Self-directed learning in silence: graduate students’ navigation of AI use in academic contexts

This qualitative study, conducted in Türkiye, explores graduate students’ perceptions of and experiences with artificial intelligence (AI) tools in higher education contexts. While AI technologies are increasingly integrated into higher education, their use raises concerns about reliability, originality, ethics, and their influence on critical thinking and creativity. Drawing on Self-Directed Learning (SDL) Theory as an adult learning lens, the research shows that graduate students’ engagement with AI is shaped by their digital literacy, ethical awareness, and efforts to balance autonomy with institutional expectations. The findings suggest that adult learners mostly use AI in deliberate and analytical ways, guided by contextual awareness and discipline-specific expectations, while also negotiating stigma that sometimes leads to concealment. These dynamics position AI simultaneously as a facilitator of SDL and a source of ethical tension in higher education while reflecting adult learners’ broader negotiations of autonomy, identity, and responsibility in academic settings.