ERC clarifies limits on AI use in grant evaluation
24 March 2026
The ERC Scientific Council has adopted new guidelines on the use of artificial intelligence in the evaluation of grant proposals. The guidelines aim to safeguard the integrity of peer review while allowing limited use of AI where it does not compromise responsibility or trust.
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The guidance rests on two core principles: non-delegation of the evaluation task and strict protection of confidentiality. Reviewers remain fully responsible for assessing proposals and writing reviews. AI tools may not be used to summarise proposals, assess their scientific merit or generate draft evaluations. Uploading proposals, or any part of them, to external AI systems is prohibited, as this would disclose sensitive information to third parties.
Limited uses are permitted. Reviewers may use AI tools to improve the language of their reports or to search for general information, provided no proposal content or personal data is shared and no assessment is delegated.
