Paper Type
Complete
Paper Number
PACIS2026-1986
Description
Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is increasingly reshaping how students learn, reason, and create, raising pressing questions about agency, trust, and moral responsibility. While information systems (IS) research has emphasized organizational governance and design ethics, less is known about how students develop ethical awareness in everyday AI use. This study applies a systematic grounded theory lens to a mixed-format survey of 69 Japanese university students. We develop a process model of how students negotiate ethical coexistence with GenAI. The analysis identifies an iterative moral trajectory, from recognition of power and risk to ethical anxiety, reflexive evaluation, and conditional trust. We capture this process in the grounded model Negotiating Ethical Coexistence with AI (NECoAI). NECoAI conceptualizes ethical learning as an ongoing process of moral calibration rather than a static belief or competence. The findings extend responsible AI research in IS by centering ethical sensemaking in use and emphasizing reflective, human-centered AI education.
Recommended Citation
Tas, Eylem and Bittner, Eva, "Negotiating Ethical Coexistence with AI: A Grounded Theory of Japanese Students’ Conditional Trust, Agency, and the Development of Critical AI Literacy" (2026). PACIS 2026 Proceedings. 15.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/pacis2026/is_education/is_education/15
Negotiating Ethical Coexistence with AI: A Grounded Theory of Japanese Students’ Conditional Trust, Agency, and the Development of Critical AI Literacy
Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is increasingly reshaping how students learn, reason, and create, raising pressing questions about agency, trust, and moral responsibility. While information systems (IS) research has emphasized organizational governance and design ethics, less is known about how students develop ethical awareness in everyday AI use. This study applies a systematic grounded theory lens to a mixed-format survey of 69 Japanese university students. We develop a process model of how students negotiate ethical coexistence with GenAI. The analysis identifies an iterative moral trajectory, from recognition of power and risk to ethical anxiety, reflexive evaluation, and conditional trust. We capture this process in the grounded model Negotiating Ethical Coexistence with AI (NECoAI). NECoAI conceptualizes ethical learning as an ongoing process of moral calibration rather than a static belief or competence. The findings extend responsible AI research in IS by centering ethical sensemaking in use and emphasizing reflective, human-centered AI education.
Comments
04-DigitalLearning