Socio-technical system design in the context of generative AI: An empirical study

The emergence of ChatGPT has had disruptive effects on higher education. Socio-technical system design conceives of universities as organisations in which technical and social subsystems interact. The core of system design is the (new) division of tasks in the interaction between humans and machines. In order to examine ChatGPT as a socio-technical innovation in higher education, this study analyses the ethical principles for the use of AI and the frequency and type of ChatGPT use by students. The students surveyed (???? = 699) showed great uncertainty and concern regarding the ethical use of ChatGPT. The students use ChatGPT primarily as an aid to academic writing and occasionally as a learning aid (≈ 10%). Female students use ChatGPT significantly less than male students. The cluster analysis revealed three types: occasional users (≈ 50% of all students), regular users (≈ 35%) and intensive users (≈ 15%). The results of the study contribute to the discussion about university development from the perspective of socio-technical system design.