Beyond Artificial Intelligence Literacy: Conceptualising Digital Immunity against Hallucination Risks in Education

Abstract

The rapid integration of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools into students’ academic practices has brought not only benefits but also a hidden threat, namely AI hallucination. This phenomenon occurs when systems generate outputs that appear convincing but are in fact inaccurate, thus posing a critical challenge to academic integrity. This concept paper aims to elaborate and clarify the position of the concept of digital immunity against AI hallucination risk in educational contexts by developing a conceptual framework that integrates cognitive, behavioural and contextual dimensions of AI use. Its specific objectives are to explain the forms of AI hallucination risk in education, identify research gaps in AI literacy, propose a risk‑assessment instrument framework and discuss the implications of its implementation for learners, teachers and educational institutions. Methodologically, the paper employs document analysis and synthesis of recent literature, drawing on AI literacy frameworks, dual‑process theory, risk perception theory and information quality frameworks to shape the constructs of digital immunity and hallucination‑risk domains. The conceptual findings indicate the need for a valid and reliable psychometric instrument to assess risk awareness, the ability to detect false information and dependence on AI as a basis for planning pedagogical interventions. The main limitation of this study is the absence of empirical data to validate the proposed digital‑immunity framework and AI hallucination‑risk constructs. Hence, future studies may focus on developing and empirically validating a psychometric instrument to measure levels of digital immunity and AI hallucination risk among educational users. Fostering digital immunity is a crucial step to protect the cognitive safety of educators and learners, uphold academic integrity and align AI use with the aspirations of the national Digital Education Policy.