WG9.2-Workshop

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IFIP WG9.2 Track – Social Accountability and Computing

Human–AI Systems and the Public Interest: Accountability, Ethics, and Empowerment

Track chair: Neil Gordon

Track Focus

This WG9.2 track invites critical, empirical, and design-led contributions that explore the intersection of human–AI systems with public interest, social accountability, and ethical computing. As AI becomes embedded in everyday life, we must ask: Who benefits? Who decides? And how do we ensure that human needs and values remain at the center?

We welcome papers that examine how computer professionals, designers, and institutions can uphold social responsibility in the face of increasingly autonomous and persuasive AI systems. This track seeks to foreground human choice, transparency, and justice in the design and deployment of combined intelligence systems.

Topics of Interest

Submissions may address (but are not limited to):

  • Ethics-in-use and lived accountability: How are ethical principles enacted or contested in everyday AI-supported practices?
  • Public interest computing: What criteria help assess whether AI systems serve the public good?
  • Human choice in hybrid systems: How can designers and users assert agency in AI-mediated environments?
  • Power and responsibility: How do AI systems shift institutional power dynamics and accountability structures?
  • Digital rights and freedoms: How do combined intelligence systems affect privacy, access, and data protection?
  • Education and empowerment: How can we equip professionals and the public to understand and shape AI’s societal impact?
  • Resistance and adaptation: How do communities domesticate, subvert, or reshape AI systems to reflect local values?
Who Should Submit

We welcome contributions from computing professionals, researchers, educators, civic technologists, and policy advocates. Papers should be 3,000–5,000 words, anonymized for blind peer review, and clearly indicate submission to the WG9.2 track.

Let’s shape a future where human–AI systems are not only intelligent – but also accountable, inclusive, and just.