The rapid integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and generative AI (GenAI) into education presents significant opportunities to enhance teaching and learning, while raising ethical concerns regarding the responsible use of these technologies in educational settings. Understanding public perception and debate on these issues is increasingly important for educators, institutions, and policymakers aiming for responsible and equitable AI integration. Social media platforms serve as crucial venues for such debates, offering a valuable lens for capturing large-scale, real-time public reactions.
This study analyzes five years of discourse on Twitter (now X) from 2019 to 2024, tracing the evolution of public conversation around AI ethics in education, with a focus on the release of ChatGPT as a pivotal moment that reshaped the nature and tone of the discourse. Using BERT-based topic modeling and SetFit sentiment analysis, we identify dominant themes and track sentiment over time. The findings reveal a predominantly positive discourse throughout the observation period, with negative sentiment concentrated around specific ethical controversies.
Recently, concerns about academic integrity and the broader implications of generative AI have begun to dominate the conversation. Rather than reflecting a polarized debate, public discourse appears pragmatic and largely receptive to AI integration, though accompanied by increasing calls for ethical oversight and institutional accountability.
By providing a longitudinal account of public sentiment surrounding AI ethics in education, this study informs educators, institutions, and policymakers with an empirically grounded understanding of public expectations, aiding in the development of responsible, transparent, and equitable approaches to AI integration across educational contexts.