Course info

First-Year Seminar: Algorithms are Everywhere. Some people say we are living in the age of the algorithm. How do algorithms affect your privacy and daily life? Algorithms are the engines in software which control the next video in a social media feed, where to eat, or the most efficient trip itinerary. Besides these relatively benign applications, algorithms also have more critical uses, such as determining search results or calculating insurance premiums. But these algorithms are proprietary, opaque to the end user, and most alarmingly their results are refined using personal data. In this course, we will explore the privacy implications of classic algorithms and how algorithms are used.