Global Politics of Artificial Intelligence – Transnationalism, Agency, and Governance

This course offers students a chance to apply social science methods to understand the global politics of artificial intelligence, and the transnational social powers involved in their design, deployment, and regulation. Building upon new research at the department, it explores AI from four core themes: a) global governance & geopolitics, b) global production chains & international political economy, c) ethics & society, and d) decision-making & democracy.

In all three themes the course draws out the embryonic political practices and relations that have enabled the present state of AI and uses new interdisciplinary interventions to speculate on its future. In so doing, the course provides students with a firm grasp on the interdisciplinary topic of the global politics of AI and helps them utilize the social sciences to study these emerging technologies. Discussions focus on the real-world context in which AI has emerged, helping students better understand how to think about and work critically within the major technological innovation of our times.

The specific course content is designed to be flexible to ensure it remains current and will be announced in sufficient time prior to the course start.

Syllabus autumn 2026

Earlier syllabuses

Syllabus with literature list autumn 2026

Malmö University provides students who participate in, or who have completed a course, with the opportunity to express their opinions and describe their experiences of the course by completing a course evaluation administered by the University. The University will compile and summarise the results of course evaluations. The University will also inform participants of the results and any decisions relating to measures taken in response to the course evaluations. The results will be made available to the students (HF 1:14).