Exploring Greek Upper Primary School Students’ Perceptions of Artificial Intelligence: A Qualitative Study Across Cognitive, Emotional, Behavioral, and Ethical Dimensions

This study investigates the perceptions of Greek sixth-grade students regarding Artificial Intelligence (AI). Understanding students’ pre-instructional conceptions is essential for developing targeted interventions that build on existing knowledge rather than assuming conceptual deficits. A qualitative design was employed with 229 students from seven elementary schools in Athens, Greece. Data were collected through open-ended questions and word association tasks, then analyzed using Walan’s AI perceptions framework as an integrated set of analytical lenses (cognitive, affective, behavioral/use, and ethical considerations). Findings revealed that students hold multifaceted conceptions of AI. Cognitively, they described AI as robots, computational systems, software tools, and autonomous learning programs. Affectively, they expressed ambivalence, balancing appreciation of AI’s usefulness with concerns over potential risks. Behaviorally, they identified interactive question–answer functions, creative applications, and everyday assistance roles. Ethically, students raised issues of responsible use, societal implications, and human–AI relationships. This study contributes to international research, highlighting that primary students’ understandings of AI are more nuanced than is sometimes assumed, and offer empirical insights for designing culturally responsive, ethically informed AI literacy curricula.