Ethical Issues and Researcher Responsibility in the Use of Generative AI in Beauty Research
This study employed a systematic literature review to examine research trends in artificial intelligence within the field of beauty and cosmetology and to explore the ethical issues associated with the use of generative AI in academic research. A total of 135 studies were analyzed. The findings indicate that AI-related research in beauty and cosmetology has shown steady growth since 2020, with a particularly sharp increase between 2024 and 2025. Despite this rapid expansion, only one study explicitly addressed ethical issues, revealing a substantial gap between technological advancement and ethical reflection in the field. The analysis identified several major ethical concerns related to the use of generative AI, including copyright and authorship issues involving AI-generated images and textual content, as well as risks to personal data protection during the collection, processing, and utilization of research data. Furthermore, this study argues that beauty research represents a unique domain in which bodily data and aesthetic norms are closely intertwined, making it difficult to address its ethical challenges through general AI ethics frameworks alone. The findings further suggest that existing AI ethical principles are insufficient to address the distinctive complexities associated with the use of generative AI in beauty research. Accordingly, this study emphasizes the need for systematic regulatory frameworks, standardized disclosure guidelines, and strengthened researcher responsibility to ensure transparency, accountability, and ethical integrity in AI-assisted research practices. In particular, this study contributes to the literature by identifying domain-specific ethical issues in beauty research and highlighting the need for a specialized ethical framework governing the responsible use of generative AI.