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Artificial intelligence (AI) and gamification have independently demonstrated potential for enhancing learning outcomes, yet how these two approaches converge when AI technologies are used to deliver formative feedback within gamified learning environments remains insufficiently synthesised. This systematic review examines the AI technologies employed, their reported effects on learning outcomes, the gamification configurations combined with AI feedback, and the ethical considerations identified across this emerging intersection. We reviewed 32 peer-reviewed empirical studies published from 2020 to 2025, identified from Scopus, Web of Science, IEEE Xplore, and ERIC following PRISMA guidelines. Findings show that adaptive scaffolding emerges as the dominant pedagogical function of AI in formative feedback design, accounting for nearly half of the corpus and aligning the field’s empirical centre with its theoretical centre. The reviewed studies converge in reporting positive effects across cognitive, affective, and metacognitive outcome domains, with twenty-one studies reporting statistically significant positive effects and no study reporting overall negative effects. AI-driven personalisation of gamification accounts for the largest integration pattern and concentrates the controlled comparisons that isolate the AI contribution. The corpus demonstrates substantive engagement with established ethical practices, while emerging considerations regarding algorithmic bias, AI hallucinations, and digital equity admit concrete design responses operationalised through a minimum reporting standard proposed in this review.
Gutierrez et al. (Fri,) studied this question.