Multidisciplinary Contours and Challenges of Next-Generation AI Research and Applications

A multi-year special track, starting IJCAI 2024

Submissions are invited for the IJCAI 2024 Special Track on Human-Centred Artificial Intelligence. The special track, planned with a multi-year format, aims at exploring the multidisciplinary scientific contours and challenges of next-generation artificial intelligence research and its applications in real-world contexts.

The special track welcomes and aims to inspire a multi-faceted perspective on approaching next-generation (human-centric) AI research primarily, but not exclusively, at the confluence of formal, computational, and cognitive aspects on the one hand, and social, cultural, and legal dimensions influencing next-generation AI research on the other hand. The track especially invites original research and technical position statements that:

·  recognise and articulate a nuanced view of computational intelligence in relation to the depth, diversity and multi-faceted nature of `human intelligence’ in naturalistic real-world problem solving, or in everyday human activity contexts.

·  concretely address the practical `design implications’ emanating from the (human-centric) cognitive, social, ethical and legal dimensions driving AI and ML method development. By design, implied are questions pertaining to the human-centric engineering, deployment, usability, evaluation, and standardization of AI/ML techniques.

Integrative research efforts combining computational methods with behavioural or empirical techniques aimed at exploiting synergies in the study of artificial and human intelligence are also particularly welcome.

Cognition and Interaction.  The 2024 edition of the special track primarily, but not exclusively, focusses on the role of `Human Cognition’ and `Embodied (Multimodal) Interaction’ in diverse settings for the design and development of next-generation foundational methods and techniques in AI and ML.

By `Humans’ and `Human Cognition’, entailed are human behaviours, preferences and expectations, decision-making, interaction modalities, skills (etc) as relevant from perspectives such as human perception and intelligence, society and culture, ethics and (emerging AI-specific) legal compliance and standardization. Also in focus are specific technical implications for the (human-centric) design of AI in applications relevant to, for instance:

·  (human) assistance and collaborative autonomy in everyday life and professional work contexts (e.g., autonomous and assisted driving, human-robot collaboration)

·  Cognitive clinical or medical practice (e.g., involving diagnosis, rehabilitation),

·  AI-human collaborative problem solving for engineering design synthesis, discovery, diagnostics, creativity etc. (e.g. architecture design, media design)

·  entertainment computing (e.g., AI-driven digital visuo-auditory media synthesis)

·  media (e.g., disinformation and fake news, AI in education)

Please note that above application areas are mere examples, and by no means comprehensive. We welcome all systematically investigated AI applications that have not been explicitly mentioned in this call.

SPECIAL TRACK FORMAT

The special track will:

·  focus on unpublished technical works, or on technical position statements that are rooted in recent novel and demonstrated works or domain-specific case-studies/applications or requirements. Technical position statements are required to raise outward looking questions articulating the challenges of next-generation human-centred AI research.

·  prioritise those works that are truly multidisciplinary, or include an integration of multiple techniques –e.g., computational and behavioural/empirical– from within and beyond areas such as AI/ML, Cognitive Science, Psychology, Neuroscience. In this context, the track will also encourage works that integrate methods from sub/related communities of AI that have traditionally come to operate rather independently (e.g., Vision and AI, AI and Robotics, AI and Cognitive Science).

The track is open to technical position statements and we will judiciously leave space for exceptional and truly inspiring discussions on this front should there be sufficient grounds to be determined by the special track review committee. However, please do note that the special track does not intend to become a platform for presenting purely opinion-based `blue-sky research’ that may otherwise have no chance of being accepted at IJCAI.

Multi-Year Special Track Format:  Through a multi-year format presently extending to three years (2024-2026), the special track –after its planned tenure– will systematically document the cumulatively emerging results concerning the multidisciplinary contours and challenges of human-centred AI in an appropriate format. Presently, the track is scheduled for IJCAI 2024 (JIJU), and IJCAI 2025 (Montreal). A third year of the track is under preparation and planned for occurrence at a premier AI forum to be announced in due course.

IMPORTANT DATES IN 2024

!! Please note that the special track dates differ from the dates for the IJCAI 2024 technical track !!

  • Abstract submission deadline: February 27
  • Full paper submission deadline: March 5
  • Appendix and resubmission information deadline: March 12
  • Final paper notification:  April 30 May 16, 2024
  • Submission system opens:  February 1

Submission site: papers should be submitted to https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/IJCAI2024 by choosing “Human-Centred AI” from the drop-down menu.

SUBMISSION OF CONTRIBUTIONS

Research papers are submitted with the same format and general instructions as for the main conference (https://ijcai24.org/call-for-papers/) except that there will be no summary reject phase and no rebuttal. The following are the other key submission considerations:

  • Papers must be no longer than 9 pages in total: 7 pages for the body of the paper and 2 pages for references.
  • Review is double blind, but all authors must provide author information as part of the submission system.
  • Every paper will receive at least two reviews.
  • If applicable, supplementary material (e.g. appendices, data, source code, resubmission information) is due maximum one week after the paper deadline (see dates).
  • Rejected paper resubmissions from other conferences are welcome but authors are required to provide resubmission information, as described below.
  • The PDF of the paper and other supporting documents must be anonymous, and papers are expected to satisfy the highest scientific standards as submissions to the main track of IJCAI 2023. Also, double submissions to the special track and main conference are not allowed.

Please also note that for all papers in the special track on Human-Centred AI:

  • all accepted papers will be published as part of the main IJCAI proceedings
  • parallel submission to the general IJCAI track or other special tracks is not allowed
  • each author is limited to at most one submission

Other general IJCAI 2024 considerations such as on ethics policy and ethics statement, and policy on use of LLMs in the paper writing process remains similarly applicable to this special track as well (please consult the IJCAI 2024 CFP for information on these aspects).

Resubmission information:  Authors must declare whether their paper has been previously rejected from another peer-reviewed conference in the past (mere changes of title and minor content editing in relation to a previously rejected paper would not qualify as a new paper). Authors are requested to upload the latest rejected version together with the original reviewer’s comments; a cover letter responding to the reviews is optional but encouraged. To avoid bias, the resubmission information will only be made available to reviewers of the special trach after they submit their reviews. The program committee reserves the right to reject papers that fail to report resubmission information. Furthermore, reviewers will be encouraged to check whether the resubmission addresses the key issues pointed out in the reviews of the previous version (e.g., incorrect attribution of results, etc.) and to reject submissions that fail to do so.

Submission of demos:  Demo papers are not solicited in this special track. We encourage authors to consider the IJCAI 2024 Demo Track for demo submissions addressing the topics of this track, indicating the “Human-Centred AI’’ thematic type during the submission procedure.

TRACK CHAIR

Mehul Bhatt

Örebro University, Sweden., CoDesign Lab EU

Enquiries:  hai@ijcai24.org

(Please direct all special track related queries only to email listed above)