Transformative landscape of ChatGPT in higher education: unveiling the academic discourse

Purpose Transformative generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools, such as ChatGPT, have revolutionized various sectors, including higher education. Since its release in November 2022, it has gathered attention from academia, scholars, students, regulators and education policymakers. Opinions diverge on whether ChatGPT’s use in academia should be circumscribed or regulated. To offer insights into some of these, this study synthesizes 139 contributions (articles and blogs) authored by instructors, publishers, professors, editors and education journalists in the education domain. Design/methodology/approach The study uses sentiment analysis and topic modelling to examine the 139 articles and blogs. Drawing on their insights, it firstly explores emotional dimensions of the content. Subsequently, using critical discourse analysis, it integrates them with emerging concerns (what and why), and explicates key processes (how) to inform academia, research, practice and policy. Findings Drawing on the results obtained from sentiment analysis, the study identifies that the overall sentiments surrounding generative AI tools such as ChatGPT in higher education are more positive (33%) than negative (11%). Using topic modelling, the study further highlights four thematic areas to explore benefits and challenges: perceptions and biases, pedagogical impact, ethical considerations and implementation and adoption. Research limitations/implications Limitations include the absence of student perspectives, which may offer deeper insights into perception, pedagogical impacts, and integrity-related issues. Additionally, while findings are applicable across various domains, specialized areas may present differing insights that could refine the conclusions. Originality/value Overall, contributors acknowledge the capabilities of generative AI tools like ChatGPT in enhancing students’ productivity. The findings suggest that it is likely to offer significant gains in the education domain, providing several benefits to both teachers and students. Nevertheless, they also consider its limitations, discrimination and bias, copyright infringement, plagiarism, fabricated unauthentic textual content and assessment bias.