Humans or Machines for Teaching: Trust and Preferences among University Students

Recent developments in artificial intelligence (AI) have generated discussions around and expectations for its impact in education.In a society where AI plays an increasing role, a basic understanding for the technology and its potential is considered crucial.Still, many educators feel apprehensive towards the use of AI in education, which naturally affects students' opportunities to learn about and use AI-supported solutions.Users' preference and trust in relation to these tools also becomes important when integrated in education.Bringing light on students' perceptions of AI might help educators to better understand the value of such applications.The present study aims to provide insight into how university students perceive AI in general and, more particularly, the idea of having a machine performing tasks that have traditionally been handled by a teacher or a teaching assistant.The results are based on 140 Swedish and Taiwanese university students' responses to an online questionnaire.Our results indicate that the students have quite positive perceptions of AI: they might still not feel very competent in AI, but show a large interest in the topic and are positive about its consequences for society.Nevertheless they also see potential drawbacks of the technology.As a whole, our findings indicate that Swedish and female students tend to prefer human interactions over AI-supported tools for learning.