GeoGPT, a big-data artificial intelligence project aimed at geoscientists and researchers particularly in the global south and built by the Chinese tech company Alibaba, aims at helping develop their understanding of earth sciences by drawing on swaths of data and research on billions of years of the planet’s history.

Now, Professor Paul H Cleverley, Geologist and Computer Scientist at the Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, Scotland, says that he has found “serious issues around a lack of transparency, state censorship, and potential copyright infringement” that may not “align with the UNESCO’s recommendations on the ethics of AI”.

Professir Cleverly writes:

During my testing, I found that the answers to some of my geoscience questions were state censored, which wasn’t always made clear. DDE [Deep-time Digital Earth, the first big-data project recognised by the International Union of Geological Sciences] is an international consortium with a governing body that includes geologists from across the globe, and aims to serve an international audience, yet virtually all DDE technology is developed, hosted and funded by sources in China […], and the China Academy of Sciences cites DDE as critical for enhancing China’s capabilities of detecting and securing global resources […]

Ethically, I argue strongly that any tool developed in the name of and for the international geological community should never be based on AI that could be subject to any government censorship.

GeoGPT does not currently attribute the source or authors for its answers., Professor Cleverley adds. “To not recognise the research contribution of geoscientists is unethical.”

In a response to Professor Cleverley , DDE said that they “recognise that there are challenges in communication and governance that we are working to solve.”

[Edit typo.]