Educational Administration: Theory and Practice

Universities have not widely accepted chatbots across the globe because of concerns about the threats they pose to the credibility of academic activities. This paper examines the media framing of messages about chatbots with the view to understand how this is likely to impact on South African universities’ acceptance of ChatGPT. Framing as theoretical standpoint and critical discourse analysis as a methodology are used to provide an in-depth review of two purposively sampled e-newspaper articles. Results show that the e-articles differ in their framing and tone regarding the acceptance of ChatGPT. The conflicting media views are likely to lead to a divided South African academic community on the matter. We encourage universities to embrace chatbots for their benefits while also taking steps to mitigate their threats.