Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology is rapidly developing and is increasingly being applied across sectors, posing significant ethical and societal challenges. The MSt in AI Ethics and Society is devoted to developing leaders who can tackle the hard AI questions that are most relevant for the workplace today, such as issues of privacy, surveillance, justice, fairness, algorithmic bias, misinformation, Big Data, responsible innovation, and more.

The MSt in AI Ethics and Society delivers an academically rigorous part-time programme aimed at professionals from business, public, and social sectors working with applications of artificial intelligence (AI), providing the skills and expertise needed to address the ethical issues arising from the uses and impacts of AI.

The Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (CFI) is an international research institute exploring the nature and impacts of artificial intelligence (AI). It is part of the Institute of Technology and Humanity at the University of Cambridge, and has research networks across the world, and strong links to the policy and technologies sectors, both in the UK and internationally. CFI brings the knowledge and methodologies of multiple disciplines to the challenges of understanding the nature of AI and the ethical implications of its wide-ranging applications across sectors and society, in both the short, medium and long-term.

The MPhil in Ethics of AI, Data and Algorithms is a full-time 9-month course run by the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence. It equips students from a range of backgrounds with the research skills and specialist knowledge to engage critically and constructively with debates on the ethical and societal impacts of AI and other digital technologies, and provides the opportunity to carry out focused research under close supervision by domain experts at the University. Those intending to go on to doctoral work learn the research skills needed to help them prepare a well-planned and focused PhD proposal.

In addition to individual supervisions that support work on essays and dissertation, the taught elements of the course consist of core seminars, which introduce the central topics in AI and data ethics, a range of elective modules covering specialist topics, and work in progress seminars, in which students gain experience in presenting their own work and discussing the issues that arise from it with an audience of their peers and senior members of staff. Students also have the opportunity to attend lectures, research seminars and reading groups across the Centre and the wider University.