AI Foundations and Societal Impact

This unit introduces foundational concepts of artificial intelligence, surveying major AI categories, their technical constraints, and emerging technologies that affect digital marketing. Students examine ethical, control, and data-privacy implications of AI and connect these insights to responsible social media strategy and future applied coursework.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze major categories of AI (logic/knowledge systems, neural/evolutionary methods, emergent approaches, brain-emulation, and intelligence amplification) and explain their potential effects on social media marketing tools and workflows.
• Compare and evaluate ethical and governance concerns related to AI deployment—including bias, accountability, anthropomorphism, and control—and determine implications for content creation, audience targeting, and platform policies.
• Evaluate data privacy, cybersecurity, and technological constraints (including quantum-related challenges and post-Moore computing implications) and propose practical mitigation strategies for protecting consumer data in social media campaigns.
• Apply systems thinking to identify opportunities where AI intersects with computational sustainability and urban contexts (e.g., transit-aware campaigns, quantum-AI communications) to inform strategic, socially responsible marketing recommendations.