Ambivalence and emotion in the age of AI: how students navigate ChatGPT in higher education

Abstract

This article investigates how university students navigate the emotional, ethical, and pedagogical complexities of engaging with Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) tools – particularly ChatGPT – within higher education. While much of the existing literature emphasises issues of functionality, academic integrity, or policy regulation, our study shifts the focus to students’ views and emotions. Drawing on qualitative data from focus groups with undergraduate students at a large public university in Cyprus, we explore how students experience and make sense of ChatGPT in ways that reflect curiosity, excitement, anxiety, mistrust, and ethical uncertainty. We argue that understanding student engagement with GenAI requires moving beyond instrumentalist frameworks. To this end, we adapt the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) by incorporating emotional and relational dimensions, offering a more comprehensive view of how AI is perceived and used in academic life. Our findings emphasise the importance of pedagogical and institutional strategies that attend to the emotional and ethical dynamics of GenAI integration in higher education.

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