A Scoping Study of Ethics in Artificial Intelligence Research in Tourism and Hospitality

Abstract

AbstractAs e-tourism scholars advance innovative research on the use and study of artificially intelligent systems, it is important to reflect on how well we are advancing transformative philosophies which ask that emerging fields consider issues of ethics, power, and bias. We conduct a scoping study of review papers published between 2015–2021 to understand the extent to which ethical and social bias issues are identified and treated in AI research in tourism. Results suggest that the potential for ethical and bias issues in AI in tourism is high, but identification and treatment of these issues by tourism researchers is weak. We summarize key implications of this trend and offer suggestions for pursuing a research agenda which increasingly identifies and treats issues of ethics and bias when advancing research on artificial intelligence (AI) in tourism.