The 2025 Conference on Humanities and Social Sciences Intelligence was held on March 1 at Fudan University, with the theme AI-Driven Theoretical Innovation and Paradigm Transformation in Social Sciences and Humanities. The conference was organized by the Comprehensive Laboratory of National Development and Intelligent Goverance, Fudan University, in collaboration with the Shanghai Academy of Science and Technology Intelligence and Shanghai Chuangzhi College, and co-hosted by the Alliance of Philosophy and Social Science Laboratories in Universities.

During the conference, China’s first The Future is Here: Blue Book on the Development of AI for Social Sciences and Humanities was released. The blue book was led by Fudan University and jointly written with the Shanghai Academy of Science and Technology Intelligence and Deloitte China. It gathered 53 authoritative experts and took a year to produce. The blue book argues that with AI empowerment, research in the humanities and social sciences is entering a fifth paradigm driven by both data and mechanisms, which will accelerate innovation in new liberal arts.

The blue book is divided into three sections: Concepts, Methods, and Applications. It explores the key challenges, theories, and technological developments in the deep integration of AI with the humanities and social sciences. In the Concept section, it focuses on paradigm transformation and discusses topics such as the dual-driven paradigm shift in humanities and social sciences research. The Methods section focuses on methodological innovation and analyzes trends in AI4SSH research. The Applications section examines the industrial transformation and prospects enabled by AI.

At the conference, six experts delivered keynote speeches, discussing how artificial intelligence is affecting the humanities and social sciences, as well as the relationship between humanities and social science workers and AI. During the roundtable forum, several experts explored the challenges and governance of AI from technical and ethical perspectives. In the afternoon, more than 400 attendees were divided into four sub-forums to conduct specialized discussions on major topics such as Simulation of Social Complex Systems, Public Risk Identification and Intelligent Decision Making, Construction and Inheritance of Chinese Civilization, and AI Ethics and Governance.

Translated by Trinley Jigme

Full text in Chinese available at: 

https://fddi.fudan.edu.cn/fa/63/c18985a719459/page.htm