Ethical and transparent use of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI): Ethics letter three (3) from the African Independent Ethics Committee (AIEC)

This letter targets authors, reviewers, editors, teachers, researchers, practitioners and students. In this letter, generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) means computer-aided creation of text, images, data or results in ways that mimic human production. AI is a generator of possible meanings, which may be correct or incorrect, rather than a definitive source or reference. It generates responses based on patterns in the data it has been trained on, but it lacks the ability to verify facts or context like a human would. Generative AI relies largely on universalised and dominant Western knowledge and ideological positions, shaped by coloniality, capitalism and patriarchy. Furthermore, the data it is trained on often contains very little, and at times no, African content. The trainers are also rarely Africans. Thus, rich African culture and values that scholars are currently advocating are left out. Ubuntu ideologies must be upheld to break out of colonialisation. This letter contains guidelines and requirements for the ethical use of generative AI in scholarly and research related activities.