General Recommendations for the Use of AI Systems in Academic Work

As we have seen in this module, there is a wide range of AI systems that can support researchers at different stages of the research process. However, these tools have limitations and should be used critically and responsibly. Below we provide some recommendations for the use of AI systems in research:

 

• Read the privacy policies of AI systems to understand what data (especially personal data) are collected and how they are used and managed, in order to assess whether you agree with them before registering.
• Avoid uploading content containing sensitive data if it is unclear how the AI systems manage the uploaded data.
• For academic work at the university (e.g., bachelor's theses) contact your supervisor to fully understand whether the use of AI systems is permitted and to what extent. If permitted, an agreement on transparency requirements should be established.
• For the publication of articles, review the guidelines of the respective conferences and journals regarding the use of AI systems. For example, for publications in Nature journals, the following guidelines from Nature Portfolio should be observed; for publications in Elsevier journals, the following guidelines from Elsevier should be followed.
• Stay up to date! The field of AI is evolving at a rapid pace, with continuously new and more powerful features in existing AI systems and the development of new systems for research purposes. However, this rapid development also brings the potential for new limitations and ethical risks with each release.