European Research Council AI policy
Permits AIChecked November 9, 2026
In short
The ERC Scientific Council has said that using AI to draw up a research proposal does not relieve the author of full and sole authorship responsibility, including for acknowledgements, plagiarism, and good scientific and professional conduct. Reviewers may not upload proposals to online AI tools or use AI to summarise or assess a proposal, but may use AI to polish language or search for information on the topic.
For applicants
- Using AI to draw up a research proposal does not relieve the author of full and sole authorship responsibility for acknowledgements, plagiarism, and good scientific and professional conduct.[1]
For reviewers
- Reviewers may not upload a proposal, or part of it, to an online AI tool such as ChatGPT, because sending a proposal to an external AI system violates privacy and confidentiality.[2]
- Reviewers may not use an AI system to summarise a proposal to avoid reading it in full, or to provide any form of assessment, explicit or implicit, of its merit.[2]
- Reviewers may use an AI system solely to access information or improve language, for example to polish the language or check grammar of their reviews, or to search for information on a proposal's topic.[2]
Sources
- [1]European Research Council issues warning on AI's use in ...
EURAXESS, December 20, 2023 (not an official funder page)
“the use of AI in drawing up a research proposal, “does not relieve the author from taking full and sole authorship responsibilities with regard to acknowledgements, plagiarism and the practice of good scientific and professional conduct.””
- [2]The use of AI in grant proposal evaluation
European Research Council, March 23, 2026
“The privacy and confidentiality principle is violated wherever the proposal is transmitted to an external AI system. For example, reviewers may not - upload a proposal, or part of it, to an online AI tool such as ChatGPT.”
“The non-delegation principle is violated wherever the AI system is tasked with understanding or evaluating a project proposal. For example, reviewers may not use an AI system to: - summarise the proposal to avoid reading it in full , provide any form of assessment, explicit or implicit, of the merit of the proposal.”
“Neither principle is violated where reviewers use an AI system solely to access information or improve language. For example, reviewers may use an AI system to - polish the language or to check grammar and formulation of their reviews, search for information on the topic of a proposal.”
This page summarizes published guidance and is not legal advice. Policies change, and a specific solicitation can add its own rules, so confirm against the funding announcement before you apply. See every funder's AI policy.