COM SCI 260E · CS 260EComputational Ethics and Large Language Models
Computer Science · 4 units · Graduate courses (200-299)
Large language models (LLMs) are becoming ubiquitous. They are used in many real-world applications, ranging from content moderation and online advertisement to health care. Given their increasing role in what people see, how they think, and what is publicly known about them, it is critical to consider the ethical ramifications of deploying LLM-based systems. Study offers a lens on historical and current computational ethics problems in natural language processing (NLP). Reading and discussion of literature about how large-scale language modeling is impacting domains such as privacy, health care, and political science. Discussions are accompanied by guest lectures from domain experts. In group projects students develop critical thinking and problem-solving through hands-on data curation and writing short perspective pieces on a future AI policy framework to mitigate ethical risks observed from the literature review.
Letter grading.
When it runs
- Fall 2026
Scheduled, not typical — from UCLA’s Schedule of Classes, which publishes Fall 2025 through Spring 2027 and nothing before it.
Requisites
Official UCLA wording
Preparation: a basic understanding of artificial intelligence and natural language processing concepts is encouraged.
BruinTree reads · Preparation
needs reviewconfidence 0.00 · from textBruinTree could not read this requirement — see UCLA’s wording above.
- · could not read "a basic understanding of artificial intelligence" (no course number found)
- · could not read "natural language processing concepts is encouraged" (no course number found)
- · no course reference could be read from this requisite
Requires
Everything that has to come before this course, not just the courses named in the requisite above.
Nothing — this is an entry point.
Unlocks
What this course is a requisite for, and what those courses lead to in turn.
No course in the catalog lists this as a requisite.