AI Enabled Humanities? To Keep Up With Times, IIT-Hyderabad Introduces Unique Course

The Indian Institute of Technology in Hyderabad has launched a one of its kind course in Artificial Intelligence, reported India Today. The course is a Minor in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Humanity, and comes under the Department of Liberal Arts of IIT-H. The course begins at a time when AI is becoming an exciting area of research and innovation for the scientific community.

"There is so much excitement about AI these days, about its transformative potential in terms of ushering in is nothing short of a fourth industrial revolution. And indeed, we are already beginning to see the permeation of AI-based chatbots into routine everyday transactions," said Dr Aalok Khandekar, Assistant Professor of Anthropology/Sociology, Department of Liberal Arts, IIT Hyderabad, said while speaking about the unique aspects of the Minor.

The minor will be open for students from second year onwards and is a 12-credit course which includes courses in the history, philosophy, sociology, and psychology of technology, as well as courses focusing on the social, political, economic, and legal implications of AI, at a global scale. Students will also undertake team-based project work, which will be under the guidance of faculty across liberal arts, design, and engineering departments.

The course will give exposure to the students of IIT-H by providing them with exciting opportunities and challenges presented by AI. Furthermore, thinking beyond the purely technical aspects of AI will be beneficial for the students.

Like every innovation, this course on AI also poses challenges to questions of privacy, equity, labour, and jurisprudence. In a nation like India, a vast majority of the labour force continues to work in the informal sector. Dr Khandekar says there will be an effect on such labour workforce with the introduction of AI.