The Double-Edged Sword: A Systematic Review of AI-Powered Tools for Student Engagement and Personalised Learning in Zambian Higher Education

Background: The widespread adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) globally is transforming the higher education sector, and countries such as Zambia are keen to harness its potential. These ambitions are reflected in national policies, such as Zambia’s National AI Strategy (2024–2026), which aims to incorporate AI into key sectors, including education, to foster innovation and growth. Objective: The proposed paper offers a systematic literature review focused on synthesising and critically evaluating the existing evidence on how AI-powered learning tools can be utilised to boost student engagement and personalised learning amongst students in Zambian universities. It aims to map the current landscape and emphasise the tensions between strategic aims and practical realities. Methodology: A systematic literature review was carried out following PRISMA guidelines. Searches were conducted on Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, ERIC, and regional portals to gather peer-reviewed articles, conference papers, and official reports published between 2018 and 2025. A thematic analysis approach was used to synthesise the data extracted from the selected studies. Findings: The review offers a dual perspective. On one side, there is widespread awareness and active, student-led use of generative AI tools, motivated by their perceived usefulness and ease of use. The potential of AI to generate personalised, data-driven, and engaging learning experiences is well recognised. On the other side, this potential is significantly limited by systemic barriers. These include the deep digital divide, insufficient digital infrastructure, a lack of institutional policies on ethical use, widespread concerns about academic integrity, and the most critical gap: a lack of AI literacy and training for both faculty and students. Conclusion: The pathway to harness the transformative power of AI in Zambian higher education is not solely a technological matter but also an ecological one. It necessitates a collective, multi-stakeholder approach to fostering an enabling and ethical environment. There is a need to go beyond merely establishing high-level strategies and ensure that AI is genuinely implemented through targeted investments in infrastructure, the development of effective institutional policies, and the execution of large-scale capacity-building programmes aimed at promoting equitable educational development and preventing the widening of existing inequalities.