PHIL-240-wkabasenche-2026-03-26-01-13-39

Below is a syllabus template that includes WSU's required syllabus elements. Please complete all items highlighted in yellow.

**Title of Course [AI Ethics]**

Prefix and Number [PHIL 240]

Semester and Year [tbd]

Number of Credit Hours [3]

Prerequisites [none]

Course Details

Day and Time: [tbd]

Meeting Location: [tbd]

Instructor Contact Information

Instructor Name: [tbd]

Instructor Contact Information: [office location, phone, email] [tbd]

Instructor Office Hours: [click here for best practices] [tbd]

TA Name: [tbd]

TA Contact Information: [office location, phone, email]: [tbd]

TA Office Hours: [click here for best practices] [tbd]

Course Description

This course prepares students to live, learn, and work in a world increasingly influenced by artificial intelligence. It examines ethical issues related to the development and use of AI, such as cognitive offloading, algorithmic bias, human-AI relationships, the Alignment Problem, and the Responsibility Gap.]

Course Materials

Books: [none]

Other Materials: [none]

Fees: [none]

**Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) [add more lines if necessary]**
Course Learning Outcomes (students will be able to:)	Activities Supporting the Learning Outcomes	Assessment of the Learning Outcomes
Students will be able to identify specific instances of cognitive offloading and articulate how heavy reliance on AI impacts stamina required for genuine intellectual growth.]	Classroom discussion; assigned reading	Position papers
Students will be able to construct a reasoned argument regarding whether AI job replacement is accelerated by the deskilling of the human agent.	Classroom discussion; assigned reading	Position papers
[Students will demonstrate the ability to move beyond studying ethics in a vacuum by applying these frameworks to the programming of autonomous vehicles, healthcare triage, and other related cases.]	Classroom discussion; assigned reading; small group activity	AI Alignment Audit
Students will be able to evaluate whether a decision made by an opaque system can ever be considered morally just if the system cannot provide a reason for its output.	Classroom discussion; assigned reading	Position papers
Students will be able to characterize the friction between a creator’s stated goals and an AI’s actual behavior, identifying where human well-being is compromised.	Classroom discussion; assigned reading; small group activity	AI Alignment Audit
Students will be able to assign moral and legal burden in complex AI failures where traditional accounts of moral justification reach their limits.	Classroom discussion; assigned reading; small group activity	Position Papers, AI Alignment Audit
Students will produce a formal audit identifying where a specific AI product fails to uphold human values like autonomy, privacy, and fairness.	Classroom discussion; assigned reading; small group activity	AI Alignment Audit
Students will be able to bridge the gap between abstract moral theory and the practical, regulatory constraints used in the tech industry.	Classroom discussion; assigned reading	Position papers
Students will be able to critically analyze industry PR and identify structural risks or pressures—such as the "move fast and break things" mantra—that lead to ethical erosion.	Classroom discussion; assigned reading; student presentation	AI in Society Update, Position papers
Students will be able to justify their own moral positions when faced with professional dilemmas, accounting for both the personal and structural risks of dissent.	Classroom discussion; assigned reading	Position papers; AI Alignment Audit

