Higher education teachers’ perspectives on the ethical challenges of using artificial intelligence—a case study in the Alto Alentejo region, Portugal

Background The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly generative AI, in higher education is transforming teaching, learning, and assessment practices, while simultaneously raising ethical concerns related to academic integrity, authorship, and critical thinking. Understanding teachers’ ethical perceptions is essential for responsible AI integration in academic environments. Methods A mixed-methods, cross-sectional study was conducted, combining quantitative descriptive and correlational analyses with qualitative content analysis. Data were collected through an online questionnaire ad-ministered to 119 professors from a Portuguese higher education institution in the Alto Alentejo region. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests, and open-ended responses were examined using thematic content analysis. Results The findings reveal widespread use of AI tools among professors, mainly for pedagogical content creation and document summarization. The most frequently identified ethical challenges were authorship and plagiarism, academic integrity, misinformation, and lack of regulation. Younger and female professors reported higher levels of self-reported ethical awareness indicators, while no significant association was found between frequency of AI use and ethical sensitivity. Qualitative analysis highlighted concerns related to critical thinking, assessment fairness, and the preservation of human-centered pedagogy. Conclusion This study examines higher education professors’ ethical awareness regarding the use of artificial intelligence, focusing on perceived ethical challenges, knowledge of ethical principles, and experiences with ethical dilemmas.