This volume constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 8th International Workshop on AI System Engineering: Math, Modelling and Software, AISys 2026 and the First International Workshop on Optimisation of Industrial Production with AI Algorithms, AI4IP, co-located with the 37th International Conference on Database and Expert Systems Applications, DEXA 2026, which took place in Graz, Austria, during August 11–13, 2026.The 14 full papers were thoroughly reviewed and selected from a total of 29 submissions. They are organized in topical sections as follows: AI System Engineering: Math, Modelling and Software; and Optimization of Industrial Production with AI Algorithms.