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Even when artificial intelligence (AI) is used for research and development, a new guideline states that the researcher’s own perspective must be reflected in the final outputs.
The Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) announced on the 20th that, following deliberation and resolution by the Steering Committee of the National Science and Technology Advisory Council, the ‘AI Research Ethics Guide for National R&D’ has been finalized.
The guide was prepared with the aim of helping researchers use AI in a responsible and ethical manner at every stage of implementing national research and development projects.
The basic principle is that “in national R&D, AI’s role is limited to that of a tool, and the responsibility and rights to the final outputs lie with the researchers who use AI.”
Under this basic principle, seven key recommendations that researchers must follow are presented: △ verification of facts, △ autonomous judgment, △ ensuring transparency, △ managing reliability of results, △ compliance with policies and regulations, △ ensuring security, and △ protection of personal information.
The recommendations state that researchers must verify errors in AI-generated content and, if AI is used throughout the research process, must transparently disclose which models were used and for what purposes.
They also specify that, when evaluating national R&D projects or reviewing papers, evaluators must not input target materials into external AI systems and should instead conduct independent evaluations based on their own expertise, while those being evaluated must not use AI to circumvent legitimate review criteria or attempt to distort evaluations.
Hong Soon-jeong, Director General of the R&D Performance Evaluation and Policy Bureau, said, “AI is a useful tool that can dramatically improve research efficiency, but ultimate responsibility always rests with the researcher,” adding, “We expect this guide to help establish a culture of responsible AI use in research settings and to serve as an opportunity to secure research integrity in national R&D.”
Among frontline researchers, some say that clearer regulations, not just recommendations, are needed.
Gu Ja-ho, a professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at Yonsei University, said, “There are people who disregard the guide and misuse AI, causing problems,” and added, “If the ministry shows a strong will to impose strict disciplinary measures, it will help reduce such abuses.”
Son Hwa-cheol, dean of the School of Global Leadership at Handong Global University, commented, “I think this is a timely measure, but describing it as ‘recommendations’ seems somewhat weak.”
There is also criticism that, while AI is already being widely used in research settings, the recommendations do not fully reflect this reality.
Yeom Han-woong, director of the Center for Artificial Low Dimensional Electronic Systems at the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), said, “The guidelines do not reflect the important realities of the research field and cannot respond to future developments, which are changing very quickly,” adding, “In the section on ensuring transparency, it states that ‘AI use should be limited to research support tools such as data整理, translation, and typo correction,’ but in practice AI is already used throughout the entire research process.”
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