AI in Society

Understanding and Shaping the Future of AI to Benefit Everyone

Special Issue

Seeking Contributions to AI & Society

In Press

We are excited to announce that several manuscripts have been accepted for publication in our Special Issue and have been published online:

Grandinetti, J. Examining embedded apparatuses of AI in Facebook and TikTok. AI & Soc (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-021-01270-5

Munn, N., Weijers, D. Corporate responsibility for the termination of digital friends. AI & Soc (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-021-01276-z

Slota, S.C., Fleischmann, K.R., Greenberg, S. et al. Many hands make many fingers to point: challenges in creating accountable AI. AI & Soc (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-021-01302-0

Andrada, G., Clowes, R.W. & Smart, P.R. Varieties of transparency: exploring agency within AI systems. AI & Soc (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-021-01326-6

Stenseke, J. Artificial virtuous agents: from theory to machine implementation. AI & Soc (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-021-01325-7

Himmelreich, J. Against “Democratizing AI”. AI & Soc (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-021-01357-z

Novelli, C. Legal personhood for the integration of AI systems in the social context: a study hypothesis. AI & Soc (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-021-01384-w

Borsci, S., Lehtola, V.V., Nex, F. et al. Embedding artificial intelligence in society: looking beyond the EU AI master plan using the culture cycle. AI & Soc (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-021-01383-x

Omotoyinbo, F.R. Smart soldiers: towards a more ethical warfare. AI & Soc (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-022-01385-3

Kaluža, J. Far-reaching effects of the filter bubble, the most notorious metaphor in media studies. AI & Soc (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-022-01399-x

Fyfe, P. How to cheat on your final paper: Assigning AI for student writing. AI & Soc (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-022-01397-z

Maas, J. Machine learning and power relations. AI & Soc (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-022-01400-7

Jenkins, R., Hammond, K., Spurlock, S. et al. Separating facts and evaluation: motivation, account, and learnings from a novel approach to evaluating the human impacts of machine learning. AI & Soc (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-022-01417-y

Kempt, H., Heilinger, JC. & Nagel, S.K. “I’m afraid I can’t let you do that, Doctor”: meaningful disagreements with AI in medical contexts. AI & Soc (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-022-01418-x

Hassan, Y. Governing Algorithms in the South: AI and Sustainable Development in Africa. AI & Soc (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-022-01527-7

Bisconti, P., Orsitto, D., Fedorczyk, F. et al. Maximizing team synergy in AI-related interdisciplinary groups: an interdisciplinary-by-design iterative methodology. AI & Soc (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-022-01518-8

Gaio, A., Cugurullo, F. Cyclists and autonomous vehicles at odds. AI & Soc (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-022-01538-4

Freitas, F., Berreth, T., Chen, Y., Jhala, A. Characterizing the Perception of Urban Spaces from Visual Analytics of Street-Level Imagery. AI & Soc (2022). https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00146-022-01592-y

Yazdanpanah, V., Gerding, E.H., Stein, S. et al. Reasoning about responsibility in autonomous systems: challenges and opportunities. AI & Soc (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-022-01607-8

Haque, A., Ajmeri, N. & Singh, M.P. Understanding dynamics of polarization via multiagent social simulation. AI & Soc (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-022-01626-5

Begley, K. Beta-testing the ethics plugin. AI & Soc (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-023-01630-3

The deadline to submit to the Special Issue has passed, and manuscripts are undergoing the review process.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a pervasive part of our lives. From autonomous vehicles and AI personal assistants to computer-assisted surgery and automated trading systems, we are relying on AI to help us make decisions and manage our personal and professional activities. In all these cases, AI promises improvements in productivity and safety. But AI does not operate in a vacuum. Given its integration into our daily lives and social institutions, AI is directly shaping socioeconomic structures and affecting the lives of many individual citizens in profound and often unpredictable ways. AI systems have the potential to reach deeply into our lives, affecting not just our productivity and safety but also our autonomy and dignity. In recognition of this vast potential for good and evil, we have organized a multidisciplinary symposium aimed at developing a deeper and more holistic understanding of how AI will and should alter society. Thus, a Special Issue on Embedding AI & Society is of significant utility and value.

Researchers from any discipline whose work relates to the social, political, and ethical dimensions of AI are invited to submit papers. The focus can be on conceptual or empirical work. Four themes are of particular interest:

Integrating ethics into AI decision making
Safety with and from AI systems
Providing transparency and respecting user privacy in data analysis
The future of employment in the age of AI

We interpret these themes broadly to include many types of applications of AI across multiple domains, including but not limited to autonomous vehicles, healthcare robots, policing algorithms, and AI personal assistants.

Contribution Types

We welcome contributions across the following formats:

Original papers (max 10000 words): Substantial contribution, theory, method, application. Contributions may be experimental, based on case studies, or conceptual discussions of how AI systems affect organizations, society and humans.
Open Forum paper (max 8000 words): Research in progress, ideas paper. Contributions may come from researchers, practitioners and others interested in the topics of the special issue. Contributions might be, but not limited to, discussion papers, literature reviews, case studies, working papers, features, and articles on emerging research. Papers published in the open forum target a broad audience i.e. academics, designers as well as the average reader.
Student papers (max 6000 words): Research in progress. Contributions may come from post- graduate students and Ph.D. students interested in the topics of the special issue. For articles that are based primarily on the student’s dissertation or thesis, it is recommended that the student is usually listed as principal author.
Curmudgeon papers (max 1000 words): Short, opinionated column on trends in technology, science and society, commenting on issues of concern to the research community and wider society. Whilst the drive for artificial intelligence promotes potential benefits to wider society, it also raises deep concerns of existential risk, thereby highlighting the need for an ongoing conversation between technology and society. At the core of Curmudgeon concern is the question: What are the political-philosophical concepts regarding the present sphere of AI technology?

Important Dates

Symposium: February 18-19, 2021

Manuscript submission: June 14, 2021 (extended from May 30, 2021)

Notifications: September 30, 2021

Submission final versions: January 30, 2022

Online publication: Rolling, based on reviewer and editorial decisions

Submission Formatting

You can find more information about formatting under the section "Submission guidelines" https://www.springer.com/journal/146. For inquiries and to submit your abstract, manuscript, and cover letter, please contact: aisocietyncstate@gmail.com

Information about the Special Issue Editors can be found here.