**Course Schedule**

**[Please note that a WSU semester is 15 weeks + Thanksgiving/Spring Break. The schedule below does not include the break.]**
Dates	Lesson Topic	Assignment	Assessment
Week 1 [dates]	What is AI/ What is AI Ethics?	1:1 introduction to the professor What is AI? https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/artificial-intelligence What is AI Ethics? https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/ai-ethics	none
Week 2 [dates]	Data ethics/ algorithm ethics	What is Data Ethics? Floridi, L., & Taddeo, M. (2016). What is data ethics?. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 374(2083). Algorithmic Ethics and Misinformation Shin, D. (2024). Misinformation and algorithmic bias. In Artificial misinformation: Exploring human-algorithm interaction online (pp. 15-47). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland. 1:1 introduction to the professor	1:1 introduction is due
Week 3 [dates]	Benefits of AI/ Ethical tools for assessing AI	Benefits of AI https://ischool.syracuse.edu/benefits-of-ai/ Background Ethical Frameworks: Floridi, L., & Cowls, J. (2022). A unified framework of five principles for AI in society. Machine learning and the city: Applications in architecture and urban design, 535-545.	Practice paper assignment
Week 4 [dates]	LLMs and Cognitive Offloading	LLMs for Writing Black, R. W., & Tomlinson, B. (2025). University students describe how they adopt AI for writing and research in a general education course. Scientific reports, 15(1), 8799. Optionally: Students may focus on the use of AI for programming or other tasks relevant to their intended professions. Cognitive Offloading Barshay, J. (2025). University students offload critical thinking, other hard work to AI. The Hechinger Report.	Paper-writing workshop (based on practice paper)
Week 5 [dates]	Cognitive offloading and Deskilling	Cognitive Offloading (continued) Lee, H.-P., A. Sarkar, L. Tankelevitch, I. Drosos, S. Rintel, R. Banks, and N. Wilson. 2025. The impact of generative AI on critical thinking: Self-reported reductions in cognitive effort and confidence effects from a survey of knowledge workers. In CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '25), April 26–May 1, 2025, Yokohama, Japan. ACM. Deskilling Ferdman, A. (2025). AI Deskilling is a structural problem. AI & SOCIETY, 1-13. Moral Deskilling https://www.scu.edu/ethics/focus-areas/technology-ethics/resources/artificial-intelligence-decision-making-and-moral-deskilling/	Revised Practice Paper due
Week 6 [dates]	AI at work	The Knowledge Economy https://www.nasbe.org/deskilling-the-knowledge-economy-implications-for-schools/ AI and Employment Brynjolfsson, E., Chandar, B., & Chen, R. (2025). Canaries in the Coal Mine?: Six Facts about the Recent Employment Effects of Artificial Intelligence. https://fortune.com/2025/12/12/ai-skills-gap-talent-executives-fear-risk-critical-strategic-thinking/ AI and Meaningful Work Bankins, S., & Formosa, P. (2023). The ethical implications of artificial intelligence (AI) for meaningful work. Journal of Business Ethics, 185(4), 725-740.	Paper 1 Assigned
Week 7 [dates]	AI in Relationships	AI for Relationships Case Study Analyses (cases will be selected from current events) Bakir, V., & McStay, A. (2025). Move fast and break people? Ethics, companion apps, and the case of Character. ai. AI & SOCIETY, 1-13. Zhang, Y., Zhao, D., Hancock, J. T., Kraut, R., & Yang, D. (2025). The rise of AI companions: How human–chatbot relationships influence well-being. arXiv. https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.12605 Zhang, R., Li, H., Meng, H., Zhan, J., Gan, H., & Lee, Y. C. (2025, April). The dark side of ai companionship: A taxonomy of harmful algorithmic behaviors in human-ai relationships. In Proceedings of the 2025 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems (pp. 1-17).	Paper 1 due
Week 8 [dates]	Ethical Theories	Ethical Theories Immanuel Kant, Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals (First Section). Shannon Vallor, Technology and the Virtues (2016) – Chapter 2: "What is Technomoral Virtue?" John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism (Chapter 2).	Paper 2 Assigned
Week 9 [dates]	Moral Dilemmas	Moral Dilemmas Thomson, J. J. (1984). The trolley problem. Yale LJ, 94, 1395. Paulo, N. (2023). The trolley problem in the ethics of autonomous vehicles. The Philosophical Quarterly, 73(4), 1046-1066. Cathy O’Neil, Weapons of Math Destruction (2016) – Introduction and Chapter 1.	Paper 2 due
Week 10 [dates]	Black Box Problem, Responsibility Gap, and AI Moral Status	Black Box Problem https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/black-box-ai Von Eschenbach, W. J. (2021). Transparency and the black box problem: Why we do not trust AI. Philosophy & technology, 34(4), 1607-1622. The Responsibility Gap Matthias, A. (2004). The responsibility gap: Ascribing responsibility for the actions of learning automata. Ethics and information technology, 6(3), 175-183. AI Rights & Moral Status Schwitzgebel, E. (2023). AI systems must not confuse users about their sentience or moral status. Patterns, 4(8).	Paper 3 Assigned
Week 11 [dates]	Alignment Problem	Alignment Problem https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/ai-alignment Schwerzmann, K., & Campolo, A. (2025). “Desired behaviors”: alignment and the emergence of a machine learning ethics. AI & society, 40(7), 5181-5194. Bradley, A., & Saad, B. (2025). AI Alignment Versus AI Ethical Treatment: 10 Challenges. Analytic Philosophy.	Paper 3 Due
Week 12 [dates]	Alignment Problem	Students create small groups. Meet to review the *AI Alignment Audit Assignment* and identify AI product to audit. Professional Frameworks OECD AI Principles: https://www.oecd.org/en/topics/sub-issues/ai-principles.html NIST AI Risk Management Framework: https://www.nist.gov/itl/ai-risk-management-framework Optionally: Students may select frameworks provide by their primary professional organizations (e.g., IEEE)	*AI Alignment Audit Assignment Posted*
Week 13 [dates]	Alignment Problem	Groups meet this week to conduct audit. Each group will report on progress to entire class and bring up complications group brainstorming.	Small Groups check in with the class on their progress on the Alignment Audit
Week 14 [dates]	AI and Professional Ethics	Move Fast and Break Things Grieser, W., Krause, R., Li, R., Priem, R., & Simonov, A. (2023). Move fast and break things! innovation-intensive strategy, organizational permissiveness, and corporate wrongdoing. Long Range Planning, 56(2), 102294.	Groups meet on Monday to conduct audit, begin write-ups, and report progress to class.
Week 15 [dates]	AI and Professional Ethics	Ethics Washing Biddle, J. B., Nelson, J. P., & Olugbade, O. E. (2024). How can we know if you are serious? Ethics washing, symbolic ethics offices, and the responsible design of AI systems. Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 54(4), 329-345.	Groups meet on Monday to conduct audit, finalize write-ups, and report progress to class. *AI Alignment Audit Assignment – Due End of Week 15*

