Students will critically examine technological developments such as large language models, recommender systems, and autonomous agents, while exploring their broader implications for democracy, identity, creativity, and sustainability.

The course brings together perspectives from psychology, social sciences, humanities, and ethics to illuminate how generative AI not only transforms industries and knowledge production but also challenges long-standing assumptions about what it means to communicate, to make decisions, and to be human. Through analysis of case studies - including lithium mining to build the necessary hardware, algorithmic influence on information and cultural consumption, and the employment of AI in elderly care - students will evaluate the interdependencies between technical innovation and sociocultural change.

Guest lectures from diverse disciplinary experts will provide students with a wide-ranging view of current research and debates. Assessments will blend theoretical understanding with practical reflection: a written exam to evaluate comprehension of key concepts, and a final presentation in which students apply course theories to examples from their own experiences or future professional contexts.

By the end of the course, students will be equipped to critically interpret the societal transformations driven by generative AI and to articulate informed perspectives on its responsible development and use within an increasingly AI-mediated world.

Coordinator

Dr. C.D.R.O. Starke

Timetable

You can find the timetable on Datanose.

Entry requirements

Open to second-year and third-year UvA Bachelor's students and other interested parties, such as contract students or students from other Dutch higher education institutions. Master's students can only participate if there are still spots available.

Registration

UvA Bachelor's students can register from 1 to 8 December 2025 in the GLASS registration rounds. Master’s students can send a short motivation to keuzeonderwijs-iis@uva.nl.

‘Bijvak’ students and contract students can register from 1 December 2025 until two weeks prior to the start of the course, by completing the online registration form.

If you have any trouble while registering, please contact us at keuzeonderwijs-iis@uva.nl.

Please note: as a contract student you can choose to participate either including or excluding assessment. If you choose the latter, you only have access to the seven lectures of the course. If you also wish to attend the seminars, please choose 'including assessment'.

Costs

Prices can be found on the IIS website.

SDGs in education

The IIS strives to reflect current societal issues and challenges in our elective courses, honours modules and degree programmes and attempts to integrate the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in this course. For more information about these goals, please visit the SDGs website.