Welcome to the first issue of Applied AI Letters

It is a pleasure and an honour to welcome you to the first edition of Applied AI Letters. Getting to this point has been a combination of many people's hard work and we are very excited to move into the next stage, sharing our vision for Applied AI Letters with you.

When we consider the lifecycle of a successful idea, we can identify some unique stages. We have put these together in Figure 1. Initially, a challenge should be identified, and it is often (although not always) the case that there is some idea of the impact solving this challenge should have. If this challenge ignites the scientific spirit, research then begins post haste. Hopefully, at some point a research breakthrough is made, allowing a first in kind or first in class solution to the challenge. Solving a challenge is not the end of the story though, with the approach then being generalised, allowing its application to new and more impactful areas. Finally, the idea becomes so ingrained in the scientific and technological psyche that its use is no longer questioned, but expected; we call this the commoditisation stage. This way of thinking has been adopted in many places, such as the technology adoption curve, and the TRL levels used by, for example, NASA and the EU.¹

Research progresses from a challenge being set down through the initial breakthrough, to the generalisation of the idea which enables its widespread application in new and novel areas and finally its commoditisation.

At Applied AI Letters, we noted that, in the field of AI, whilst there is an abundance of places that one can publicise the “breakthrough” stage, it was much harder to find places to communicate impactful applications and innovations. Additionally, we felt that there was an abundance of potential for impact if we could start a venue in which people across disciplines could communicate their solutions to challenges posed in a wide variety of potential application areas.

We strongly believe that we improve the sustainability of long-term AI research through communicating and celebrating the evolution from idea to real world application. In order to achieve this, there are many additional considerations beyond the theoretical and methodological elements of successfully deploying and delivering an AI application in the real world, and we need a forum to discuss and communicate these successes with new potential users.

AI has the potential to revolutionise many areas of research. At Applied AI Letters, we aim to be a world-leading venue for the demonstration of, and dissusion about, the application of cutting edge AI technologies to the most impactful problems of today. We belive that openness, fairness and diversity are key to delivering on this promise, and want to foster a culture which embraces these key principles. With applied AI evolving at such a rapid rate, we appreciate that speed is important for the timely communication of your breakthroughs, but we also recognise that this must not come at the expense of rigourous peer review. Combining all of this may seem a lofty goal, but we believe that we, as both an editorial board and as a community of researchers, are up to the task. We look forward to receiving your papers for many years to come.