Exploring research ethics through the lens of critical posthumanism in the age of Artificial Intelligence

Abstract

Drawing on critical posthumanism, I attempt to theorize an alternative, non-linear conceptualization of graduate students’ experiences with AI ethics in the context of an educational research methodology course. The conceptual tools of assemblage, distributive agency and ethical criticality were used as the theoretical framework to examine the complex, relational processes that graduate students ought to engage in to develop AI ethics. As the advent of AI has added further complexity to research ethics, my reflections focus on three key tensions explored in this conceptual paper: (1) blurring lines of authorship, (2) relinquishing agency and (3) abating criticality. The emergent pedagogy adopted in the teaching of this course was useful in responding to the ethical challenges that graduate students, as novice researchers, face in the age of AI. The paper concludes with a discussion on how to better support graduate students in developing AI ethics through pedagogy and policy.