Exploring students’ lived experiences with artificial intelligence in higher education: A case study of ChatGPT

Abstract

This study adopted a phenomenological perspective to explore 84 university students’ experiences and perceptions of using Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT), an artificial intelligence (AI)-based software that generates contextualised responses. This study aimed to capture individual experiences and to understand how students interact with and perceive this AI tool; to fulfil this purpose, we addressed the following question: What are university students’ perceptions and experiences of using ChatGPT in their academic activities? The triangulation strategy was employed, which allowed us to analyse the results by combining information from different sources: narrative interviews, literature review, and direct unstructured observations. The results indicate that student responses reveal a positive perception towards ChatGPT; however, when examining lived experiences, concerns arise about the potential impact on developing critical and analytical skills. Such concerns underscore the ongoing need to investigate the role of AI in education, emphasising the importance of better understanding how students, from their subjective experience, interact with and relate to technology to inform and refine educational practices. We conclude that, despite the usefulness of ChatGPT, it is crucial to recognise its limitations and make informed decisions, especially in contexts that require a deep understanding of human intentions and emotions. Furthermore, it is important to consider the context in which ChatGPT is used and be aware of its potential biases or inaccuracies, as it may be influenced by biases present in its training data, which could result in misleading or incorrect responses.

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