A two-unit Special Topics course offered Spring 2027

 

In partnership with the Marshall and Viterbi Schools, Dornsife College is offering a course this spring that provides current assessments of Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) and its range of uses, implications, and effects.  The Dornsife class is called MDA 298, available for 2-units to all undergraduates on a credit/no credit basis.  To honor and leverage our intellectual diversity, this Dornsife class is coordinated with a Dean’s Lecture series, in which a range of college faculty experts on A.I. will speak from their various interdisciplinary perspectives on its risks, rewards, and trajectory.

The course will conclude with an open forum, allowing students who participated during the semester to attend a moderated “talk back” event, when students can meet with colleagues from across the college to share experiences and ideas.

All lectures and the final event will be hosted by Professor Emily Hodgson Anderson, Professor of English and Dornsife College Dean of Undergraduate Education.

More About the Course

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    Faculty will be invited to share how AI is changing their personal research and/or discipline and how they feel their perspective on A.I. is important for students.  Speakers will address topics such as, but not limited to:

    • the physical requirements for AI use — energy requirements, economic implications, the consequences of AI for the environment
    • the effect of AI on humans — ethical implications; AI’s effects on the human brain; homogenization of language (and thought); the nature of humanity in this new environment
    • the effect of AI use on research — cutting edge science on the development and working of AI; AI as a research tool; scholars skilled in evaluating AI systems: the pros / cons and implications of AI systems being used; maximizing AI’s research effectiveness
    • the historical and social evolution of AI — AI in comparison to other technological revolutions; anti-AI sources and sentiments; political implications, AI’s effect on international relations; regulatory structures for (or lack thereof) and implications
    • the current use of AI – popular culture debates on any of the above issues; trends in social responses, analysis of.

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    Emily Hodgson Anderson is Professor of English and Dornsife College Dean of Undergraduate Education.  Her research focuses on eighteenth-century British literature and culture.

     

    James Bullock is Dean of Dornsife College, an astrophysicist with research interests in galaxy formation, cosmology, and the nature of dark matter.  He has served as chair of the Space Telescope Science Institute Council and chair of the James Webb Space Telescope Users Committee and founded the UC Southern California Center for Galaxy Evolution.

     

    Antonio Damasio is an award-winning neuroscientist and Director of the Brain and Creativity Institute.  He is Professor of Neuroscience, Psychology and Philosophy.

     

    Morteza Dehghani is Professor of Psychology and Computer Science, and the Director of the Center of Computational Language Sciences.

     

    Ian Ehrenreich is a distinguished scholar of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences and serves as Dornsife Divisional Dean for the Life Sciences.

     

    Rob English is a globally known expert on international foreign policy and defense analysis with expertise on Russia, the former USSR and Eastern Europe.  He is Associate Professor of International Relations, Environmental Studies, and Slavic Languages and Literature.

     

    Sean Fraga is an environmental historian and creator of Booksnake, a tool that allows users to explore digitized archival materials using augmented reality. He is Assistant Professor of Teaching in Environmental Studies and History.

     

    Lucas Herchenroeder is a scholar in the USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute and Associate Professor of Teaching in Classics.

     

    Alexis Landau is a published novelists and Assistant Professor of Teaching in the Writing Program.

     

    Ryan Leack is a poet and co-host of the podcast Live Theory.   He is Assistant Professor of Teaching in the Writing Program.

     

    Mark Marino is a scholar of digital literature and writing, Director of The Humanities and Critical Code Studies Lab and Professor of Teaching in the Writing Program.

     

    Sarah Mesle is a writer, editor and Professor of Teaching in the Writing Program.

     

    David Schönholzer is a scholar in public economics and political economy who teaches about the use of AI in public policy analysis.  He is an Assistant Professor of Economics.

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    Though MDA 298 is a Dornsife centered course, it is available to all undergraduates and does not require special permission to register.  The course is available for two units and graded CR/NC.  It also counts towards the Dornsife College Basic Unit Requirement.

Contact Details

Dornsife Undergraduate Programs
undergraduateprograms@dornsife.usc.edu
213.740.2961