Generative AI adoption predicts student empowerment and academic dependency through sustainable learning outcomes in UAE higher education

The global rise in the usage of the GenAI tools including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Claude and many others have drastically changed the way of teaching, learning, and managing the flow of knowledge management in higher education. This study explores the relationship between GenAI tool adoption, AI literacy, and the quality of human AI interaction among UAE university students. The study further explores how AI usage in UAE higher education is associated with sustainable academic performance, offering a framework that can support UAE National Strategy for Sustainable Development Outcomes. This research also resolves two tensions/paradoxes, with the first paradox being whether GenAI empowers students or makes them dependent on it. Another paradox is whether GenAI functions as a scaffold which can enhance the capacity of a student or acts as a crutch that atrophies it. For the study Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (PL-SEM) technique is used on 255 UAE university students’ data. The findings provide evidence-based insights relevant to the attainment of SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities) by focusing on how GenAI adoption can promote equal, inclusive, and lifelong learning experiences in UAE higher education. This relationship is sequentially mediated by cognitive engagement and self-regulated learning. Academic self-efficacy and sustainable learning outcomes serves as the primary dependent variables, with a growth mindset being an important conditional boundary.