Leveraging the Power of AI in Undergraduate Computer Science Education: Opportunities and Challenges
Abstract
The paper analyzes the potential opportunities and challenges of incorporating advanced AI tools, such as ChatGPT, into undergraduate computer science education. Through a literature review, the current research on the use of AI in computer science education is summarized and gaps in the current literature are identified. The paper argues that with proper planning and support, the integration of AI tools in computer science education can enhance the curriculum and prepare students for both programming education and literature education. The limitations of ChatGPT and related AI tools are also discussed, including ethical implications and potential effects on teaching style and undergraduate research. The results of a simple survey show the current level of knowledge and usage of ChatGPT among faculty and undergraduate students in computer science majors. The paper concludes that while there are challenges to overcome, such as ethical concerns, an optimistic attitude towards the integration of AI into undergraduate computer science education can lead to positive outcomes and prepare students for the workforce.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Students and faculty will widely accept tools like ChatGPT due to their convenience and rapid growth.
“This aligns with Liu's [35] prediction that students and faculty will widely accept tools like ChatGPT due to their convenience and rapid growth.”
From Generative AI and Academic Integrity in Higher Education: A Systematic Review and Research Agenda (2025) · cites this paper as [35]
Cites
ChatGPT is fun, but not an author
Thorp, H. H. (2023) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.adg7879 · Cited by 1,437 · see citing works
New Technology and Digital Worlds: Analyzing Evidence of Equity in Access, Use, and Outcomes
Warschauer, M., & Matuchniak, T. (2010) · Review of Research in Education · doi:10.3102/0091732x09349791 · Cited by 1,047 · see citing works
The master algorithm: how the quest for the ultimate learning machine will remake our world
(2016) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.194685 · Cited by 808 · see citing works
OpenAI ChatGPT Generated Literature Review: Digital Twin in Healthcare
Aydın, Ö., & Karaarslan, E. (2022) · doi:10.2139/ssrn.4308687 · Cited by 391 · see citing works
ChatGPT: The End of Online Exam Integrity?
Susnjak, T. (2022) · arXiv · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2212.09292 · Cited by 370 · cited 2× · see citing works
“Unlike previous technologies, ChatGPT's advanced language generation and natural language processing capabilities have sparked panic among educators due to its potential to facilitate cheating in online assignments and tests [11].”
BackgroundChatGPT is not all you need. A state-of-the-art review of large generative AI models
Gozalo-Brizuela, R., & Garrido-Merchan, E. C. (2023) · arXiv · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2301.04655 · Cited by 245 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
1 of the 7 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Generative AI and Academic Integrity in Higher Education: A Systematic Review and Research Agenda
Bittle, K., & El-Gayar, O. (2025) · Information · doi:10.3390/info16040296 · Cited by 305 · see citing works
“This aligns with Liu’s [35] prediction that students and faculty will widely accept tools like ChatGPT due to their convenience and rapid growth.”
Software engineering education in the era of conversational AI: current trends and future directions
Sengul, C., Neykova, R., & Destefanis, G. (2024) · Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence · doi:10.3389/frai.2024.1436350 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
“Despite these concerns, the way forward is working toward a better-guided integration to computing classrooms (Chen E. et al., 2023; Graven and MacKinnon, 2023; Liu, 2023; Rajabi et al., 2023; Randall et al., 2023).”
BackgroundGarcia, M. B. (2025) · Education and Information Technologies · doi:10.1007/s10639-025-13452-5 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
“Ethical concerns represent a consistent theme across various research studies (Liu, 2023; Petrovska et al., 2024; York, 2023).”
The Education Leadership Challenges for Universities in a Postdigital Age
Ellis, R. A. (2024) · Postdigital Science and Education · doi:10.1007/s42438-024-00461-9 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
“…student understanding in areas like radiology (Adams et al. 2023), imaging for the education of nursing students (Reed 2023), its potential in the undergraduate science student experience (Liu 2023), and its value students studying art and their enhanced creativity (Hutson and Cotroneo 2023).”
Ethical considerations in artificial intelligence-driven environments for higher education
Mogoale, P. D., Pretorius, A. B., Mogase, R. C., & Segooa, M. A. (2025) · South African journal of information management · doi:10.4102/sajim.v27i1.2007 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Exploring the Adoption of Generative AI Tools in Computer Science Education: A Student Survey
Schefer-Wenzl, S., Vogl, C., Peiris, S., & Miladinović, I. (2024) · International Conference on Education Technology and Computer · doi:10.1145/3702163.3702188 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
“In [8], on the other hand, the potential opportunities and challenges of integrating advanced AI tools are discussed.”
