Confidentiality Agreement
Adaptable English and German templates for research involving AI.
When AI is part of the research process
The usual confidentiality commitments still apply: use information for the agreed research purposes, restrict access, and explain how long it will be retained and what happens when the project ends. Using AI adds further details that participants need to understand.
- Identify the tools and providers. Explain which software, language models, or transcription services will be used, what they will do, and which providers may receive research material.
- Include the material generated with AI. Confidentiality should cover transcripts, AI-generated responses and reports, and research notes and analyses, alongside the original recordings and other source material.
- Describe how the material is protected. Explain storage, encryption, access controls, and any anonymization or pseudonymization, including what happens when material is processed by an external service.
- Make provider arrangements explicit. Check processing locations, access by providers or their subcontractors, retention and deletion, and whether research material may be used to train AI models. Describe any international processing relevant to the project.
The agreement should reflect the tools, settings, and arrangements actually used in your study. A general promise of confidentiality cannot explain these details on its own.
Confidentiality agreement
What the templates cover
These templates combine participant consent with commitments from the research team about how interview material will be handled. They cover recordings, AI-assisted transcription and analysis, access to data, confidentiality, storage, retention, and participants’ rights.
Download an editable Word version in English or German. Adapt the highlighted sections to your project, institution, and the services you use, and review the remaining provisions against your research arrangements.
