USC and UCLA Expand AI Programs, Integrating Digital Ethics to Meet Job Market Demands
The Viterbi School of Engineering at USC is expanding its artificial intelligence (AI) programs, including a four-year curriculum designed to prepare students for careers in fields such as drug discovery, robotics, and agriculture. This expansion is part of a broader trend at universities like USC and UCLA to meet the soaring student interest and job market demands for AI expertise. A key component of these new and expanded programs is the integration of digital ethics and humanities courses within AI majors and minors. Elisa Warford, a professor of technical communication practice in USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering and instructor of the university's AI ethics class, emphasized the growing importance of these topics. Since 2017, when she began teaching technology ethics, subjects once considered academic, such as autonomous lethal weapons, personal relationships with chatbots, and ubiquitous surveillance, have become increasingly realistic. Universities are now tasked with exposing students to values b... 
