Course content

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning platforms increasingly pervade the everyday life of people around the globe. Media studies is uniquely placed to make sense of both the debates and practices that this recent technological shift has entailed, since emerging AI technologies invite the same questions that media scholars have always been asking about new media forms and their potential impact on culture and society. Who employs these new media technologies - where, when, and in what situations? Who might abstain or be prevented from using them, in which socio-cultural contexts? What are the chances and risks resulting from these technologies for both individual users and society?

Students will learn about how artificial intelligence is currently transforming the media and communication landscape, focusing on issues and controversies in fields such as the news media, the arts, education, and politics.

The course is taught in collaboration with the Department of Education and Lifelong Learning (IPL) and the Department of Sociology and Political Science (ISS).

Learning outcome

Knowledge

After completing the course, the student has knowledge about:

• a selection of AI platforms, their origins and functionalities.
• the basic working mechanisms behind the black box of AI and machine learning.
• the cultural, political, and economic factors that have enabled and continue to shape the contemporary AI industry.
• the power structures and biases of AI systems.

Skills

After completing the course, the student can:

• design prompts for text-to-image platforms.
• critically reflect both on the process of prompting and on the results generated by different platforms.
• contextualize their own AI-aided creations within a wider history of mechanized, automated, and reproductive media.
• contribute to ongoing public debates on AI from a media-scholarly perspective.

Learning methods and activities

The course has a combination of topic-focused introductions and student-focused learning activities.

The course will be taught in Norwegian and English.

Students are required to use Blackboard actively for updates and information.

Recommended previous knowledge

MV1100 Introduction to Media Studies.

Required previous knowledge

No specific previous knowledge is required.

Course materials

The required course reading material is approximately 500 pages.

Course material and literature will be announced on the course pages of NTNU's learning platform.