Dual use, the intentional, harmful reuse of technology and scientific artefacts, is a problem yet to be well-defined within the context of Natural Language Processing (NLP). However, as NLP technologies continue to advance and become increasingly widespread in society, their inner workings have become increasingly opaque. Therefore, understanding dual use concerns and potential ways of limiting them is critical to minimising the potential harms of research and development. In this paper, we conduct a survey of NLP researchers and practitioners to understand the depth and their perspective of the problem as well as to assess existing available support. Based on the results of our survey, we offer a definition of dual use that is tailored to the needs of the NLP community. The survey revealed that a majority of researchers are concerned about the potential dual use of their research but only take limited action toward it. In light of the survey results, we discuss the current state and potential means for mitigating dual use in NLP and propose a checklist that can be integrated into existing conference ethics-frameworks, e.g., the ACL ethics checklist.

翻译：双重用途——即技术及科学成果被故意用于有害目的的问题——在自然语言处理（NLP）领域尚未得到明确定义。然而，随着NLP技术持续进步并在社会中日益普及，其内部运作机制也日趋不透明。因此，理解双重用途隐患及其潜在限制方式，对于最大程度减少研究开发可能造成的危害至关重要。本文通过对NLP研究人员和实践者开展问卷调查，探讨该问题的深度与视角，并评估现有支持措施。基于调查结果，我们提出了适配NLP社区需求的双重用途定义。调查显示，大多数研究者虽对自身研究的潜在双重用途表示担忧，但仅采取有限行动。结合调查结果，我们讨论了NLP领域缓解双重用途的现状与潜在途径，并提出了可整合至现有会议伦理框架（如ACL伦理检查清单）的核查清单。