Assignment

Hidden Layer: Intellectual Privacy and Generative AI

Submitted by Sarah Hartman-Caverly on December 20th, 2023
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Short Description: 

The Hidden Layer Workshop introduces key generative AI (genAI) concepts through a privacy lens. Participants probe the possibilities and limitations of genAI while considering implications for intellectual privacy, intellectual property, data sovereignty, and human agency. In the centerpiece activity, participants engage in a hidden layer simulation to develop a conceptual understanding of the algorithms in the neural networks underlying LLMs and their implications for machine bias and AI hallucination. Drawing on Richards’s theory of intellectual privacy (2015) and the movement for data sovereignty, and introducing an original framework for the ethical evaluation of AI, Hidden Layer prepares participants to be critical users of genAI and synthetic media.

The workshop is designed for a 60-minute session, but can be extended to fill the time available.
Includes workshop guide, presentation slides, learning activities, and assessment instrument.

Attachments: 
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Learning Outcomes: 

Facilitator learning objectives

During this workshop, participants will

  • Apply prompt engineering techniques to elicit information from text-to-text generative AI (genAI) platforms

  • Appreciate a range of intellectual privacy implications posed by genAI, including: 

    • personal data;

    • intellectual property (copyright, patent, proprietary and sensitive data); 

    • AI alignment (social bias, content moderation, AI guardrails, censorship, prompt injection); 

    • synthetic media;

    • AI hallucination and mis/dis/malinformation; and

    • data sovereignty and data colonialism.

  • Engage in a simulation to develop a conceptual understanding of how the hidden layer in the neural networks underpinning large language models works

  • Synthesize their knowledge of genAI intellectual privacy considerations to analyze an ethical case study using the Agent-Impact Matrix for Artificial Intelligence (AIM4AI).

Participant learning outcomes

During this workshop, participants will

  • Interact with genAI to explore its possibilities and limitations

  • Discuss the intellectual privacy implications of genAI, including intellectual property considerations

  • Evaluate the ethics of genAI for its impact on human agency

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 
Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.): 
Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 
Suggested Citation: 
Hartman-Caverly, Sarah. "Hidden Layer: Intellectual Privacy and Generative AI." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2023. https://projectcora.org/assignment/hidden-layer-intellectual-privacy-and-generative-ai.