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Class number:
3359
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Title: AI, Economics and Society |
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Department: Economics |
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Career: Undergraduate |
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Component: Lecture |
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Session: Regular |
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Instructor's Permission Required: No |
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Grading Basis: Regular |
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Units: 1.00 |
| Enrollment limited to 29 |
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Current enrollment: 26 |
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Available seats: 3 |
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Start date: Tuesday, September 8, 2026 |
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End date: Wednesday, December 23, 2026 |
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Mode of Instruction: In Person |
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Schedule: TR: 1:30PM-2:45PM, MECC - 270 |
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Instructor(s): Comert, Hasan |
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Prerequisite(s): Prerequisite: C- or better in Economics 101. |
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Distribution Requirement: Meets Social Sciences Requirement |
Course Description:
This course examines recent developments in artificial intelligence (AI) through a political-economy lens. We trace AI’s history and hype cycles, and analyze the techno-economic motives and incentives behind the current wave of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). We compare the dynamics of this period with earlier episodes of technological change, including the first Industrial Revolution, and use this comparison to sharpen our understanding of what is genuinely new and what is not in today’s automation debates.
The course then turns to applications and institutions. We explore near-term impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) in science and medicine, armament and security, finance, and media, and we examine the international political economy of AI: semiconductor supply chains, export controls, standards, and the broader context of United States–China rivalry. Throughout, we connect technological change to core political-economy questions about market power, rents, labor markets, inequality, governance, and crisis dynamics. |