AI and algorithmic decision-making systems are increasingly built and deployed in practice, with many purporting to “do good”. In this course, we’ll investigate what “good” looks like, what the right problems are to work on, and discuss considerations for the effective design and deployment of algorithmic decision-making systems. We'll look at both avoiding unintended harms as well as moving towards desirable, socially beneficial outcomes. Along the way, we’ll study algorithms across machine learning, optimization, market design, and reinforcement learning applied to societal problems spanning sustainability, education, healthcare, and government operations.
There are no formal prerequisites, but this course expects mathematical maturity and ability to engage with state-of-the-art research from operations research, computer science, and other disciplines.
Please note that this schedule is subject to change.
| Week | Date | Topic & readings |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction | ||
| Week 1 | Wed Jan 21 |
What problems to work on? and course introduction
|
| Week 2 | Mon Jan 26 |
Whom to involve?
|
| Building the right model | ||
| Wed Jan 28 |
Modeling decisions
|
|
| Week 3 | Mon Feb 2 |
Modeling potential
|
| Wed Feb 4 |
Modeling pitfalls
|
|
| Week 4 | Mon Feb 9 |
Modeling with foundation models
|
| Application domains: Sustainability | ||
| Wed Feb 11 |
Sustainability I: Optimization
|
|
| Week 5 | Mon Feb 16 |
Sustainability II: Mechanism design
|
| Considerations for decision making | ||
| Wed Feb 18 |
Allocative harm, representational harm, and procedural harm
|
|
| Week 6 | Mon Feb 23 |
OR for fairness
|
| Wed Feb 25 |
Deliberative processes
|
|
| Application domains: Healthcare | ||
| Week 7 | Mon Mar 2 |
Healthcare I: Optimization
|
| Wed Mar 4 |
Healthcare II: Online learning and reinforcement learning
|
|
| Week 8 | Mon Mar 9 |
No class
|
| Wed Mar 11 |
Project pitches
|
|
| Mar 16–20 |
Spring break
|
|
| Deployment | ||
| Week 9 | Mon Mar 23 |
Designing for people
|
| Wed Mar 25 |
Human-AI complementarity
|
|
| Week 10 | Mon Mar 30 |
Working with practitioners
|
| Wed Apr 1 |
Sustaining a deployment
|
|
| Application domains: Nonprofit & government | ||
| Week 11 | Mon Apr 6 |
Nonprofit operations
|
| Wed Apr 8 |
Government operations
|
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| Evaluation | ||
| Week 12 | Mon Apr 13 |
Claiming causality
|
| Wed Apr 15 |
Claiming generalizability
|
|
| Week 13 | Mon Apr 20 |
Evaluations and impact
|
| Application domains: Education | ||
| Wed Apr 22 |
Education I: Optimization
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|
| Week 14 | Mon Apr 27 |
Education II: Prediction and mechanism design
|
| Wed Apr 29 |
Project presentations
|
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| Week 15 | Mon May 4 |
Project presentations
|