We are not afraid of the wolf! – AI usage attitudes among Hungarian informatics students

Kusper, Gábor and Mátyás, György István and Balla, Tamás (2025) We are not afraid of the wolf! – AI usage attitudes among Hungarian informatics students. ANNALES MATHEMATICAE ET INFORMATICAE, 61. pp. 186-201. ISSN 1787-6117

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Abstract

We report a multi-instrument study of Hungarian informatics students’ attitudes toward generative AI in programming education. Large Language Models (LLMs) are increasingly used to generate code, explain concepts, and support coursework, raising questions about reliability, skill development, and job security. Our study, We Are Not Afraid of the Wolf!, conducted at Eszterházy Károly Catholic University, combined six surveys across two waves with BSc students in Computer Science and Business Informatics. We tested three hypotheses: H1—students are not concerned that increasingly intelligent AI tools will hinder their job prospects; H2—better programmers use AI more effectively for programming tasks; H3—better programmers evaluate AI-generated code more critically. Results: H1 was partially supported—most view AI as a tool and express limited near-term concern, though medium-term uncertainty remains. H2 received partial support: programmer-quality proxies (course grade and self-assessment) showed weakto- moderate positive associations with output in a 10-minute AI-assisted game development task. H3 was strongly supported: higher-competence students consistently review, debug, and seek to understand AI-generated code. Overall, students adopt a critical yet pragmatic stance: they leverage AI to increase efficiency while maintaining verification routines. The dataset is openly available and will be updated annually. So, there is new hope: higher education in informatics still makes sense, as in our results more skilled programmers outperform less skilled peers even when both use powerful AI tools.

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