Research Article

The double-edged sword of artificial intelligence: Gifted college students’ use of ChatGPT in academic writing

Burçin Hasanbaşoğlu 1 , Mustafa Baloglu 2 *
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1 Department of Modern Languages, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, TURKEY2 Department of Special and Gifted Education, College of Education, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES* Corresponding Author
Contemporary Educational Technology, 18(2), April 2026, ep637, https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/17984
Published: 26 February 2026
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ABSTRACT

The introduction of artificial intelligence-powered large language models has revolutionized academic writing and transformed conventional practices into richer experiences, which has opened new avenues for brainstorming, drafting, and revising written work. This study examined how academically gifted college students used ChatGPT in academic writing. The participants were nine academically gifted students enrolled in a freshman English course at a tier-one public university in Türkiye. To examine the purposes and stages of use, we subjected students’ ChatGPT conversations to content analysis. Drawing on 52 chat prompts and a structured focus group, we mapped when and why gifted students deployed ChatGPT across planning, drafting, and revision. The findings identified several potential contributions (i.e., efficiency, adaptability, and incidental learning) and risks (i.e., integrity, reliability, originality, and dependence) of using the large language model tools, informing AI literacy, and assessment design in higher education.
Keywords: ChatGPT, academically gifted, academic writing, college students, gifted

CITATION (APA)

Hasanbaşoğlu, B., & Baloglu, M. (2026). The double-edged sword of artificial intelligence: Gifted college students’ use of ChatGPT in academic writing. Contemporary Educational Technology, 18(2), ep637. https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/17984

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