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CCAI9031 Artificial Intelligence
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CCAI9028 The Age of Big Data
Course Description
The increasing availability of big data and the rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) provide unprecedented opportunities for us to understand complex social processes and potentially address many of the pressing challenges facing society today. As big data and AI tools are routinely applied in our daily lives, it becomes increasingly important to understand their capabilities and limitations. This course aims to enrich students’ big data and AI literacy through three major areas of focus: (1) Learning the basic concepts of big data and AI, (2) Reviewing representative big data and AI techniques, and (3) Discussing opportunities and challenges of big data and AI in tackling social problems.
The course will illustrate the core principles of using large-scale datasets and computational techniques in developing big data and AI solutions to social problems. The lecture will mainly use case studies from research papers to provide an in-depth understanding of big data analytics and AI technologies in various fields. The goal is to inspire students to think creatively about how big data and AI can advance science and create social benefits. Meanwhile, students will learn to identify the limitations and potential biases of these approaches, developing a vision for using big data and AI to benefit society in a more effective and responsible way.
Course Learning Outcomes
On completing the course, students will be able to:
- Explain the concepts of big data and AI and ask questions about them.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the logic behind widely adopted big data and AI techniques.
- Describe the basic principles of social data science in description and prediction tasks.
- Examine similarities and differences between the big data and AI solutions and the traditional solutions.
- Critically evaluate the strategies adopted in using big data and AI to solve a specific social problem.
Offer Semester and Day of Teaching
Second semester (Wed)
Study Load
| Activities | Number of hours |
| Lectures | 24 |
| Tutorials | 10 |
| Reading / Self-study | 20 |
| Group projects and case studies | 30 |
| Assessment: Essay / Report writing | 20 |
| Assessment: Presentation (incl preparation) | 20 |
| Total: | 124 |
Assessment: 100% coursework
| Assessment Tasks | Weighting |
| Tutorial exercises | 20 |
| Group project | 30 |
| In-class quizzes | 30 |
| Critique essay | 20 |
Required Reading
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- Notes provided by the lecturer.
- Selected articles from books, magazines and websites for each lecture.
- Cao, Y., Gao, J., Lian, D., Rong, Z., Shi, J., Wang, Q., … & Zhou, T. (2018). Orderliness predicts academic performance: behavioural analysis on campus lifestyle. Journal of The Royal Society Interface, 15(146), 20180210.
- Gao, J., & Wang, D. (2024). Quantifying the use and potential benefits of artificial intelligence in scientific research. Nature Human Behaviour, 8(12), 2281-2292.
- Gao, J., Zhang, Y. C., & Zhou, T. (2019). Computational socioeconomics. Physics Reports, 817, 1-104. [Contents and Section 1 “Introduction”]
- Lazer, D., Pentland, A., Adamic, L., Aral, S., Barabási, A. L., Brewer, D., & Van Alstyne, M. (2009). Computational social science. Science, 323(5915), 721-723.
- Mayer-Schönberger, V., & Cukier, K. (2013). Big data: A revolution that will transform how we live, work, and think. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
- Naik, N., Kominers, S. D., Raskar, R., Glaeser, E. L., & Hidalgo, C. A. (2017). Computer vision uncovers predictors of physical urban change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A., 114(29), 7571-7576.
- Wang, Y., Jones, B. F., & Wang, D. (2019). Early-career setback and future career impact. Nature Communications, 10(1), 4331.
- Yin, Y., Gao, J., Jones, B. F., & Wang, D. (2021). Coevolution of policy and science during the pandemic. Science, 371(6525), 128-130.
Required Viewing
- Bitcoin TVPBS. (2016). “Big Data Revolution” – PBS Documentary. From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIY3LUZ7i8Y.
- Lee, K. -F. (2018). How AI can save our humanity. From https://www.ted.com/talks/kai_fu_lee_how_ai_can_save_our_humanity [TED Talk]
- Suleyman, M. (2024). What is an AI anyway? From https://www.ted.com/talks/mustafa_suleyman_what_is_an_ai_anyway [TED Talk]
- Wang, T. (2016). The human insights missing from big data. From https://www.ted.com/talks/tricia_wang_the_human_insights_missing_from_big_data [TED Talk]
Course Co-ordinator and Teacher(s)
| Course Co-ordinator | Contact |
| Professor J. Gao Department of Social Work and Social Administration, Faculty of Social Sciences |
Tel: 3917 1094 Email: gaojian@hku.hk |
| Teacher(s) | Contact |
| Professor J. Gao Department of Social Work and Social Administration, Faculty of Social Sciences |
Tel: 3917 1094 Email: gaojian@hku.hk |