Cabato, J. U. (2025) · LatIA · doi:10.62486/latia2025360 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Navigating the Ethical and Societal Impacts of Generative AI in Higher Computing Education
Mak, J., Nakatumba-Nabende, J., Clear, T., Clear, A., Abluwi, I., Andrei, O., Angeli, L., MacNeil, S., Oyelere, S. S., Hale Rattigan, M., et al. (2025) · Proceedings of the 2025 Working Group Reports on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education · doi:10.1145/3760545.3783975 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Haque, S., & Hundhausen, C. D. (2025) · ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research (ICER) · doi:10.1145/3702652.3744231 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Assessing the Impact of Integrating ChatGPT as an Advice Generator in Educational Software
Troussas, C., Krouska, A., Papakostas, C., Phivos Mylonas, B., & Sgouropoulou, C. (2024) · South-East Europe Design Automation, Computer Engineering, Computer Networks and Social Media Conference (SEEDA-CECNSM) · doi:10.1109/seeda-cecnsm63478.2024.00031 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Buinevich, M., Шкерин, А. Л., Smolentseva, T., & Puchkova, M. A. (2024) · International Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning in Higher Education (TELE) · doi:10.1109/tele62556.2024.10605664 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Integrating programming into the modern undergraduate economics curriculum
Hashimzade, N., Kirsanov, O., & Kirsanova, T. (2025) · International Review of Economics Education · doi:10.1016/j.iree.2025.100310 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“As pointed out by Liu (2023), current capabilities of ChatGPT and similar tools are limited in debugging and data-driven numerical calculations.”
Application of Artificial Intelligence in the Higher Education System
Batsurovska, I., Доценко, Н. А., Gorbenko, O. A., Polyansky, P., & Баранова, О. В. (2024) · IEEE International Conference on Computer Sciences and Information Technologies (CSIT) · doi:10.1109/csit65290.2024.10982659 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
“The issue looks at ways to improve the educational system and promote lifelong learning in order to produce skilled laborers for the energy sector [28].”
Code Comprehension Problems in Introductory Programming to Overcome ChatGPT
Rebollido, F. Y., & Caro, J. D. L. (2024) · Lecture notes in networks and systems · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-73344-4_50 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
WIP Post-Assessment Processes Given the Rise of Generative AI: Findings from the Literature
Mohammed, C., & Rocke, S. (2024) · IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE) · doi:10.1109/fie61694.2024.10893183 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“[11, 26, 27] Look for telltale signs of GAI use, like errors of fact [27] Manual reviews of code, looking for unusual patterns, style inconsistencies; suspicious comments [30] A. Policy Approaches Some scholars address GAI misuse detection as part of larger policy frameworks [10, 21, 31].”
InfluentialBaynes, A., & Liao, H. (2024) · IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE) · doi:10.1109/fie61694.2024.10892963 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“The significance of technology in leveling the educational playing field for first-generation students is well-documented [2], [9], [10], and [11].”
Cultivating Artificial Intelligence Literacy in Computer Science Education: A Systematic Review
Nuder, A., & Dai, C. (2025) · Proceedings. · doi:10.22318/icls2025.113076 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Wu, Q., Chang, H. J., & Ma, L. (2025) · Journal of Advanced Academics · doi:10.1177/1932202x251362944 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“Especially, many research has been done on how AI can be used in education in many different capacities (Ai, 2023; Assiri et al., 2022; Attri et al., 2023; Furman, 2024; Jing et al., 2023; Liu, 2023; Mayahi & Al-Bahri, 2020; Poudyal et al., 2020).”
De-La-Cruz-Vasquez, A., Flor-Cunza, H., Lara-Herrera, J., & Romero-Untiveros, L. (2024) · International Symposium on Accreditation of Engineering and Computing Education (ICACIT) · doi:10.1109/icacit62963.2024.10788591
“Specifically, higher education institutions must capitalize on the advantages that AI provides to revolutionize the educational process and elevate the quality of teaching they deliver [1].”
Azeroual, O. (2025) · Advances in computational intelligence and robotics book series · doi:10.4018/979-8-3373-5097-4.ch015
Exploring the Impact of ChatGPT in a Grade 9 Introductory Programming Course in the Philippines
Rebollido, F. Y., Caro, J. D. L., & Laurea, M. R. R. (2026) · Lecture notes in networks and systems · doi:10.1007/978-3-032-10827-2_7
Goslen, A., Vandenberg, J. L., Aguiar, C., Min, W., Cateté, V., & Mott, B. (2026) · Communications in computer and information science · doi:10.1007/978-3-032-29788-4_47
Learner-Identified UX Challenges and Design Implications in Game-Based Algorithm Learning
Hamandi, L., Zantout, I., Huang, E., & Imran, H. (2026) · Western Canadian Conference on Computing Education · doi:10.1145/3828792.3828805
- Authors
- Liu, Y.
- Affiliations
- Gannon University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Liu, Yunkai
- ORCID
- Liu, Yunkai
- Venue
- 2023 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE)
- Publisher
- IEEE
- Published
- 2023-10-18
- Pages
- 1-5
- ISSN
- 0190-5848 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4390621685
- Cited by
- 22
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 10
- FWCI
- 5.66
- Type
- conference paper
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE) (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Artificial Intelligence in Education
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Science Applications › Teaching and Learning Programming
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Health Informatics › Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare and Education
- Keywords
- artificial intelligence in education, ChatGPT, undergraduate computer science education, programming education, curriculum integration, AI ethics, teaching styles, undergraduate research, employee training
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review