Automatically Generated Subtitles and Closed Captions: ESP Students’ Perceptions of Artificial Intelligence Hallucinations

This article is an exploratory study which re-evaluates the use of automatically generated subtitles and closed captions inside and outside the classroom with the help of questionnaire responses from twenty-eight students of Chemical and Process Engineering who were learning English for Specific Purposes (ESP) as part of their compulsory classes. By focusing on AI errors in closed captions and subtitles this research explores an area that is presently absent from the literature. This article gives an insight into how students perceive the AI errors or hallucinations they encounter and establishes three learner profiles based on their answers. The findings show a large degree of autonomy in students’ use of captions and subtitles while at the same time giving insight into their beliefs about generative AI.