College Students’ Use and Perceptions of AI Tools in the UAE: Motivations, Ethical Concerns and Institutional Guidelines

This survey study aims to understand how college students use and perceive artificial intelligence (AI) tools in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It reports students’ use, perceived motivations, and ethical concerns and how these variables are interrelated. Responses (n = 822) were collected from seven universities in five UAE emirates. The findings show widespread use of AI tools (79.6%), with various factors affecting students’ perceptions about AI tools. Students also raised concerns about the lack of guidance on using AI tools. Furthermore, mediation analyses revealed the underlining psychological mechanisms pertaining to AI tool adoption: perceived benefits fully mediated the relationship between AI knowledge and usefulness perceptions, peer pressure mediated the relationship between academic stress and AI adoption intent, and ethical concerns fully mediated the relationship between ethical perceptions and support for institutional AI regulations. The findings of this study provide implications for the opportunities and challenges posed by AI tools in higher education. This study is one of the first to provide empirical insights into UAE college students’ use of AI tools, examining mediation models to explore the complexity of their motivations, ethical concerns, and institutional guidance. Ultimately, this study offers empirical data to higher education institutions and policymakers on student perspectives of AI tools in the UAE.