Ethical Concerns with Generative AI
Liza Long
In 2023, a group of concerned scientists signed a letter calling for an immediate six-month pause to further developments of Large Language Models (LLMs) like Open AI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Bard (now Gemini), and Meta’s LLaMA (Roose, 2023). Their main concern was nothing less than the possible destruction of humanity.
That’s a pretty big ethical concern. But to be fair, it’s just one of many existential threats our species is currently facing. And it’s just one of numerous concerns about the large-scale unregulated implementation of generative AI in our daily lives.
When I asked ChatGPT in 2023 about the main ethical concerns for generative artificial intelligence, it reported the following:
Generative AI technologies, like ChatGPT, raise significant ethical concerns. Firstly, they can spread misinformation and fake content, eroding trust in online information sources. Secondly, biased training data may lead to AI systems inadvertently perpetuating societal biases and discrimination. Privacy and data security are also at risk, as these systems process vast amounts of user data. The lack of accountability for harmful AI-generated content is a pressing issue. Malicious actors can use these technologies for manipulation and social engineering, endangering individuals’ well-being and trust. Consent and user awareness problems arise when users are unaware they are interacting with AI. Economically, job displacement could occur due to AI automating content creation. Additionally, the weaponization of generative AI raises concerns about its misuse for harmful purposes. Mental health and well-being could be negatively affected by prolonged interactions with AI chatbots. Overreliance on AI may reduce human skills and agency over time. Addressing these concerns requires collaboration between developers, policymakers, researchers, and the public to implement transparency, fairness, accountability measures, and ethical guidelines and regulations for AI development and deployment (Open AI, 2023).
Comparing how ChatGPT responds to the same prompt in 2026 is a good illustration of how these tools are changing. What similarities and differences do you notice in tone and content between these two passages?
Generative AI systems such as ChatGPT raise several ethical concerns related to accuracy, bias, privacy, academic integrity, labor impacts, and accountability. One major issue is misinformation: these systems can produce fluent but incorrect responses, sometimes called “hallucinations,” which users may accept as reliable if they do not verify the information independently. Bias is another concern because AI models are trained on large datasets that reflect historical and cultural inequalities; as a result, outputs may unintentionally reproduce stereotypes or reinforce existing disparities. Privacy risks also arise when users enter sensitive personal, institutional, or proprietary information into AI systems, particularly when it is unclear how that data is stored or used for model improvement. In educational settings, generative AI complicates questions of authorship and learning, since students may rely on AI-generated text rather than developing their own skills, raising concerns about academic integrity and authentic assessment. There are also broader labor and economic implications, as AI tools can automate tasks previously performed by humans, potentially reshaping professional roles and job markets. Finally, questions of accountability remain unresolved: when an AI system produces harmful, biased, or incorrect information, it can be difficult to determine whether responsibility lies with the user, the developer, or the organization deploying the technology (Open AI, 2026).
I’ll leave my ethical quibbles with the use of “firstly” as a transitional expression aside. But based on both responses, ChatGPT doesn’t seem to “think” (or algorithmically predict) that generative artificial intelligence is an existential threat to humanity. According to ChatGPT, the eight main issues are:
- Misinformation and fake content.
- Biased training data.
- Privacy and data security.
- Lack of accountability for harm caused by generative AI.
- Consent and user awareness.
- Job displacement (especially for formerly “safe” knowledge workers).
- Mental health concerns from prolonged chats.
- Reduction of human skills (I imagine writing will be one of them).
What else do you think is missing from this list? What concerns do you personally have about using generative AI tools in your life? In 2026, ChatGPT recommends adding environmental impact (energy use of large models) and concentration of technological power among a few companies as additional concerns (Open AI, 2026).
I’ll tell you one thing that stands out to me both when I originally wrote this chapter in 2023 (then the hottest summer on record) and now in 2026 (gearing up for the new hottest summer on record): climate change. When I followed up with ChatGPT in 2023 to ask about the effects of generative artificial intelligence on Earth’s rapidly warming climate, it led with the positives, hopefully suggesting that energy efficiency and climate modeling would improve with this new technology.
But according to one study, generative artificial intelligence will consume 8-21% of the world’s total energy output by 2030 (Magubane, 2023).
And contrast ChatGPT’s response with this statement from the United Nation’s Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization’s statement on artificial intelligence:
The world is set to change at a pace not seen since the deployment of the printing press six centuries ago. AI technology brings major benefits in many areas, but without the ethical guardrails, it risks reproducing real world biases and discrimination, fueling divisions and threatening fundamental human rights and freedoms. AI business models are highly concentrated in just a few countries and a handful of firms — usually developed in male-dominated teams, without the cultural diversity that characterizes our world. Contrast this with the fact that half of the world’s population still can’t count on a stable internet connection. (UNESCO, n.d.)
What do you think? Do the benefits of this new technology outweigh the potential costs? How can we mitigate the potential harm that generative AI may cause?
As an ethical starting point in my own use of generative artificial intelligence, I am now including this acknowledgment inspired by the work of Laurie Phipps and Donna Lanclos (2023) whenever I use generative AI in my work.
I acknowledge that ChatGPT does not respect the individual rights of authors and artists and ignores concerns over copyright and intellectual property in its training; additionally, I acknowledge that the system was trained in part through the exploitation of precarious workers in the global south. In this work I specifically used ChatGPT to explore ethical concerns with generative artificial intelligence.
However you use (or don’t use) generative AI, I encourage you to be thoughtful in your approach. These are interesting times. We need to remember now more than ever what makes us human.
References
Magubane, N. (2023, March 8). The hidden costs of AI: Impending energy and resource strain. Penn Today. https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/hidden-costs-ai-impending-energy-and-resource-strain
Open AI (2023, July 20). AI ethics concerns [chat] https://chat.openai.com/share/7c1aa595-e240-451f-95e8-74a116f80973
Open AI (2026, April 1). Ethical concerns of generative AI. https://chatgpt.com/share/69cd613e-1b04-83e8-b5be-52c961dd27a0
Perrigo, B. (2023, January 18). Exclusive: OpenAI used Kenyan workers on less than $2 per hour to make ChatGPT less toxic. Time Magazine. https://time.com/6247678/openai-chatgpt-kenya-workers/
Phipps, L. & Lanclos, D. (2023, January 22). An offering. Digital Is People [blog]. https://digitalispeople.org/an-offering/
Roose, K. (2023). A.I. poses “risk of extinction,” industry leaders warn. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/30/technology/ai-threat-warning.html
UNESCO (n.d.). Artificial intelligence. https://www.unesco.org/en/artificial-intelligence#:~:text=AI%20actors%20should%20promote%20social,benefits%20are%20accessible%20to%20all.
Updated by Liza Long, April 1, 2026
