Human-Compatible AI and AI-Powered Science: Insights from AAAI Spring Symposium and Beyond

For over a decade, we have been organizing and leading AAAI Spring Symposium sessions at the intersection of Well-being and AI, fostering discussions on AI’s ethical, societal, and scientific implications of Artificial Intelligence. This study explores the evolution of key themes, particularly Human-Compatible AI and AI-Powered Science, emphasizing their growing importance in shaping the future of AI. Human-compatible AI ensures that it aligns with human values while enhancing both individual and societal well-being. It focuses on value alignment, explainability, and mitigation of cognitive biases. Well-being AI, an extension of this concept, focuses not only on fairness, but also active support for psychological, cognitive, and social well-being. Meanwhile, AI-Powered Science is transforming research paradigms and raising critical questions about reliability, trust, and the role of human intuition in AI-generated knowledge. By integrating AI-Powered Science with Well-being AI, we envision a future in which AI actively contributes to human flourishing. Drawing on insights from past symposia and personal research, this paper discusses the progression from early concerns about AI fairness to debates on AI’s role in knowledge creation and human-AI collaboration. Finally, it argues for Well-being AI as the next stage in AI’s evolution, emphasizing the necessity of AI systems designed not only for efficiency but also for human happiness and growth.