Artificial Intelligence Ethics Certificate program

Learn to lead responsibly in an AI-driven world

The rapid expansion of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in recent years has made its impact undeniable. From healthcare and banking to retail and beyond, AI is revolutionizing industries worldwide. While AI promises to enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and accelerate research, it also raises important ethical questions for businesses, governments, and society at large. Navigating these challenges requires a thoughtful approach to the technology's broader implications.

A new undergraduate certificate in Artificial Intelligence Ethics equips you with the philosophical and disciplinary tools needed to address the ethical complexities of AI.

This program prepares you to engage with the evolving challenges at the intersection of business development and societal change, empowering you to lead responsibly in an AI-driven world.

Undergrad certificate

A program within the Philosophy Department

What is Artificial Intelligence Ethics?

Artificial intelligence (AI) ethics is a branch of ethics that explores complex ethical challenges posed by AI technologies. These issues include areas such as privacy, transparency and data collection issues; consent in AI systems; the attention economy; human enhancement technologies; the potential for bias and discrimination; and the absence of human judgment in AI decision-making.

Program requirements

All students take these two core courses (six credits total)

PHL 303 Ethics and Meta-Ethics: Theory, Justification, and Objectivity
PHL 304 Ethics of Artificial Intelligence

Students select two of the following elective courses (6 credits total)

PHL 301 Theory of Knowledge
PHL 313 Philosophy and Science Fiction
PHL 333 Philosophy of Mind
PHL 337 Social and Political Philosophy
ENG 335 Introduction to Professional and Technical Writing

*Students can enroll in the certificate program using the same process they use to declare a major or minor. The certificate will not appear in the catalog until the summer of 2025.

What distinguishes UWL's Artificial Intelligence Ethics certificate?

Tailor the program to meet your needs

This certificate is an excellent complement to any major such as computer science, business, healthcare or communication.The certificate can be tailored to align with specific career goals and interdisciplinary interests through an expanding list of non-philosophy electives, such as professional writing.

Enhance your STEM degree with ethical expertise

Employers across STEM industries increasingly seek graduates with strong, non-technical skills like systems thinking and ethical reasoning, especially for roles involving AI applications where ethical considerations of AI are crucial.

Develop skills to tackle complex, ethical dilemmas

The program enhances critical thinking and analytical skills, equipping students to evaluate and address the complex, ethical challenges posed by AI. Graduates will be prepared to promote responsible innovation and contribute to the creation of thoughtful policies in the fast-evolving tech industry.

Examine how AI challenges traditional concepts

Students will explore how AI intersects with key philosophical areas like meta-ethics, epistemology, and the philosophy of mind. Through this, they will gain a deeper understanding of how AI challenges traditional ideas about cognition, agency, justice, and moral responsibility.

Contribute to responsible and sustainable growth of AI

The growing importance of AI ethics draws students who are passionate about understanding its influence on both professional and personal levels and want to make valuable contributions to AI technologies' responsible and sustainable growth. This field offers a unique opportunity to explore how AI shapes society, affecting everything from workplace practices to individual lives.

Sample courses

PHL 303 Ethics and Meta-Ethics: Theory, Justification, and Objectivity This course is an examination of classic and contemporary issues in the field of meta-ethics. Topics include addressing questions concerning the meaning of moral claims and principles, moral objectivity, moral psychology and motivation, moral disagreement, the nature of moral knowledge and justification, and the nature of moral reasons. Offered Fall.

PHL 304 Ethics of Artificial Intelligence This course is an examination of the principal moral problems that arise in the development and use of artificial intelligence technology. Topics include an introduction to the principles of autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice, the nature of AI, as well as the ethical complexities surrounding various issues in AI ethics including responsibility, transparency, AI as a rights holder, moral personhood, data collection, the attention economy, human enhancement, and AI consent. Offered Annually.

PHL 301 Theory of Knowledge This course is an intensive examination of the central philosophical questions surrounding the nature of knowledge, truth, and justification. Topics may include the difference between knowledge, wisdom, and know-how; analyses of knowledge, truth, and justification; the nature of misinformation; disagreement; the structure and sources of justification; the insights and limits of cognitive science; the role of human evolution in our understanding of the world; knowledge of abstract entities (e.g., principles of logic, mathematics, or morality); knowledge of the self and other minds; social cognition; and issues concerning the lived-experience of marginalized groups. (Cross-listed with PHL/PSY; may only earn credit in one department.) Offered Annually.

PHL 313 Philosophy and Science Fiction The genre of science fiction allows one to reflect upon scenarios that are beyond the scope of actual human experience - whether by examining future contingent events, merely possible alternate universes, or employing technological innovations that have not yet been discovered. In this course, we will examine some of the difficult questions posed by philosophers through the scenarios depicted in works of science fiction. Topics include personal identity, time travel, artificial intelligence, and dystopia. Offered Spring.

PHL 333 Philosophy of Mind A study of the nature of the mind from both philosophical and psychological perspectives. The course will focus on important attempts to solve the mind-body problem, how mind and body are related and also will address the related problems of consciousness, intentionality, free will and personal identity. (Cross-listed with PHL/PSY; may only earn credit in one department.) Offered Fall.

PHL 337 Social and Political Philosophy An examination of differing philosophical views about humanity and human nature with respect to our social and political life. Topics may include the question of political legitimacy, the function of the state, the possible rights and obligations of citizens vis-a-vis the state, general concepts of justice,rights, liberty, equality, and community (as well as possible specific conceptions of these terms), and how social goods should be distributed. The application of these topics to contemporary social and political debates. Offered Alternate Years.

ENG 335 Introduction to Professional and Technical Writing This course is designed as an introductory course for students who are interested in writing in professional settings. The course will include an introduction to various field definitions of professional and technical writing, an overview of professional and technical writing history and theory, provide space to study key concepts that are currently relevant in the field, and apply these histories and concepts to concrete documents that constitute study in the field of professional and technical writing. Prerequisite: ENG 110 or ENG 112; sophomore standing. Offered Fall, Spring.

CST 388