Emerging Technologies, Ethics and Governance: Navigating the key challenges of a digitally connected world is a standalone elective course designed for students in the B.A., LL.B. (Hons.), LLB (Hons.), LLM and the MPP programmes.

The advancement in information sciences and related technologies has transformed the way we live, work, and interact. Artificial Intelligence and other cyber-physical systems create newer opportunities impacting human experiences, actions, and decision-making. As technologies become more sophisticated, they are no longer considered neutral tools but rather as teammates. The enhanced agency of the technology has given rise to modern policy conundrums, making regulatory balancing a challenging task. While regulatory laws and legal enforcement are mandated, they fail to keep pace with the scope and scale at which the technologies emerge. Therefore, it is critical to understand the moral implications of technology through its development, usage and outcome (both intended and unintended). Ethics provides the underpinning moral framework required for developing and evaluating technology policy decisions. Whether rooted in consequentialism, deontology, or virtue ethics, ethical reasoning helps policymakers weigh potential benefits against harms, adhere to duties, or foster virtuous governance behaviours.

This course examines the nature of the emerging technologies and the contemporary governance challenges of a digitally connected world. Rooted in the foundational concepts of ethics and morality, the course allows the students to critically analyse the technological intentionality and usage, offering insights into their good governance in the situated context. Systematic ethical reflection helps reveal underlying values, clarify who benefits or suffers, and anticipate long-term consequences. The course foregrounds the questions on equity & justice, dignity of life and work, accountability, explainability, transparency, trustworthiness and responsible innovations, that are frequently connected to technology at different phases of its life cycle. Using sector-agnostic case studies from the global south and the global north, students will explore how ethics can be translated as potential responsibilities of innovators, designers, coders, engineers, corporate leaders, policymakers, citizens, and consumers associated with technologies.

The course material includes classic literature works on ethics and morality, secondary scholarship (journal articles, book chapters) on technology and ethics, documentaries, standards, compliances, and policy reports on digital ethics and governance given by agencies of international, national, and regional relevance, as well as leading technical companies. The pedagogical approaches for this course will include seminar-style with Socratic discussions, case study analysis, group activities and game based learning. Grading components are designed for continuous evaluation with metrics for class participation, response papers, short quizes and group presentations.

By the end of this course, 1) students will be able to identify, name, and address situations where human rights are at stake during technology design, development, deployment or implementation 2) Students will be able to analyse any ethical breaches or reflect/anticipate any unintended social impact that can be brought in through the use of technologies 3) Students should be able to suggest any newer policy requirements or changes ( even at some granular levels), addressing potential ethical dilemmas.