Navigating Ethical Waters: Authorship, Reproducibility, and Publishing in the Era of AI

Session Title for Website and App: Navigating Ethical Waters: Authorship, Reproducibility, and Publishing in the Era of AI

Special Session Program Description: This session is dedicated to exploring the ethical impact of generative AI and linguistic models on authorship and data reproducibility. A hotly debated issue right now amongst many academic circles, we propose to engage in positive, open discussion about this complex topic. The session is intended to provide multiple viewpoints and insight regarding how these models could or should be employed, credited, and/or taught within our BME programs. This session is intended to attract a diverse audience at all career stages (students, postdocs, faculty, staff and industry personnel), welcoming them to engage with a panel of relevant experts and highlighting the ethical need for open conversations about such pressing topics.

A group of 5-6 panelists will be recruited that represent a diversity of backgrounds, career stages, and viewpoints. Panelists will be asked to open with a brief introduction of themselves and their experience with AI models and publishing. There will be a series of pre-prepared questions that will be shared with the panelists in advance, but the organizers will also solicit and screen questions from the audience to ask the panelists in real-time through the use of a QR code and Google Form. Following the panel discussion, the last 15-20 minutes of the Special Session will be dedicated to breaking the room into small group discussions around pre-prepared questions on the topics with a panelist or organizer leading each. The session will conclude with each small group sharing their insights and opinions with the room.

The organizers will take notes throughout the session on the questions, responses, and discussion. All commentary will be anonymized to ensure that no identifying information can be traced back to attendees or panelists engaging in the dialogues. The intention is to distill the results and discussion of this Special Session into either an open letter to our BMES community or a published letter in an affiliated journal such as Annals of Biomedical Engineering. Our overall intention is to educate our community on both the nature and issues with AI models as well as provide leadership on how such topics should be discussed and integrated into our BME education and ethical framework.

Committee, Sig, or Organization Title: Education Sub-Committee on Ethics