Rethinking Graduate AI Competence: A Holistic AI Literacy Model for Higher Education

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming graduate research, writing, and decision-making in higher education, yet student engagement with these tools often remains uncritical, ethically uncertain, and rhetorically passive. This article reconceptualizes graduate AI competence as holistic AI literacy that integrates media, critical, and rhetorical dimensions. Using an exploratory case study design, the study analyzes survey data from graduate students across four national contexts, complemented by observations from public academic events on AI in higher education. Findings reveal a persistent use–competence gap: frequent reliance on AI coexists with limited verification practices, ethical ambiguity, and low awareness of AI’s persuasive influence. In response, the article proposes a holistic AI literacy model and outlines implications for curriculum design, assessment practices, and institutional policies supporting responsible human–AI collaboration in graduate education.