ChatGPT’s benefits, acceptance, and ethical challenges for teaching and learning in key African countries: a systematic review of literature from 2022 to 2024

ChatGPT and its transformer-based deep learning algorithm has gained widespread recognition as a prominent chatbot due to its capacity to provide creative and unique content in seconds. OpenAI launched ChatGPT in November 2022 and is currently running GPT-4o, which is based on a large language model. This systematic review examines ChatGPT’s application in education across key African countries and suggests regulatory, policy and ethical solutions for fully using it in teaching and learning. The review analysed research on ChatGPT in education from 2022 to 2024 using the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis (PRISMA) model. After carefully sorting through 130 studies, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of 44 articles and summarized the findings on ChatGPT’s use in Africa. The findings indicate that ChatGPT has significantly helped in teaching and learning, but there are significant shortcomings in its ethical use, security, and data protection. These findings emphasise the importance of educational stakeholder engagements and the benefits of implementing ChatGPT in pedagogy while developing laws and policy frameworks for considerations by local and international regulatory agencies.