ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Digital Learning Innovations
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1543746
This article is part of the Research TopicChatbots as Humanlike Text Generators: Friend or Foe?View all articles
Free word association analysis of students' perception of artificial intelligence
Provisionally accepted
- Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany
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This study aims to explore students' associations with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and how these perceptions have evolved following the release of Chat GPT. By analyzing the responses of 836 students, the research identifies the most common associations with AI, categorizing them into 1. technical association, 2. assistance system, 3. future, 4. human 5. negative, 6. positive, 7. Artificial, 8. others and 9. no associations. A total of 355 distinct terms were mentioned, with "robot" emerging as the most frequently cited association, followed by "computer" and "Chat GPT," indicating a strong connection between AI and technological applications.Notably, the release of Chat GPT had a significant impact on students' associations, with a marked increase in mentions of Chat GPT and related assistance systems, such as Siri. The results reveal a clear transformation in how students perceive AI, moving away from abstract, futuristic concepts to more immediate, application-based views, especially in the context of assistance systems. In particular, the growing frequency of terms related to real-world AI applications suggests that students are increasingly engaging with AI as a present-day reality rather than a distant possibility. Furthermore, the study highlights the importance of fostering a nuanced understanding of AI in educational contexts.It calls for the integration of AI education that addresses both the potential benefits and risks, encouraging critical discourse and responsible engagement with the technology. These insights are crucial for shaping the future of AI literacy in schools and universities.
Keywords: Artificial intelligence (AI), Student perceptions, Chat GPT, AI Associations, free word association, AI in Education
Received: 11 Dec 2024; Accepted: 30 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Henrich, Formella-Zimmermann, Schneider and Dierkes. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Marvin Henrich, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany
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