Letters to the editor generated by AI in neuroscience: The role of neuroethics

Abstract

The letter to the editor (LTE) is a correspondence forum that allows a journal’s readers to comment on published research and also publish data and arguments in a brief way. The LTE has vital functions as an accessible comment forum, including holding authors and editors accountable for published content. Yet, there is also the possibility of misuse of the LTE format, as was evidenced by a recent mass retraction of 129 LTEs at a neurosurgery journal suspected to have been mass produced by the undeclared use of generative artificial intelligence (GAI). We argue in favor of a more interventionist stance on the part of neuroethicists to engage with, analyze, and propose solutions to the issue of low quality and GAI-generated neuroscience.