  Large language models are increasingly applied in real-world scenarios,
including research and education. These models, however, come with well-known
ethical issues, which may manifest in unexpected ways in human-computer
interaction research due to the extensive engagement with human subjects. This
paper reports on research practices related to LLM use, drawing on 16
semi-structured interviews and a survey conducted with 50 HCI researchers. We
discuss the ways in which LLMs are already being utilized throughout the entire
HCI research pipeline, from ideation to system development and paper writing.
While researchers described nuanced understandings of ethical issues, they were
rarely or only partially able to identify and address those ethical concerns in
their own projects. This lack of action and reliance on workarounds was
explained through the perceived lack of control and distributed responsibility
in the LLM supply chain, the conditional nature of engaging with ethics, and
competing priorities. Finally, we reflect on the implications of our findings
and present opportunities to shape emerging norms of engaging with large
language models in HCI research.
