Artificial Intelligence in Human Participant Research: Ethical Risks and Institutional Policy Considerations

Abstract

The rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into research presents emerging ethical and governance challenges for institutions overseeing human research. While existing frameworks provide general protections, they offer limited guidance for addressing AI-specific risks related to informed consent, transparency, data privacy, and fairness. This commentary synthesizes key ethical concerns associated with AI-enabled research and examines some implications for institutional policy development and research ethics review. Rather than proposing a comprehensive evaluative framework, this invited commentary examines governance and procedural gaps that complicate implementation of existing AI oversight resources and emphasizes institution-level policy approaches to support consistent, responsible research ethics review. An illustrative example is provided to demonstrate how the absence of clear policy guidance can create ambiguity in research ethics review and researcher practice. The ethical considerations discussed apply broadly to research ethics review systems internationally, including Institutional Review Boards (IRBs), Research Ethics Committees (RECs), and Ethics Review Committees (ERCs).

Keywords

Informed consent research ethics review artificial intelligence

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