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News

Sep 19, 2023Blog | Member News, Higher Education, Technology & Innovation

University of Southern Maine awarded grant to develop training on AI ethics

New England Council member, the University of Southern Maine, has received a $400,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, in order to develop a training program for ethical research practices in the age of AI.

With the growing prevalence of AI, especially chatbots like Chat-GPT, experts have warned of the potential risks posed to integrity in research and technology development. Because research is an inherently stressful endeavor, often with time constraints and certain desired results, it can be tempting for researchers to cut corners, leaning on artificial intelligence to imitate the work of humans.

At USM’s Regulatory Training and Ethics Center, faculty are studying what conditions lead to potential ethical misconduct and creating training sessions to make researchers conscious of their decisions and thoughts during their work and remain aware of stressors that might lead to mistakes in judgment. Faculty at USM believe this method will allow subjects to proactively avoid turning to unethical AI assistance.

“We hope to create a level of self-awareness so that when people are on the brink of taking a shortcut they will have the ability to reflect on that,” said Bruce Thompson, a professor of psychology and principal at the USM ethics center.  “It’s a preemptive way to interrupt the tendency to cheat or plagiarize.”

The New England Council commends the University of Southern Maine for its efforts to preserve research ethics in a changing world of technology.

Read more from the Portland Press Herald.

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