A new open-access academic journal, AI for Society, has begun publishing interdisciplinary research on artificial intelligence across education, health, industry, governance, and public life. The journal launched its first volume in 2026 with an inaugural message published on August 12.
Yi Li, Editor-in-Chief and a researcher in the Department of Materials at The University of Manchester in the UK, wrote the journal's opening editorial. Rather than treating AI primarily as a technical research field, the publication is structured around six themes: fundamental AI science, the economy and industry, education and culture, health, politics and geopolitics, and governance and law.
That structure places education alongside technical AI development rather than treating it as a downstream application. One of the journal's six areas is dedicated to AI for Education, Humanities, Arts, Philosophy and Communication.
Six fields instead of a single AI discipline
The journal's structure reflects an argument in its inaugural editorial: some questions emerging around artificial intelligence cannot be addressed adequately from computer science alone. Its first thematic field covers machine learning, robotics, human-computer interaction, engineering, modeling and simulation, and security systems.
A second field focuses on employment, markets, industry, management, sustainability, and global supply chains. The journal points to research from the International Labour Organization on generative AI and occupational exposure, with attention expected to extend beyond automation to job quality, skills, and institutional adaptation.
Education sits within the third field, alongside the humanities, arts, philosophy, and communication. Its remit includes knowledge production, libraries, language, media, artistic practice, design, and questions around creativity, authorship, values, and meaning. Other areas cover AI in medicine and mental healthcare; its influence on social structures, politics, international relations, and autonomous weapons; and AI governance issues including accountability, privacy, algorithmic bias, deepfakes, disinformation, corporate responsibility, and regulation.
Li describes the principle behind the journal: "artificial intelligence must be studied not only as a collection of technologies, but also as a scientific question, a social force, an economic infrastructure, a cultural phenomenon and an object of governance."
Education research sits alongside governance and technical AI
For education researchers, the remit is deliberately broad. The journal's scope does not restrict the subject to AI tools used in classrooms. It places education within questions about how AI changes the production of knowledge, culture, communication, and human decision making. The inaugural message also cites UNESCO's Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence in arguing that education and the humanities belong within serious AI scholarship.
Li writes: "Generative and other forms of AI are changing knowledge production, education, libraries, language, media, artistic practice, design, fashion and cultural participation."
The journal plans to publish original research articles, reviews, concept papers, and other scholarly contributions, with no maximum submission length. It is also positioning open access as part of its model for widening participation in AI research beyond institutions with greater financial and technological resources.
"Open access is fundamental to our mission," Li said. "Questions about AI affect communities, institutions and countries with widely differing levels of resources and technological capacity."
That interdisciplinary structure is intended to carry through to how the journal is run. AI for Society says it plans to build international editorial teams and encourage research that crosses disciplinary, institutional, sector, and national boundaries while retaining specialist methodological standards.
Its stated plans include special issues on emerging topics, opportunities for younger academic researchers, international research collaboration, and stronger connections between research, public policy, professional practice, and societal experience. The publication also intends to develop conferences, peer-reviewed proceedings, research monographs, reports, and policy assessment reports as the journal develops.
Li sets a broader benchmark for that work: "Our measure of success will not be publication volume alone. It will be whether the journal helps researchers ask better questions, enables disciplines to learn from one another, brings greater international diversity into AI scholarship and produces knowledge that improves decisions affecting society."
Why this matters for education professionals
Educators looking for practical guidance on AI in their classrooms will find a growing body of research that treats teaching as a central concern rather than an afterthought. The journal's commitment to open access means that research on AI and education will be available to institutions regardless of budget, which matters for schools and universities that cannot afford expensive subscription databases. For teachers and administrators, the AI for Education tag page offers training resources that complement the journal's academic focus, while the AI Learning Path for Teachers provides a structured introduction to using AI tools in educational settings.
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