Open with Care! A Framework for Responsible Qualitative Openness in the Era of AI

As open science norms and funding mandates increasingly position data sharing as a research obligation, qualitative inquiry faces growing pressure to conform to openness frameworks designed around quantitative epistemologies. This article argues that such unconditional openness is ethically and epistemically untenable for qualitative research, particularly under conditions of large-scale, AI-mediated data reuse. I identify three interconnected risks of opening qualitative data without adequate governance: static consent in dynamic reuse environments, the transformation of narratives into extractable assets, and the erosion of context and interpretive labour through disembodied reuse. To address these risks, I propose a framework for responsible qualitative openness grounded in three necessary conditions: dynamic consent, protection against commodification and AI-driven extraction, and the preservation of situated context and interpretation. By mapping these conditions across stakeholders with unequal control over data infrastructures, I sharpen focus on the need to consider qualitative openness as a collective, institutionally supported duty of care rather than a blanket mandate.