Teachers’ perceptions of the risks and benefits of AI in higher education: A case study of ERNIE Bot

Abstract

ABSTRACT The study investigates teachers’ perceptions of the risks and benefits associated with the use of generative AI in higher education, with a particular focus on ERNIE Bot. The primary objective is to identify the pedagogical and ethical implications of integrating generative AI into the educational process. The study involved 400 educators from two Chinese educational institutions. The results indicate significant changes in teachers’ attitudes following the intervention. A positive aspect is that teachers reported an improvement in the effectiveness of developing educational materials and assessment tasks, particularly highlighting the AI’s ability to generate diverse, context-dependent questions. However, concerns regarding the potential for AI-generated plagiarism and the ethical implications of data accuracy persist. The findings underscore the need for further research and the development of ethical guidelines to ensure the effective and responsible integration of AI into educational processes.