Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications of AI in Ecological Research

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming ecological research, offering powerful capabilities for environmental monitoring, invasive species detection, predictive modeling, and targeted intervention. While these technologies promise to enhance biodiversity conservation outcomes, they also raise profound ethical, legal, and social questions. In this chapter, I am going to be critical of the Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) of AI in ecology and more specifically invasive species management. It addresses the points of interconnection of AI-enabled data collection with questions of privacy, indigenous data sovereignty, and ecological justice; the ways in which bias in algorithms and epistemic injustice can be embedded into conservation choices; and the ways in which emerging legal frameworks to address AI, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and AI specific regulation constraints ecological uses. Based on three case studies of terrestrial, marine, and polar ecosystems, the chapter shows that technological capacity needs to be supported with responsible ecological AI, in isolation to which, the technological performance is not adequate. At the contrary, it favors participatory, rights-based technical solutions that combine transparency, accountability, and interdisciplinarity into all aspects of AI design and implementation. When coupled with ethical pledges and legal adherence as well as community involvement, AI has the potential to become a resource that is ethical, reliably managed and used to preserve the biodiversity without jeopardizing the rights and information of community members most directly associated with the natural environment.