Programme Highlight

Artificial Intelligence (AI) promises to revolutionise all aspects of modern life. From healthcare to education and more, AI is streamlining processes, enabling personalised solutions, and creating opportunities for growth and development. However, from its use to propagate misinformation on social media, to military applications in which targets are autonomously identified, to questions of authorship in AI-generated creative works, this technology raises complex philosophical issues which need to be addressed.

Lingnan University’s new Master of Arts in Artificial Intelligence and the Future (MAAIF) will equip students with perspective necessary to shape a responsible, human-centred, and AI-enhanced future. Students will acquire a range of broadly applicable skills, allowing them to take a holistic approach to evaluating AI applications in domains as diverse as finance, law, public policy, and many more.

Unlike traditional IT- and engineering-centric programmes, the MAAIF offers a unique, comprehensive approach to AI. The broad, interdisciplinary foundation provided by the programme makes it suitable for everyone, from new graduates to accomplished professionals. Students do not require a background in AI – nor a technical background or strong mathematical skills – but will be trained in the application of analytical tools that will allow them to think clearly and critically about AI systems. Students will learn the fundamentals of AI and coding, although the main focus will be on philosophical issues that AI systems raise.

In MAAIF’s wide-ranging curriculum, students will consider the ramifications of AI in a variety of domains, including science, law, economics, public policy, healthcare, and business and finance.

Upon completion of the programme, graduates will be well-positioned for careers in different fields, including positions blending AI technology with artistic or humanistic pursuits. Examples of these positions include: AI Ethicist or Analyst, AI Developer or Art Creator, Educator, or AI Consultant or Strategist. With industries increasingly integrating ethical considerations into their AI strategies, our graduates will also find ample opportunities in tech, healthcare, finance, and government sectors, both in Hong Kong and abroad.

 A number of scholarships are available for outstanding candidates.

The programme, which will welcome its first cohort in September 2024, can be pursued on a one-year full-time or two-year part-time basis.

Its four core courses are: Contemporary Issues in AI; Introduction to Automated Reasoning, which will look at the history of the field and the way in which algorithms are designed; Ethics of AI, and; Mind and Machines, which will examine the possibility of building human or animal thought processes into machines.

The programme electives include: Computability and Logic; AI and Risk; Sci-fi, AI, and Reality; Policy, Business and Regulatory Issues in AI; Applications of AI in Science and Medicine, and; Anticipating AI Futures.Students will also work on a capstone project on a topic of their choice. These projects can be used to show a prospective employer what they have to offer.

Existing AI programmes with a strong technical focus do not prepare students to tackle the wider ethical and philosophical issues introduced by this technology. 

As one of the leading anglophone philosophy departments in Asia, the Department of Philosophy and the Hong Kong Catastrophic Risk Centre at Lingnan University are ideally equipped to meet this challenge. Our faculty members have expertise and research experience in areas as diverse as Applied Ethics, Artificial Intelligence, Normative Ethics, Value Theory, Metaphysics, Philosophical Logic, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Science, and Political Philosophy.