SESSION KEYWORDS: Data Ownership, Management and Governance, Broad Consent, Artificial Intelligence, Research Integrity and Misconduct

SESSION ABSTRACT

Privacy implications of marketing and surveillance are already well studied, and copyright and plagiarism are actively being explored as implications of large language models (LLMs). However, the privacy side of LLMs is not yet prominent on the public radar. The Ethics & Technology Lab at Queen's University, under the supervision of Dr. Catherine Stinson, is conducting research on LLMs and privacy in the private sector. This presentation outlines the results of a Canadian-wide survey of public university research ethics boards regarding the use of web scraping, artificial intelligence (AI), and LLMs in research activities, including how pending federal legislation (Bill C-27) may impact their future use in research projects. This survey, conducted in the fall of 2023, focused on feedback from REB Chairs and managers/supervisors of research ethics offices. The survey results show the need for a more in-depth analysis of the impact of web scraping, AI, and LLMs on research ethics and other research activities, as well as specific guidance from the Advisory Panel on Research Ethics regarding the use of this technology as it relates to research ethics, research integrity, and overall, the responsible conduct of research.