Assignment Title
| The Politics of AI Knowledge |
| Delivery Format | In-person |
| Learning Objectives | - Identify assumptions and biases embedded in AI responses.
- Compare AI-generated knowledge with peer-reviewed academic scholarship.
- Connect sociological theories to real-life issues.
- Develop critical AI literacy using GenAI as an object of sociological analysis.
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| Brief Summary of Assignment | In this assignment, students will use Gemini (UC Berkeley's licensed AI tool) as an object of sociological analysis. They will examine how AI-generated knowledge changes depending on how a question is framed, and analyze what this reveals about power and visibility. Rather than asking whether AI is “right” or “wrong,” students will ask: what kinds of explanations does AI tend to produce, and whose perspectives do those explanations privilege? What are the societal consequences of selective framing? |
| Guardrails Shared with Students | “In writing your essay, you may not use AI for: - Writing entire sentences or paragraphs of your essay (checking grammar or sentence structure is ok).
- Summarizing or interpreting course readings.
- Generating your analysis.
Your writing, analysis, and citations must be entirely your own.” |
| Impact & Feedback | After in-class discussions on the assignment, I learned that students valued the exercise as it allowed them to reflect about the limits of the type of knowledge produced by GenAI tools. On the one hand, for its pedagogical goals and results, I would use a similar assignment in the future. On the other, I have concerns about AI-related assignments, especially given the unfair labor practices and environmental impact of AI companies. |
| Assignment Details | |
