“It’s thrilling and liberating, but I worry”: Explorations of AI-induced emotions from a dialogical perspective

This study explores the emotional experiences of students using Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT in higher education from a Bakhtinian, dialogic perspective. This perspective helps understand emotions arising within communication between humans, non-humans, and the self), and examines the unique I-It emotional tensions in human-AI interactions. LLMs are considered dialogic partners, not mere tools. Current research lacks studies on whether AIgenerated emotions differ from human-generated emotions. This study aims to understand the lived emotional experiences and their subjective meanings to students. Through an anonymous open-ended survey of 195 students, four key emotional themes were identified: Empowered Curiosity, Ethical Anxiety, Cognitive Relief, and Ambivalent Transformation. Findings indicate that AI systems introduce new emotional responses distinct from those generated in human interactions, characterized as ambiguous assemblages of liberating and morally questionable meanings. This research contributes to new cultural understandings of the psychological impact of AI in education and discusses the development of emotionally aware AI-enhanced instruction to help students gain and develop their emotional authorial agency in and through learning.