Trustworthy AI, Spring 2026

CSCI 6907 / EMSE 6992

Class Information

Classroom: SEH B1270. This is one of the lecture halls in the basement of the SEH building. If you go into the building and descend the stairs, turn right at the bottom.

Meeting Time: Mondays 3:30 PM – 6:00 PM. Typically, 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM will feature an invited speaker, followed by an in-class exercise.

Remote Access: This course is intended to be in-person, but most guest lectures are public. If you can't attend, use the Zoom link below. Note that in-class exercises are essential for learning, so this is not a remote course.

Syllabus: Spring2026TrustworthyAISyllabus.docx.

Course Goals

This class will explore the technical and societal approaches that are being developed to deploy trustworthy AI (TAI) systems in real-world situations. The course is open to graduate students across the University and will explore topics that may include bias in AI, misinformation and disinformation, IP rights and credit assignment in generative AI, ethical frameworks for AI deployment, and human oversight and governance models. Course work will focus on four large projects, structured to be approachable from social, legal, scientific or computational perspectives.

Lecture Schedule

  1. Monday January 12, 2026: Introduction to Trust & AI by Robert Pless. Slides.
  2. Monday January 19, 2026: Holiday
  3. Monday January 26, 2026: Combining Vision and Language, by Robert Pless. (Reading), (Slides), (Video -- Password available on blackboard or by e-mail)
  4. Monday February 2, 2026: Leah Kaplan, "AI and High Tech Product Liabilty"
  5. Monday February 9, 2026: John Warren, "AI, Publishing, and Ethics/Research Integrity", Reading
  6. Monday February 16, 2026: Holiday
  7. Monday February 23, 2026: Shi Feng, Mechanisms of Human Oversight in Training AI Systems
  8. Monday March 2, 2026: Stacy Dean, "AI Applications and Issues in the Safety Net: A Focus on Federal Food and Nutrition Programs". Readings:
    1. USDA's Framework for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Use of Artificial Intelligence for Public Benefit Administration.
    2. Blog posts from Dave Guarino who is experimenting with AI in SNAP or Food Stamps, available on LinkedIn
  9. Monday March 9, 2026: Spring Break
  10. Monday March 16, 2026: SOTA: AI Agents, Robert Pless.
    Reading: "Measuring Agent Autonomy" Reading 2: Why A.I. Didn’t Transform Our Lives in 2025
  11. Monday March 23, 2026: NLP, Ayah Zirikly
  12. Monday March 30, 2026:
  13. Monday April 6, 2026:
  14. Monday April 13, 2026: David Broniatowski, Trust in AI
  15. Monday April 20, 2026: Alexander Dent
  16. Monday April 27, 2026:
  17. Designated Monday April 29, 2026:
Please submit your questions about readings to the following Google Form, here.
  1. Project 1
  2. Project 2
  3. Project 3
  4. Project 4