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CCAI9015 Artificial Intelligence
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Course Description
To live politically entails addressing in full the responsibilities, challenges, and rights that we bear as agents in both international and domestic politics. Accordingly, this course explores the profound impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on global geopolitics, blending insights from international relations, labour economics, technology studies, and ethics. Students will examine how AI is reshaping geopolitical risks and international power dynamics, with a focus on current global events such as the ongoing war in Ukraine and Sino-US tensions. The course introduces innovative frameworks for understanding geopolitical risks, such as the Politics-Resource-Strategy-Technology (PRST) Quadrilateral and Black Swan/Dragon King/Grey Rhino tripartite framework, and applies them to the context of AI, examining the ethical implications and governance challenges posed by emerging technologies.
By analysing the Human-AI alignment problem and the dual alignment issues in geopolitical contexts, students will develop a nuanced understanding of the complexities and risks associated with AI. Simultaneously, the course delves into the transformative effects of AI and automation on both society-wide underemployment and unemployment. Through empirical evidence and theoretical debates, students will explore the displacement, persistence, and effects of automation. Policy responses such as universal basic income, retraining programmes, and regulatory approaches will be critically examined.
Course Learning Outcomes
On completing the course, students will be able to:
- Explain how Artificial Intelligence can both compound and reduce geopolitical risk, through a range of case studies and examples.
- Analyse and comment on the effects of Artificial Intelligence on democracy, elections, and the future of work and employment.
- Critically discuss and examine how different states adopt varied positions on AI governance and management, and both the determinants and results of their heterogeneous approaches.
- Evaluate the impact of socio-political and cultural changes in public attitudes towards AI and nascent technologies, on the pace and outcomes of technological developments.
- Develop and evaluate policy recommendations for policymakers when it comes to managing the impacts of AI on politics and geopolitics.
Offer Semester and Day of Teaching
Second semester (Wed)
Study Load
| Activities | Number of hours |
| Lectures | 24 |
| Tutorials | 12 |
| Reading / Self-study | 36 |
| Assessment: Essay / Report writing | 54 |
| Total: | 124 |
Assessment: 100% coursework
| Assessment Tasks | Weighting |
| Participation in classroom activities | 15 |
| Written case analysis | 20 |
| Policy paper | 30 |
| Essay | 35 |
Required Reading
- Acemoglu, D., & Johnson, S. (2023). Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity. PublicAffairs.
- Bradford, A. (2023). Digital Empires: The Global Battle to Regulate Technology. Oxford University Press.
- Brandt, J., Meserole, C, Schaake, M., & Sacks, S. (2023). The geopolitics of generative AI. Brookings Institution. From https://www.brookings.edu/events/thegeopolitics-of-generative-ai/
- Digilabour. (2021, October 24). Marxism and work in the AI industry: Interview with James Steinhoff. Digilabour. From https://digilabour.com.br/marxism-and-work-in-the-ai-industry-interview-with-james-steinhoff/
- Gabriel, I. (2020). Artificial Intelligence, values, and alignment. Minds & Machines, 30, 411-437. From https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11023-020-09539-2
- Hurley, J. (2024). Can AI improve public engagement? Michigan State University. From https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/can-ai-improve-public-engagement
- Jacobs, J., & Tasin, F. (2024). How the Global South may pay the cost of AI development. From https://www.omfif.org/2024/07/how-the-global-south-may-pay-thecost-of-ai-development/
- Long, F. (2023, August 7). AI in the Crosshairs: How Geopolitics Shapes Technology. Goldman Sachs Asset Management. From https://www.gsam.com/content/gsam/global/en/market-insights/gsaminsights/perspectives/2023/ai-how-geopolitics-shapes-technology.html
- Ober, J. (2022). Inaugural Annual Lecture | Ethics in AI with Aristotle. From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1gTDGl7u1o&t=2617s
- O’Shaughnessy, M., & Sheehan, M. (2023, February 14). Lessons from the world’s two experiments in AI governance. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. From https://carnegieendowment.org/2023/02/14/lessons-from-world-s-two-experiments-inai-governance-pub-89035
- Papadakis, T., Christou, I. T., Ipektsidis, C., Soldatos, J., & Amicone, A. (2024). Explainable and transparent artificial intelligence for public policymaking. Data and Policy, 6, e10. From https://doi.org/10.1017/dap.2024.3
- Seong, K., White, O., Birshan, M., Woetzel, L., Lammana C., Condon, J., & Devesa, T. (2024, January 17). Geopolitics and the geometry of global trade. McKinsey Global Institute. From https://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/our-research/geopolitics-and-the-geometryof-global-trade
- Simon, F., McBride, K., & Altay, S. (2024, September 3). AI’s impact on elections is being overblown. MIT Technology Review. From https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/09/03/1103464/ai-impact-electionsoverblown/
- Simons, J. (2023). Algorithms for the People: Democracy in the Age of AI. Princeton University Press.
- Song, B. (2020). Applying Ancient Chinese Philosophy to Artificial Intelligence. Noema Magazine. From https://www.noemamag.com/applying-ancient-chinese-philosophyto-artificial-intelligence/
- Srinivasan, A. (2015, September 24). Stop the robot apocalypse. London Review of Books.
- Tallberg, J., Erman, E., Furendal, M., Geith, J., Klamberg, M., & Lundgren, M. (2023). The Global Governance of Artificial Intelligence: Next Steps for Empirical and Normative Research. International Studies Review, 25, 3.
- Tasioulas, J. (2022). Artificial Intelligence, Humanistic Ethics. Daedalus, 151(2), 232–243.
- West, D., & Allen, J (2020). Turning Point: Policymaking in the Era of Artificial Intelligence. Brookings Institution Press.
- Wicker, K. (2024). The Rise of AI in the Global South and the Need for Inclusion. Wilson Center. From https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/rise-ai-global-south-and-needinclusion
- Wong, B. (2022, October 17). Why existential risks matter in international relations. E-International Relations. From https://www.e-ir.info/2022/10/17/why-existential-risksmatter-in-international-relations/
- Wong, B. (2023, September 21). If the US and China can’t work together on AI regulation and safety, the world will suffer. China-US Focus. From https://www.chinausfocus.com/peace-security/if-the-us-and-china-cant-worktogether-on-ai-regulation-and-safety-the-world-will-suffer
- Wong, B. (Forthcoming). Structural Unemployment and Structural Injustice. Inquiry.
- Wong, B. (Forthcoming). Toward A Confucian Ethic for AI-Human Relations. In J. Tao, K. -P. Yu & R. Camus, Dao Companion on Confucian Applied Ethics. Springer.
- Zhang, A. (2024). High Wire: How China Regulates Big Tech and Governs Its Economy. Oxford University Press.
Course Co-ordinator and Teacher(s)
| Course Co-ordinator | Contact |
| Professor Y.S. Wong School of Humanities (Philosophy), Faculty of Arts |
Tel: 3917 2796 Email: bwongys@hku.hk |
| Teacher(s) | Contact |
| Professor Y.S. Wong School of Humanities (Philosophy), Faculty of Arts |
Tel: 3917 2796 Email: bwongys@hku.hk |