short journal entry (150 words) of a recent experience you had,
including the emotions you felt.
b. Find 3 photos (containing faces of people) which are memorable to you.
c. Find 3 photos and list down the scene, objects and people in it.
d. Post 3 questions based on an article you have read.
5. Class participation (20%)
You are expected to participate in the classroom through sharing your reflections,
opinions and questions. Assessment will be based on not just the frequency of your
participation, but the depth of your sharing and questions too. Good class participation
will also involve listening well to other students and working together towards a
collaborative and fruitful discussion. A time of reflection will be given at the end of
each class and you will be expected to articulate your key takeaways too.
6. Mid-term exam (20%)
7. Group project work - Chatbot development (30%)
An assessment of your design considerations and technical competencies in
developing a functioning chatbot and how elements of what you learnt in class (i.e.
communication and culture) is incorporated.

ACCESSIBILITY AND ACCOMMODATIONS

SMU strives to make learning experiences accessible for all. If you anticipate or experience
physical or academic barriers due to disability, please let me know immediately. You are also
welcome to contact the university's disability support team if you have questions or concerns
about academic accommodations: included@smu.edu.sg.

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Accessible tables in our seminar room are available for students who require them.

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING (EPTL)

As part of emergency preparedness, Instructors may conduct lessons online via the WebEx
platform during the term, to prepare students for online learning. During an actual
emergency, students will be notified to access the WebEx platform for their online lessons.
The class schedule will mirror the current face-to-face class timetable unless otherwise stated.

COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT

Please note that only copyright holders are entitled to reproduce their work, publish their
work, perform their work in public, communicate their work to the public and make an
adaption of their work. Hence, making course materials (owned by the faculty) available for
sale or posting such works on websites for gain, is strictly prohibited. Disciplinary action will
be taken against those found infringing copyright.