The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in research is expanding rapidly, and SAE International's position is that AI cannot and should not be listed as an author of a publication because AI tools do not meet the definition of an author (more here). SAE supports the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) statement: “AI tools cannot meet the requirements for authorship as they cannot take responsibility for the submitted work. As non-legal entities, they cannot assert the presence or absence of conflicts of interest nor manage copyright and license agreements” (Quoted from the COPE website and accessed May 23, 2023).
The U.S. Copyright Office has taken the position that it “will not register works produced by a machine or mere mechanical process that operates randomly or automatically without any creative input or intervention from a human author” (see Compendium: Chapter 300, section 313.2; accessed May 23, 2023).
Because AI-generated content may not be protected by copyright, SAE Contributors may not use AI to generate written text, images, or artwork, but may use AI for grammar and punctuation corrections. Use of an AI tool for any such work must be detailed in the manuscript in an Acknowledgements section.