Empowering Interactions: Advancing Human-Centred AI for Transparent, Collaborative and Accessible Applications

Dear Colleagues,

For the Special Issue "Empowering Interactions: Advancing Human-Centred AI for Transparent, Collaborative and Accessible Applications", we are seeking submissions of cutting-edge research that pushes the boundaries of AI technology to be inclusive, dependable, and seamlessly integrated across diverse sectors. This Special Issue aims to explore the enhancement of human–AI interactions, advance user accessibility, and promote trust and transparency within AI applications, emphasising the critical role of user-centric design. The scope of this issue includes a broad range of themes, including the following:

1. Designing Transparent AI Interfaces: To explore this theme, we are seeking research on creating AI interfaces that prioritise transparency, fairness, accountability, and privacy. The focus is on technical design principles and algorithms that ensure clarity in AI decision making and user control.
2. Enhancing Human–AI interactions: We are seeking contributions related to AI systems that demonstrate effective real-world collaboration with humans. This theme emphasises advancements in natural language processing, cognitive AI architectures, and emotional AI to improve AI's adaptability in multiple sectors. Furthermore, we welcome submissions exploring frameworks and methodologies for understanding, interpreting, and assessing human–AI collaboration dynamics, underscoring how these insights support the development and refinement of collaborative AI systems.
3. Designing AI experiences: This theme calls for research on developing and evaluating AI with a deep understanding of user needs, aiming for accessible, intuitive, and satisfying AI experiences informed by user studies. This includes biometric studies involving eye tracking and emotion recognition to measure users' physiological responses to AI interactions.
4. AI-Driven Innovations in Public Health: We are also seeking submissions that highlight the application of AI in public health challenges, focusing on areas such as disease surveillance, health data analytics, and patient care optimisation. This theme emphasises the use of AI to enhance diagnostic accuracy, improve treatment efficacy, and streamline healthcare operations.
5. Cognitive Modelling and Augmentation: We invite the submission of research on AI systems that model and augment human cognitive processes, including support for decision making, enhanced learning experiences, and improved cognitive productivity.
6. Building Trustworthy AI Interfaces: For this theme, we are seeking contributions on developing AI interfaces that foster user trust through reliability and security. This includes studies on user perception analysis, secure interface designs, and methodologies for evaluating trust in AI systems. 
7. Accessible Designs in AI: We seek research that improves the accessibility of AI interfaces by developing innovative designs that accommodate users with disabilities and diverse user backgrounds, showcasing approaches to universal design principles in AI applications.
8. User Interface Design in AI for Governance—Optimising Interactions and Decision Making: This theme emphasises the importance of user interface design in integrating AI technologies within governance frameworks to improve decision-making processes and administrative efficiency. It invites the submission of research on crafting AI systems with intuitive and user-friendly interfaces that support streamlined administrative tasks, effective policy implementation, and transparent insights into governance decisions. The focus is on leveraging design principles to ensure AI tools in governance are accessible and facilitate easy, clear interactions for both officials and the public, enhancing AI's overall usability and effectiveness in governance contexts.
9. Developing Intuitive AI Interfaces for Children: This research theme focuses on developing and evaluating user interfaces within AI systems tailored for Child–Computer Interaction (CCI). It emphasises creating intuitive, engaging, and safe AI interfaces specifically designed to meet children's developmental and cognitive needs. Studies should investigate the optimisation of UI elements to facilitate ease of use and interactive play, prioritising design principles that ensure child safety and privacy. The aim is to adapt AI technologies to support developmental milestones through storytelling, interactive play, and creative expression, assessing their impact on young users' cognitive and emotional well-being while maintaining a secure digital environment.

Dr. Ioannis Doumanis
Dr. Daphne Economou
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• AI transparency
• human–AI collaboration
• user experience optimization
• public health AI applications
• cognitive AI modelling
• trust and security in AI
• AI accessibility
• AI in governance
• child-friendly interface design
• biometric AI analysis