Asking Different Questions in AI and Data Flows

AI, LLMs and the mobilization of large data sets are reshaping research, work, learning, and daily life. They are exerting influence on politics, media, business decisions, resource allocation, and education. This graduate course will apply a feminist, critical race STS lens to understand the operation and uses of AI in research. We will examine what historical impacts, cultural factors, and forces of oppression may be operating in AI and directing data flows. This includes data center impacts, bias in data sets, the "black box" of processing, surveillance, power usage, financial implications, open access/science, labor, community involvement, autonomy, imagination, creativity, race, gender, status, and more. As researchers increasingly use AI and access/create new data sets, it is crucial that we understand the possibilities and limitations. For the final project, students will look at how these new tools of data analysis may be ethically used or challenged to produce meaningful and impactful research. 

 

Graduate students from all areas of study welcome. We hope to have a highly interdisciplinary discussion of AI uses in research.

 

The class will be offered in Winter quarter 2026 on Wednesdays from 9-11:50 am at the Feminist Research Institute. 

Course: STS 250, 4 credits, CRN 41422

Questions? Contact Sarah McCullough.