Frontier AI systems are rearranging how we live and work. They raise new questions about what it means to be human and make old ideas about selfhood and society newly important. The development and deployment of these systems embed philosophical assumptions whether we have thought these through or not. For the AI project to serve human ends, we need more philosophers to take it seriously.
This is why we’re supporting the launch of Oxford Studies in Philosophy of AI and Computing (OSPAIC), a new academic volume published by Oxford University Press, edited by Seth Lazar (Johns Hopkins), Jeff Howard (UCL), and Rachel Sterken (University of Hong Kong). OSPAIC will offer a venue for exploring the technical and empirical disciplines through which frontier models are built, and the impact of powerful systems on society at large.
Submission instructions: Submit a paper by 11.59 p.m. February 14, 2027, anywhere on earth – though earlier submissions are welcome – for consideration at ospaic.org/submit. Authors are also encouraged to upload papers to arXiv using the forthcoming subcode CS.PFAI (philosophical foundations of AI). Until this code is live, authors can use the keyword PFAI.
Human-authored submissions will be reviewed by the editorial team, and a subset will be invited to a conference hosted by the Johns Hopkins University School of Government and Policy in June 2027. The best papers presented at the conference will then be invited for submission to the annual volume, under an expedited process of rigorous peer review.
A team of independent judges will review accepted papers in Oxford Studies in Philosophy of AI and Computing and award one paper the inaugural Cosmos Prize for AI and Philosophy. The journal and prize are open to work from any related sub-field, including but not limited to epistemology, ethics, political philosophy, philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, and the philosophy of science.
The timeline post-submission is as follows:
Selection for presentation, March 31, 2027. OSPAIC editors will select papers for presentation at a Washington, D.C. conference. Authors of selected papers will be informed by March 31, 2027. Approximately 10 papers will be selected for spotlight presentation featuring a longer talk and in-depth discussion. Approximately 20 papers will be selected for lightning presentations.
Washington, D.C. Conference, June 28-30, 2027. This will be the first of an ongoing series of annual conferences, each of which will result in the open access publication by Oxford University Press of a volume of papers selected from those presented at the conference (all papers, lightning and spotlight, are eligible).
December 15, 2027, Final decisions. Following the conference, the editors will invite 12-14 papers to be considered for the volume. Papers will be due for review by August 31, 2027. Reviewers’ reports will be returned to authors by November 1, 2027, revised papers will be due by December 1, 2027, and final decisions will be made by December 15, 2027. The best paper will receive the Cosmos Prize for AI and Philosophy, selected by an expert panel chosen by the executive editor.
Cosmos Institute is the Academy for Philosopher-Builders, technologists building AI for human flourishing. We run fellowships, fund fast prototypes, and host seminars with institutions like Oxford, Aspen Institute, and Liberty Fund.
Oxford Studies in Philosophy of AI and Computing (OSPAIC) is a new annual volume, to be published by Oxford University Press, seeking to galvanise an emerging subfield that both harnesses philosophy to steer the AI revolution, and uses studying AI advances to inspire first-order progress in philosophy itself.
Any word-length or page-length restrictions?