AI ethics in geoscience: Toward trustworthy and responsible innovation

Jinran Wu; Xin Tian; You-Gan Wang; Tong Li; Qingyang Liu; Yayong Li; Lizhen Cui; Zhuangcai Tian; Jing Xu; Xianzhou Lyu; Yuming Mo

doi:10.1016/j.geosus.2026.100414

Geography and Sustainability ›› 2026, Vol. 7 ›› Issue (1) :100414 DOI: 10.1016/j.geosus.2026.100414

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AI ethics in geoscience: Toward trustworthy and responsible innovation

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^aSchool of Mathematics and Physics, The University of Queensland, St Lucia 4072, Australia

^bSchool of Statistics and Data Science, Guangdong University of Finance and Economics, Guangdong 510320, China

^cSchool of Mathematics and Computational Science, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan 411105, China

^dSchool of Agriculture and Food Sustainability, The University of Queensland, St Lucia 4072, Australia

^eWetland Research Centre, Institute of Ecological Conservation and Restoration, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China

^fSate Key Laboratory of Intelligent Construction and Healthy Operation and Maintenance of Deep Underground Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China

^gCollege of Hydraulic Science and Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225127, China

^hCollege of Earth Science and Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266590, China

ⁱSchool of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang 212003, China

^* E-mail addresses: tong.li1@uq.edu.au (T. Li);

^** School of Statistics and Data Science, Guangdong University of Finance and Economics, Guangdong, 510320, China. E-mail addresses: wangyg@gdufe.edu.cn (Y.-G. Wang),

jinran.wu@uq.edu.au (J. Wu),

xin.tian1@student.uq.edu.au (X. Tian),

qingyang.liu@student.uq.edu.au (Q. Liu),

yayong.li@uq.edu.au (Y. Li),

cuilizhen18@mails.ucas.ac.cn (L. Cui),

zhuangcaitian@cumt.edu.cn (Z. Tian),

xujing7503@yzu.edu.cn (J. Xu),

lyuxianzhou0608@sdust.edu.cn (X. Lyu),

yumingmo@just.edu.cn (Y. Mo).

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Jinran Wu, Xin Tian, You-Gan Wang, Tong Li, Qingyang Liu, Yayong Li, Lizhen Cui, Zhuangcai Tian, Jing Xu, Xianzhou Lyu, Yuming Mo. AI ethics in geoscience: Toward trustworthy and responsible innovation. Geography and Sustainability, 2026, 7(1): 100414 DOI:10.1016/j.geosus.2026.100414

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Declaration of generative AI in scientific writing

During the preparation of this work, generative AI tools (ChatGPT 5, developed by OpenAI) were used only to improve the clarity of language and polish the writing. The authors reviewed, edited, and approved all content, and take full responsibility for the scientific integrity and originality of the paper.

Data availability

Data will be made available on request.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Jinran Wu: Writing - review & editing, Writing - original draft, Supervision, Project administration, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis, Conceptualization. Xin Tian: Writing - review & editing, Visualization, Validation. You-Gan Wang: Writing - review & editing, Supervision, Funding acquisition. Tong Li: Writing - review & editing, Visualization, Project administration, Investigation, Formal analysis, Data curation, Conceptualization. Qingyang Liu: Writing - review & editing. Yayong Li: Writing - review & editing. Lizhen Cui: Visualization. Zhuangcai Tian: Writing - review & editing. Jing Xu: Writing - review & editing. Xianzhou Lyu: Writing - review & editing. Yuming Mo: Writing - review & editing.

Declaration of competing interests

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgements

This work is partially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, China (Grant No. BK20240937), the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (Grant No. ZR2021QE187), the Shandong Higher Education “Young Entrepreneurship Talents Introduction and Cultivation Program” Project (Grant No. ZXQT20221228001), the Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 42502273), and the Science and Technology Innovation Program of Hunan Province (Grant No. 2022RC4028).

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