AI Fireside Chat: Responsible Use of AI in Academia: Opportunities, Risks, and Research Integrity

Artificial intelligence is transforming the enterprise, academic and research landscapes, from accelerating discovery and data analysis to reshaping teaching, publishing, and scholarly communication. While these technologies offer unprecedented opportunities for innovation, they also raise critical questions about research integrity, bias, transparency, accountability, and the responsible use of data.
This AI Fireside Chat brings together experts in AI research, ethics, cybersecurity, and privacy to examine the challenges and opportunities associated with AI adoption in higher education and research environments. Panelists will discuss emerging concerns including the use of generative AI, protection of high and very high-risk research data, ethical considerations with AI use and development in research, and the growing need for governance frameworks that foster both innovation and trust. Attendees will gain practical insights into how institutions and researchers can leverage AI responsibly while maintaining the rigor, integrity, and credibility that underpin academic scholarship.

About the Panelists

Taylor Bohn is a Senior Privacy and Information Security Risk Advisor at the University of British Columbia (UBC), where he advises academic and administrative units on privacy, cybersecurity, AI governance, and cloud service adoption. His work focuses on helping project teams make informed decisions about emerging technologies by assessing privacy, security, and operational risks. Taylor has led privacy and security reviews for a wide range of services and enterprise platforms.

Sarah Flann serves as Research Ethics Review Officer for the University of British Columbia's (UBC) Behavioural Research Ethics Board, where she supports the ethical review and oversight of research involving human participants. Throughout her career, she has worked with several research ethics boards (REB), including UBC's Clinical REB, the Fraser Health REB, and Adler University Vancouver's REB.

Prior to transitioning into research ethics, Sarah spent a decade managing complex research studies in clinical neuroscience, psychosis, and neuroimaging. She holds a Master of Science in Psychology and Neuroscience of Mental Health from King's College London and has contributed to the development of ethical guidance for patient-oriented research. She has a particular interest in the ethical implications of emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, and their impact on research integrity, transparency, accountability, and public trust in academic research.

Vered Shwartz is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of British Columbia, a CIFAR AI Chair at the Vector Institute, and the author of "Lost in Automatic Translation: Navigating Life in English in the Age of Language Technologies". Her current research focus is on (1) testing and improving the capabilities of large language models and vision and language models; (2) developing culturally-competent AI; and (3) responsible NLP applications in sensitive domains (e.g., legal, medical). Before joining UBC, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the Allen Institute for AI (AI2) and the University of Washington. Prior to that, she completed her PhD in Computer Science at Bar-Ilan University.

Scott Baker manages both the Research Cybersecurity and Compliance team at UBC Advanced Research Computing and the Compliance Support Team at UBC. Both groups are focused on supporting researchers and staff in navigating compliance requirements and finding secure solutions for their project architectures and data. He is a member of the program leadership committee for UBC's Privacy & Information Security Management program.

This event is organized by the Digital Research Alliance of Canada.