CLOSED Call for Papers: Special Issue on economic and social impacts of generative artificial intelligence

IT Pro seeks submissions for this upcoming special issue.
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Submissions Due: 17 September 2024

Publication: Mar/Apr 2025


The U.S. technology startup OpenAI released ChatGPT in November 2022, a pivotal event viewed as instrumental in bringing the capabilities of generative artificial intelligence (GAI) to a mass audience. Over time, attitudes toward GAI tools, held by both organizations and individuals, have generally become more positive, fostering widespread adoption and acceptance. Even skeptics and critics, initially dismissing GAI tools like ChatGPT as mere “fun gimmicks,” have since reconsidered their stance. Consequently, GAI tools have rapidly permeated organizations in a relatively short span. A survey conducted by software company Adobe across five countries—Australia, India, Japan, the U.K., and the U.S.—revealed that 79% of business leaders expect their employees to frequently use GAI in their work. According to a report by Bloomberg Intelligence, the GAI industry was $40 billion in 2022, which is expected to reach $1.32 trillion in 2032. 

This rapid diffusion of GAI among organizations is poised to lead to significant economic gains, with expectations that GAI will contribute trillions of dollars to the global GDP in the next few years. A McKinsey study published in June 2023 identified 63 GAI use cases (targeted GAI applications to specific business challenges, which lead to measurable outcomes) across 16 business functions that could generate annual economic benefits in the range of $2.6 trillion to $4.4 trillion. In addition to the use cases, McKinsey analyzed GAI’s potential impact on the work activities required in some 850 occupations by modeling scenarios for more than 2,100 “detailed work activities” to measure GAI-led increases in productivity. The additional economic benefits of GAI are estimated at $6.1 trillion to $7.9 trillion annually. McKinsey’s study published in mid-2023 found that 90% of commercial leaders expected to utilize GAI solutions “often” over the next two years.

GAI and large language models (LLMs) have also democratized access to AI. They have facilitated truly enterprise-wide AI adoption. An article published at MIT Technology Review Insights noted that newly emerging use cases have helped AI to move from pilot projects and “islands of excellence” to a generalized capability in organizational workflows.

GAI also introduces social and ethical concerns such as bias and discrimination, as these systems may perpetuate existing societal prejudices. The risk of misinformation and disinformation also rises, given the technology’s ability to create realistic content. Ensuring transparency, addressing privacy issues, and promoting inclusivity are vital for navigating the ethical challenges associated with the widespread adoption of GAI.

In light of the above observations, this special issue aims to document the diverse economic and societal impacts of GAI. 

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

    • Macro- and micro-level effects of GAI
    • The effects of GAI I on major industries such as education, financial services, and e-commerce
    • The roles of GAI in transforming organizations
    • The effects of GAI on major functional areas such as marketing and HRM
    • The roles of GAI in augmenting human activities
    • The debate surrounding GAI, job creation and job displacement. 
    • The roles of GAI in the development of Web3 and the metaverse
    • Political and legal issues associated with GAI
    • Social and ethical issues associated with GAI such as bias, discrimination against certain groups of people, misinformation and disinformation.
    • Governance issues in GAI
    • GAI in the Global South
    • Privacy and security issues in GAI

 


Submission Guidelines

Only submissions that describe previously unpublished, original, state-of-the-art research and that are not currently under review by a conference or another journal will be considered. Extended versions of conference papers must be at least 30 percent different from the original conference works. Feature articles should be no longer than 4,200 words and have no more than 20 references (with tables and figures counting as 300 words each). For author guidelines, see the Author Information page

All manuscripts must be submitted to ScholarOne Manuscripts by the deadline in order to be considered. Submissions are subject to peer review on both technical merit and relevance to IT Pro’s readership. Articles should be understandable by a broad audience of computer science and engineering professionals, avoiding unnecessary theory, mathematics, jargon, or abstract concepts. Figures and tables should be placed in the appropriate location within the template, ideally in files that are 300 dpi or higher using the dimensions defined in the document template. The use of artificial intelligence (AI)–generated text in an article should be disclosed in the acknowledgements section, while the sections of the paper that present AI-generated text verbatim should be quoted within quotation marks and provide a citation to the AI system used to generate the text.

IT Professional magazine is a hybrid publication, allowing either traditional manuscript submission or author-paid Open Access manuscript submission. 


Questions?

Contact the lead guest editor at nbkshetr@uncg.edu.

  • Nir Kshetri, University of North Carolina Greensboro, USA
  • Ravishankar Sharma, College of Technological Innovation, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, U.A.E 
  • Aijaz Shaikh, University of Jyväskylä, Finland