Expectations for Student Effort

[Describe how much time students should expect to invest in the course each week. Graduate courses should state: "For each hour of lecture equivalent, students should expect to have a minimum of two hours of work outside of class." Note that Global campus courses will automatically include credit hour equivalents in the syllabus.] For each in class hour per week, students should expect to spend 1-1.5 hours working outside of class.

Grading [add more lines if necessary]

Assignment Breakdown
Type of Assignment (tests, papers, etc)	Points	Percent of Overall Grade
Paper 1	100	15%
Paper 2	100	20%
Paper 3	100	20%
AI in Society Update	5	5%
AI Alignment Audit	100	35%
“What I want to learn” Questions	5	5%

Grading Schema
Grade	Percent	Grade	Percent
A	93-100%	C	73-76.9%
A-	90-92.9%	C-	70-72.9%
B+	87-89.9%	D+	67-69.9%
B	83-86.9%	D	60-66.9%
B-	80-82.9%	F	<60%
C+	77-79.9%

I will consider raising a grade that is within 0.1% of the next highest grade. This will depend on attendance, the 1:1 introduction, and class participation.

Attendance and Make-Up Policy

[Provide details on how attendance affects final course grades. Indicate whether and how missed exams, laboratory sessions, etc. can be made up. Sample attendance statement: “Students should make all reasonable efforts to attend all class meetings. However, in the event a student is unable to attend a class, it is the responsibility of the student to inform the instructor as soon as possible, explain the reason for the absence (and provide documentation, if appropriate), and make up class work missed within a reasonable amount of time, if allowed. Missing class meetings may result in reducing the overall grade in the class.” ]

Class attendance—In order to succeed in the course, you need to attend class. You are, of course, free to miss class if you are sick, have a family emergency or funeral, or have a conflicting school activity. These are all good reasons to miss class. There are many other reasons to miss class that are not good. I expect you to attend class unless you have a good reason to be gone. If you are absent more than 5 times in the semester, that is grounds for lowering your grade. There is no need to notify me if you have to be gone, but if you have some large crisis that will require more than 5 absences, we should definitely talk as soon as possible, and I will be happy to accommodate you. To ensure that you get credit for attending, you should be seated and ready for class at 10 minutes after the hour. If you are late, you might not get the chance to indicate that you attended.

-Make-up work: I will accept late assignments, but they will receive a deduction of points unless you indicate that you will use one (or more) of your allotted extension days (or we have another arrangement for more unusual circumstances). You have 5 extension days to use throughout the semester. In the paper assignments, I will give you instructions for how to indicate that you are using one to avoid a late penalty.

Academic Integrity Statement

You are responsible for reading WSU's Academic Integrity Policy, which is based on Washington State law. If you cheat in your work in this class you will:

-Fail the course

-Be reported to the Center for Community Standards

-Have the right to appeal my decision

-Not be able to drop the course or withdraw from the course until the appeals process is finished

If you have any questions about what you can and cannot do in this course, ask me.

If you want to ask for a change in my decision about academic integrity, use the form at the Center for Community Standards website. You must submit this request within 21 calendar days of the decision.