Applying al-Ghazali’s views of intention in the usage of generative artificial intelligence (genAI) among university students

Abstract

The rapid development of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) within higher education creates a complex ethical dilemma, challenging and likely compromising the foundations of academic integrity. Although these tools provide powerful assistance, the distinction between their legitimate use and academic misconduct is often blurred, highlighting the urgent need for a comprehensive ethical framework to guide their utilisation. While many studies have addressed this problem, there is a significant lack of moral philosophy-based approaches, especially from the Islamic philosophy approach. This study aims to address this gap by turning to the moral philosophy of Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, focusing specifically on his views of intention. In al-Ghazali's view, intention serves as a fundamental ethical principle that defines the moral nature of an action; the moral value of an act is rooted in the intention behind it. This research first aims to explore the implications of GenAI in higher education. This study also seeks to analyse al-Ghazali’s views of intention from the perspectives of moral philosophy and to explore the relevance of al-Ghazali’s views on students’ academic integrity in their use of GenAI. Employing a qualitative research design, this study conducted a thematic analysis of al-Ghazali's works, mainly Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn, to construct a framework of intentionality. This framework subsequently was applied to analyse data gathered from interviews with undergraduate university students from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, regarding their intentions for using GenAI applications, specifically ChatGPT, along with insights from lecturers concerning their views on incorporating this ethical framework to enhance academic integrity in students' learning journeys. The findings reveal that a student's ethical use of ChatGPT is predicated on the quality of their underlying intention, which is itself determined by their possession of the three forms of knowledge outlined by al-Ghazali. This research finds that the framework of al-Ghazali is a powerful diagnostic and formative tool that not only can be used to evaluate ethical readiness but also to develop institutional policies and educational interventions aimed at instilling integrity internally, instead of only imposing the rules externally