ORC Course Description: This course focuses on the emerging interdisciplinary field of game theory and artificial intelligence, providing students with a comprehensive understanding of strategic decision-making, learning dynamics, and cooperative behaviors in AI systems. Through a combination of lectures, discussions, and hands-on projects, the class introduces the fundamental concepts and applications of evolutionary games, repeated games, stochastic games, and multiagent learning systems. The course also covers the ethical implications and alignment mechanisms required to ensure AI systems serve humanity. Throughout the course, students will have gained the necessary knowledge and skills to design AI systems with a strong foundation in game-theoretical principles and an emphasis on cooperation and alignment.
Prerequisites: Math 22, Math 23. The student should be familiar with calculus, and basic concepts in ordinary differential equations and probability. Programing skills highly recommended, but not required.
Textbook: Lecture notes available.
Grading Formula:
The top priority of this course is your health and well-being. The class will ensure everyone be free of pressure and anxiety.
Class Participation (10%) + Four homework problem sets (40%) + Final projects (40%) on topics of your choice + Lightening talk based on this project (10%).
The final project requires a significant component of using quantitative methods (including not limited to game theory models, statistical analyses, or simulations) as well as a final report (~8 pages, single-spaced with font size 12 point) written in the format of a scientific paper (which consists of title, authors, abstract, introduction, model and methods, results, discussions and conclusion along with references).
Integration of ChatGPT: Our class welcomes the wise and responsible use of ChatGPT, or Large Language Models (LLMs) more generally, as an integral part of our experiential learning. We embrace ChatGPT in our learning and educational environments while striving to minimize any potential stigma associated with its use by using it in responsible and constructive ways. It is important to note that there is absolutely no penalty for utilizing ChatGPT, but the class respectfully requires you to disclose explicitly by including the prompt history as part of your submission.
Tentative lecture plan which may be subject to further changes.
| Week | Lecture |
|---|---|
| Week 1 | Introduction & Overview; Introduction to Evolutionary Games and Learning Dynamics |
| Week 2 | Repeated Games and Machine Learning Based Strategies |
| Week 3 | Stochastic Games and Reinforcement Learning |
| Week 4 | Understanding AI Behavior and Moral Characters Through Evolutionary Game Theory |
| Week 5 | Cooperative AI Systems: Finding Common Ground and Cooperative Social Norms |
| Week 6 | Multiagent Learning Systems: Seeking Consensus and Convergence and Red Queen Dynamics |
| Week 7 | Learning and Evolving Populations: Multiscale and Multilayer Network Dynamics |
| Week 8 | Alignment Mechanisms: Serving All Humanity |
| Week 9 | Final Projects Presentations: TBD |
Approximately 5 weeks are given to complete the project. The instructor will suggest project ideas in the third week, but you are allowed to propose your own, which has to be approved by the instructor in the fourth week at the latest. Each project presentation is limited to 15 minutes and preferably in the style of TED talks.
Course projects are listed in the alphabetical order of student names, and will be updated once more progresses are made by the students.
(1) Consent to recording of course meetings and office hours that are open to multiple students.
By enrolling in this course,(2) Requirement of consent to one-on-one recordings
By enrolling in this course, I hereby affirm that I will not make a recording in any medium of any one-on-one meeting with the instructor or another member of the class or group of members of the class without obtaining the prior written consent of all those participating, and I understand that if I violate this prohibition, I will be subject to discipline by Dartmouth up to and including separation from Dartmouth, as well as any other civil or criminal penalties under applicable law. I understand that an exception to this consent applies to accommodations approved by SAS for a student’s disability, and that one or more students in a class may record class lectures, discussions, lab sessions, and review sessions and take pictures of essential information, and/or be provided class notes for personal study use only.