master-design-for-responsible-AI-01 Alan Warburton / © BBC / Better Images of AI / Nature / CC-BY 4.0

Master in Design for Responsible AI

Develop your skills in creative research, context analysis, critical thinking and storytelling, and strategic decision-making while investigating the multiple ways in which artificial intelligence systems are impacting our daily lives and engaging with complex questions emerging: from wider issue areas related to digital technologies in sustainability, ethics, media and social justice to intersectional and transdisciplinary perspectives.

How to apply

Welcome

The Master in Design for Responsible Artificial Intelligence is a part-time and low-residency programme, created in collaboration with the creative research lab IAM, for professionals interested in developing skills in creative research, context analysis, critical thinking and storytelling, and strategic decision-making while investigating the multiple ways in which AI systems are impacting our daily lives and engaging with complex questions emerging from wider issue areas related to digital technologies in sustainability, ai ethics, media and social justice from intersectional and transdisciplinary perspectives.

This MA in Responsible AI is created for professionals with backgrounds in digital service design, strategic design and communications, interaction design, cultural management, political science, social innovation, journalism, trend research, data science or other technical disciplines as data or computer science related to artificial intelligence systems, who are working in different areas of the digital economy, leading or participating in digital transformation projects across public institutions and private sector organisations.

Access and Admission Requirements: Design graduates and professionals with experience in the public or private sector of the digital economy in areas related to tech, social innovation, culture or media. It is not essential to have a bachelor’s degree to take this master’s degree; we value professional experience as much as college education.

Elisava counts on a large offer of master and postgraduate programmes. Discover the design master you are looking for.

Philosophy-and-Ethics-of-AI
Image by Alan Warburton / © BBC / Better Images of AI / Virtual Human / CC-BY 4.0

We go beyond artificial intelligence

We will create the conditions for you to become a specialist in designing for responsible artificial intelligence, an emerging field that aims to understand AI as socio-technical systems to study their various impacts on society and the Planet. This involves researching and designing theories, frameworks, methods, and other tools for the ethical, legal, and sustainable development, governance, and use of AI systems.

There is a growing need in both the public and private sectors, particularly in the United States and Europe, for designers and other creative professionals with both technical and non-technical training. These professionals should be capable of applying a critical design mindset and a transversal set of skills and attitudes to collectively learn how to transform principles (ways of thinking) like transparency, justice and fairness, non-maleficence, accountability, and privacy into actions (ways of doing). This includes assessing and mitigating risks, increasing digital media literacy among the general public, and learning the best ways for humanity to use these powerful technologies to address the socio-ecological implications of the environmental emergency and make possible the UN Sustainable Development Goals for 2030.


How we do it

This Master in Responsible AI is designed as a creative research collaboratory with a strong focus on collaborative and transdisciplinary learning offering participants a unique context to develop skills in investigating and analysing complex topics while specialising on the design and implementation of strategies, narratives, decision-making techniques and methodologies for responsible AI systems to engage with a broad range of stakeholders. All of this taking into account the ethical dilemmas derived from this field and addressing ethical ai as a basic and inseparable approach of this discipline.

The MA in Design for Responsible Artificial Intelligence is organised into three terms offered in a low-residency mode which runs for 40 weeks over 10 months. You will be expected to commit 10-12 hours per week to study, which includes teaching time and independent study.

The programme is delivered via a blended part-time/remote learning journey, online and through 3 in-person residencies in Barcelona that will take place in end of September (Kick-off week), February-March (Mid-program workshops) and mid-June (Graduate show).


The experience
Programme of the Master in Design for Responsible AI
1 Term I (end of September — December)

1.1 Creative Research & Imagination Collaboratory
You will develop skills to work effectively as a member of groups and networks of people with different levels of expertise, cultural and professional backgrounds, while learning how to research and analyze specific themes in creative, collaborative and collective ways while cultivating reflective and intuitive ways of investigating complex topics.

1.2 Decoding AI Systems
Through lectures, tutorials, debates and workshops, in this module you will explore and interrogate, alongside specialists working with AI systems in diverse fields, the different dimensions and narratives of Intelligence, Artificial Intelligence, Automation and Automated Decision-Making Systems (ADMS), how these systems and technologies are being used by organizations across the public and private sector, and how new media artists, journalists and creative technologists are experimenting with these technologies.

1.3 AI Systems, Society and the Planet
You will develop a critical understanding of the socio- economic, socio-technical, and socio-ecological aspects of AI systems, alongside the ethical, social, environmental and cultural implications emerging from their use at scale. You will also have the opportunity to engage with a broad set of perspectives on the key challenges and opportunities raised by AI systems in relation to the environmental emergency.

2 Term II (January — March)

2.1 Responsible AI/ Governance, Principles and Requirements
You will develop an advanced and critical understanding of the legal, ethical and social dimensions of the theories shaping the emerging field of Responsible AI, while engaging in a critical analysis of the current landscape of AI policy initiatives around the world with a strong focus in the European context.

2.2 Responsible AI/ From Principles to Implementation
You will engage with a broad range of methods and practical approaches to identify and critically analyze the impacts and risks of AI systems in a wide scope of contexts, while developing analytical and creative skills to design methodologies and strategies for the implementation of Responsible AI guidelines with a strong focus on the explainability of AI.

3 Term III (April — June)

3.1 Designing for Responsible AI: Final Projects
You will develop communication skills to share their research process and outcomes in ways that make them accessible to a wider public, while applying the knowledge gained during the master studies and the critical mindset and design skills in a Responsible AI project that contributes to common good.

4 Transversal Practice (end of September – mid-June)

4.1 Critical Design/Media Lab for Responsible AI
You will develop skills to synthesise learnings and share knowledge in creative, collaborative and sustainable ways while cultivating a critical attitude towards design, tech and media. We will create an open and distributed learning environment that facilitates the engagement of students individually and collectively during the Master, with a deep awareness of the societal, cultural and ecological context where students, alongside faculty and other guest collaborators, will design and run a low-tech digital publication as an experimental media platform to share the outputs of their collective research and learning journeys.

If you want to learn more about the Master in Design for Responsible Artificial Intelligence, you can download the brochure or subscribe to the master’s mailing list:

Do you want to know more about the Masters’ School?

Each academic year, students with very diverse professional and cultural profiles of more than 80 nationalities from all over the world attend their master’s or postgraduate training at Elisava. We want to promote connections and networks among students beyond the context of each master’s degree to promote the exchange of knowledge through very diverse projects: we organize interdisciplinary workshops and conferences; transdisciplinary projects with students from several master’s degrees; collaborations with companies, institutions and NGOs…

Interdisciplinary workshops Collaborations with companies, institutions and NGOs Elisava Masters’ Talks and lectures Elisava Alumni

Masters’ Scholarships

Do you want to study the MA in Design for Responsible Artificial Intelligence at Elisava? In this section you will be able to check all the information on the annual call for scholarships, which recognize, reward and disseminate the talent and excellence of future master’s students.