Leveraging AI in education in Cambodia: A review of perceived concerns and associated benefits

Abstract

With current state-of-the-art advances in artificial intelligence (AI), especially large language models, such as Google’s Gemini, Microsoft's Copilot, and ChatGPT, among others, a plethora of research on this phenomenon has been conducted worldwide aiming to examine its limitations, benefits and ethical implications. Nonetheless, such a phenomenon has been rarely discussed and researched in the contexts, such as Cambodia. In light of this, this article aims to discuss perceived concerns and associated benefits of using AI in Cambodia’s education by extensively synthesizing various types of articles–research articles, opinion pieces, online newspapers, and other relevant documents. Based on a comprehensive review of the secondary sources, the article identified five perceived concerns related to the use of AI in Cambodia’s education, including privacy and security issues, decline in critical thinking and creativity, risks of academic misconduct, assessment issues, and superficial and biased information. Despite these concerns, the article also underscored a range of benefits, such as offering personalized learning, enabling better innovative assessment and pedagogy, supporting and enhancing productive administration, and providing academic writing support. The article begins by examining the perceived concerns surrounding the utilization of AI in education in Cambodia first, then it moves to the discussion of the associated benefits. The article ends with a conclusion by summarizing the key findings before calling for future research regarding the use of AI in the Cambodian context.