HumasUPNVJ – In a seminar entitled "Ethics of Using AI in Writing Books and Research Outputs," as part of the 2024 Research and Community Service Week (Pekanlit) (29/08), Dr. Ide Bagus Saputra, a member of the Publication Ethics Team of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology and a lecturer from the University of Surabaya, revealed a number of ethical challenges that have emerged along with the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology in the academic world. This seminar attracted the attention of academics and researchers who want to understand how to use AI ethically in scientific writing and publication.
Dr. Bagus began his discussion by raising the phenomenon of the use of AI in writing practices that sometimes result in copy-paste cases in several publications. He gave an example of an article produced by a chatbot such as ChatGPT entitled A Conversation on Artificial Intelligence, Chatbots, and Plagiarism in Higher Education . The article mentions AI as one of the authors, which on the one hand can be considered a form of honesty, but on the other hand raises the question of whether it is ethical to list AI as an author.
In the ongoing discussion, seminar participants were divided in their opinions. Most rejected the idea of listing AI as an author because AI is considered a tool, not an intellectual contributor. However, there were also those who argued that acknowledging the use of AI in the writing process was permissible, as long as further filtering and clarification were carried out.
Dr. Bagus said that one way to detect AI-generated text is to use other AI detection applications. Some of the best AI detection tools today include Winston AI, Crossplag, and Writer. However, he emphasized that there is no tool that can accurately detect AI-generated text, unlike plagiarism which is easier to identify and prove.
Principles and Ethics of Using AI in Scientific Writing
In the seminar, Dr. Bagus emphasized that although AI can contribute greatly to the writing process, AI cannot be called an author. AI is only a tool or method, and when errors occur in the work produced by AI, the responsibility remains with the human author. The use of AI must also be in accordance with applicable ethical guidelines, such as those applied by major academic publishers, including Elsevier.
Dr. Bagus emphasized the importance of transparency in the use of AI. Every author who uses AI must explicitly state what AI is used and for what purpose. Authors must also take full responsibility for the final results of their work.
Ethical Values and Potential Deviations
Dr. Bagus introduced six ethical values that should be used as guidelines in self-assessment of AI use: Honesty, Trust, Fairness, Respect, Responsibility, and Persistence. AI use that violates these values is considered an ethical deviation. He also identified six types of scientific deviation, namely fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, unauthorized authorship, conflict of interest, and multiple submission.
Solutions and Recommendations for Responsible Use of AI
Dr. Bagus highlighted the importance of plagiarism prevention strategies through the AKSARA principle: Aku: acknowledge the original source; parafraSA: paraphrase with your own language; integRAsi: quote directly. He also introduced ANJANI (Indonesian Academic Integrity Platform), a portal provided by Kemenristekdikti to support academic integrity.
In closing, Dr. Bagus emphasized that although AI has great potential in facilitating research and writing, its use must always be accompanied by ethical responsibility and integrity. This seminar is expected to provide insight to academics and researchers to utilize AI ethically and responsibly in their academic activities.