Society & AI: Society-Centered AI Research and Educational Practice

Introducing the Society & AI independent research organization: focusing on the intersection of artificial intelligence, education, and social equity, it aims to develop principles and tools that ensure AI systems serve equity, human agency, and collective prosperity. Its core mission is to advance society-centered AI design and deployment (especially in educational scenarios), avoiding technologies that sacrifice human dignity and meaning.

With the rapid penetration of AI in the education sector, a core question emerges: Does AI promote educational equity or exacerbate inequality? The Society & AI independent research organization was thus born. As an interdisciplinary community, it focuses on the intersection of AI, education, and social equity, with the mission to advance society-centered AI design and deployment (especially in educational scenarios), ensuring that technological development does not sacrifice human dignity and meaning.

Society & AI's academic research revolves around four core areas:

1. Transformation of knowledge creation and verification: Exploring how AI changes the processes of knowledge creation, verification, and collaboration in education, as well as its impact on academic authority, cognitive paradigms, and critical thinking;
2. Educational systems as complex adaptive networks: Treating education as a complex network, identifying key leverage points where AI can catalyze equitable transformation, and breaking through technological determinism;
3. Education as a human meta-solution: Positioning quality education as a meta-solution to address challenges, examining how AI expands or limits learning opportunities;
4. Protection of human agency: In the era of cognitive labor automation, protecting human agency, sense of meaning, and dignity, and fostering human excellence with AI assistance.

The organization opens resources via GitHub and societyandai.org:

• Academic publications: Peer-reviewed papers, working papers, opinion articles, expert insights;
• Analytical frameworks and tools: Equity-centered AI design frameworks, case studies, research methods and protocols;
• Open educational resources: AI literacy materials, policy guidelines, equity impact assessment protocols; All resources are licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, encouraging free use and adaptation in non-commercial scenarios.

Society & AI adheres to strict ethical guidelines:

• Research involving human subjects follows ethical norms;
• Transparent disclosure of conflicts of interest;
• Maintenance of data privacy and confidentiality;
• Free access to research results (no paywalls/registration barriers);
• The website complies with WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards and supports screen readers.

Diverse contributions are welcome:

• Research collaboration: Contact sai@societyandai.org;
• Guest commentary: Submit opinion article proposals on the website;
• Peer review: Volunteer to participate in manuscript review;
• Technical contributions: Submit issues/suggestions via GitHub Issues;
• Code contributions: Submit Pull Requests to improve the platform.

Insights for Chinese educational technology practitioners:

1. Adhere to people-centered principles: Technology serves the holistic development of individuals;
2. Focus on equity dimensions: Be alert to the digital divide and educational inequality;
3. Cultivate critical thinking: Help students understand AI's boundaries and biases;
4. Establish ethical frameworks: Conduct sufficient impact assessments before deploying AI;
5. Promote open sharing: Advance open access to educational resources and knowledge sharing.

The Society & AI project reminds us that AI application in education is not only a technical issue but also a social ethical proposition. It calls for upholding humanity, equity, and dignity while embracing technological innovation, so that AI serving equity, human agency, and collective prosperity becomes a shared creed for educational AI developers.