This study investigated Artificial Intelligence in Education: Psychological Effects and Learning Outcomes of Public Secondary School Students in Abia State. Two research questions guided the study, and two hypotheses were formulated and tested at a 0.05 level of significance. The study employed a descriptive research design. The population of the study comprised 3220 SS II students in the public secondary schools in Umuahia North, Abia State. Five public secondary schools out of seventeen were selected in the Umuahia North Local Government Area for the study using a purposive sampling technique. The sample comprised 109 SS II students from the 5 schools sampled and used for the study. The instrument for data collection was a researcher-designed questionnaire titled “Psychological Effects and Learning Outcomes of Artificial Intelligence Questionnaire (PELOAIQ)”, it was validated by three experts and subjected to reliability using split-half reliability, which was done twice in 2-week intervals, and it yielded a coefficient of 0.80 and 0.83 for the first and second tests. These coefficients indicated that the instrument was reliable for the study. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions posed to guide the study. The findings from the study showed that students had a moderate agreement that AI has psychological impacts (both positive and negative). AI tends to increase motivation, engagement, and confidence but also raises concerns about distraction, dependency, and anxiety when unavailable; students generally perceive AI as having a positive influence on their academic performance, though concerns about over-dependence and limited task efficiency remain. The study concluded that artificial intelligence (AI) has a generally positive influence on students’ learning outcomes in public secondary schools. The study also recommends that teachers and school administrators should integrate AI tools into classroom teaching in a structured and balanced manner. Since students reported improvements in understanding difficult topics, creativity, and overall academic performance through AI use, educators should deliberately adopt AI-powered learning platforms to supplement teaching and provide timely feedback that enhances students’ progress.
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Information and Communication Technology, Learning Outcomes
