The impact of artificial intelligence in Portuguese higher education

The transformations imposed by artificial intelligence (AI) are making modern societies more complex. The current panorama of its uses and gratifications, both in education in general and in higher education in particular, is a way of trying to anticipate what might happen in other areas. The aim of this communication is to disseminate the results of an investigation among 410 higher education students about their relationship with AI during the process of attending a Portuguese higher education institution. By using a quantitative methodology and a survey, this study collected information on the representations and uses of these technologies in five Portuguese higher education structures (Lusophone University, IPCA - Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave, Minho University, Évora University and IST – Higher Technical Institute). Among the main results, we highlight the fact that more than 50% of respondents claim to use AI to study or carry out academic work. Furthermore, 63% do not inform teachers about the usage of these systems, either for fear of the reactions of teachers or as a strategy to gain an advantage in the assessment process. Respondents also revealed that AI chats constitute “a giant step in civilization ” (79,6%) and “represent technological evolution” (94,4%). However, they contradict themselves, as they say, they “doubt what AI chats say” (39,4%), that “AI will make people dependent on machines” (73,4%) or that “AI chats summon mental laziness” (78,5%). Therefore, the results point out antinomies in the use of AI systems: gratifications and concerns on machine learning dependency. Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Machine Learning; Education; Uses and Gratifications