ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Digital Learning Innovations
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1628019
This article is part of the Research TopicDigital Learning Innovations: Trends Emerging Scenario, Challenges and OpportunitiesView all 21 articles
Exploring ethical dilemmas and institutional challenges in AI adoption: A study of South African universities
Provisionally accepted
- Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa
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Artificial intelligence tools like Chatgpt and DeepSeek are increasingly shaping higher education.However, their integration into student learning remains underexplored. This study investigates how university students in South Africa use AI-based tools in their academic practices. It also explores the specific tasks these tools support. The study examines the ethical challenges and considerations arising from their use. It highlights the need for structured institutional guidelines. Using a qualitative approach, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 50 students from four South African universities. Findings reveal that students widely but informally use AI tools for tasks like essay writing and assignment preparation. However, lacking formal guidelines leads to ethical ambiguities and inconsistent practices. The study accentuates the urgency for universities to develop AI frameworks. These frameworks should promote the responsible and effective use of AI tools. They should address both academic support and ethical concerns.
Keywords: artificial intelligence 1, higher education2, student learning3, ChatGPT4, South Africa5 contemporary society, fundamentally reshaping professional, social, Font: (Default) Times New Roman
Received: 13 May 2025; Accepted: 23 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Muringa. 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: Tigere Paidamoyo Muringa, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa
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