Ethics, generative AI and science communication

In this essay, we argue that the applications of generative-AI technologies to science communication need careful consideration to ensure such uses are desirable, and socially and ethically acceptable. In early applications of GenAI in science communication, especially in public media, there has been swift and overwhelmingly negative response to news about its use. Drawing on existing literature about generative-AI in adjacent fields to science communication, and on the scholarship on the ethics of science communication, this article maps out the key ethical issues that the use of generative-AI technologies raise for science communication. Specifically, acknowledging that generative-AI is more than an output-producing technology but is a constellation of governance, infrastructure, data, human and computing operating systems, we argue that three dimensions of ethical concerns need to be explored: the communication outputs of generative AI; the social and environmental impacts of using generative AI technologies in science communication and the narratives we tell about AI technology.