Four Compelling Reasons to Urgently Integrate AI Development With Humanities, Social and Economics Sciences

Abstract

As AI systems increasingly influence various aspects of human life, it is critical to ensure their development and deployment align with ethical standards and societal values. Our paper argues that integrating expertise from Humanities, Social, and Economic Sciences (HSES) into AI development is essential to achieving responsible AI. We present four compelling reasons to advocate for this integration: enhancing social legitimacy, ensuring meaningful impact, strengthening credibility and capability building. These reasons emerged from a collaborative effort involving 16 researchers from AI and HSES fields. Together, we explored the enablers and barriers to integrating our knowledge for the purpose of developing effective, responsible, and socially grounded AI products. We aim to inspire others to adopt an integrated approach to AI development, promoting innovations that are both technologically advanced and aligned with societal needs.