The double-edged sword of artificial intelligence: Gifted college students’ use of ChatGPT in academic writing

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HASANBAŞOĞLU B., BALOĞLU M.

Contemporary Educational Technology, cilt.18, sa.2, 2026 (ESCI, Scopus) identifier identifier identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 18 Sayı: 2
  • Basım Tarihi: 2026
  • Doi Numarası: 10.30935/cedtech/17984
  • Dergi Adı: Contemporary Educational Technology
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Scopus, EBSCO Education Source, Education Abstracts, ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Education Source Ultimate (EBSCO)
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: academic writing, academically gifted, ChatGPT, college students, gifted
  • Açık Arşiv Koleksiyonu: AVESİS Açık Erişim Koleksiyonu
  • Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

The introduction of artificial intelligence-powered large language models has revolutionized academic writing and transformed conventional practices into richer experiences, which has opened new avenues for brainstorming, drafting, and revising written work. This study examined how academically gifted college students used ChatGPT in academic writing. The participants were nine academically gifted students enrolled in a freshman English course at a tier-one public university in Türkiye. To examine the purposes and stages of use, we subjected students’ ChatGPT conversations to content analysis. Drawing on 52 chat prompts and a structured focus group, we mapped when and why gifted students deployed ChatGPT across planning, drafting, and revision. The findings identified several potential contributions (i.e., efficiency, adaptability, and incidental learning) and risks (i.e., integrity, reliability, originality, and dependence) of using the large language model tools, informing AI literacy, and assessment design in higher education.