Enabler 5:
Responsible Artificial Intelligence
Purpose
To harness trusted, ethical, and sustainable AI as a transformative force for research excellence, societal benefit, and enduring confidence in research integrity.
Purpose
To harness the transformative power of AI to amplify research excellence and societal impact, while leading in its ethical and responsible use. We will embed AI tools and infrastructure to open new frontiers of discovery, foster interdisciplinary collaboration, and align with the institutional AI Strategy.
Building on existing research strengths and leveraging investments made through Project ADA, we will focus efforts through three dimensions:
1. Accelerating Applications-focused AI Research
to advance the development of novel, trustworthy AI technologies in collaboration with partners, while leading in the design of ethical, transparent, and equitable AI systems that foster confidence and adoption across sectors.
2. Applying AI in Research
to promote deep interdisciplinary collaboration between AI specialists and research domains – across the breadth of science and humanities at Exeter – to unlock novel insights, enhance methodological and ethical rigour and reproducability, and power new advances.
3. Revolutionising the Way We Conduct Research to Maximise Impact
Support the adoption of AI-augmented tools and workflows to streamline research processes, improve reproducibility, accelerate impact, and empower researchers to focus on creativity and discovery.
This focused approach enables strong alignment with the aims of the UKRI strategy ‘Transforming our world with AI’ to support AI research that is discovery-led, bringing researchers and problem owners together to deliver responsible and trustworthy, application-driven AI technologies.
Priority Activities
As a core technology with broad applicability, our priority activities in AI will be delivered through the enablers of the Research & Innovation Strategy:
1. Accelerating Applications-focused AI Research
To advance the development of novel, trustworthy AI technologies in collaboration with partners, while leading in the design of ethical, transparent, and equitable AI systems that foster confidence and adoption across sectors.
2. Applying AI in Research
To promote deep interdisciplinary collaboration between AI specialists and research domains – across the breadth of science and humanities at Exeter – to unlock novel insights, enhance methodological and ethical rigour and reproducibility, and power new advances.
3. Revolutionising the Way we Conduct Research to Maximise Impact:
Support the adoption of AI-augmented tools and workflows to streamline research processes, improve reproducibility, accelerate impact, and empower researchers to focus on creativity and discovery.
4. Championing Responsible AI in Research:
Building directly on our institutional expertise in ethical and trustworthy AI, we will ensure these principles are applied rigorously across our research portfolio. We will embed robust governance, co-create practical guidelines with our communities, and equip our researchers with the skills to implement fair, accountable, and sustainable AI practices. We will operationalise this by adopting frameworks like the UKRIO’s Embracing AI with Integrity, setting clear expectations for our community.
5. Governance and Trust:
Providing clear guidance on AI use in research, in publications and funding bids, and ensure responsible AI use is captured in research ethics reviews.
6. Data Stewardship and Access:
Promoting responsible data sharing and reuse by advocating and aligning to the secure, federated data infrastructure and governance frameworks that make it possible (such as FAIR), unlocking value while ensuring ethical compliance.