The Application and Ethics of Artificial Intelligence in Blockchain: A Bibliometric-Content Analysis

AI-enabled blockchain refers to the use of AI to enable the analysis and decision-making processes based on data collected, shared, and stored by blockchain. This helps overcome some of the existing challenges in blockchain applications. Despite the growing number of review papers on blockchain and AI, there is a dearth of literature on AI-enabled blockchain in business scenarios. This study uses bibliometric-content analysis to (1) identify three stages of development of AI-enabled blockchain literature and point out the increasing diversity of technological applications; (2) identify the strongest foci of extant literature; (3) unveil the roles of AI-enabled blockchain in 10 application sectors, and identify the key roles of AI in enabling blockchain applications; (4) conclude the referred ethical issues from three levels and make further discussion. The findings present the trends of AI-enabled blockchain and could help developers and service providers better manage the use and ethical issues of AI in blockchain applications.