Beyond the AI Hype: How Students' Psychological Distance From AI Affects Their AI‐Powered Learning Experience and Satisfaction

ABSTRACT The disruptive use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in education, such as ChatGPT, has raised questions about how this innovation affects students' learning and knowledge acquisition. This article focuses on understanding how psychological distance theory can help us gain insight into students' perceptions of AI and its impact on their learning experience. A quantitative study investigates the effects of AI psychological distance on their AI‐powered learning experience and satisfaction. It also explores the moderating effect of guilt related to using ChatGPT on mmunications of the Association for Information this process. The results indicate that a proximal AI psychological distance leads to a better valuation of the functional, epistemic, social, emotional, conditional, and image aspects of the AI‐powered learning experience. They also highlight the key role of the epistemic, conditional, and image values in shaping students' satisfaction. The feeling of guilt moderates these links as it reduces the influence of AI psychological distance closeness on the functional and emotional values of such a learning experience. This study underscores the need for further research to investigate the factors that affect this psychological distance and invites to engage in this critical study area.