Perceptions Of Generative AI in the Global South: A Scoping Review

Abstract

New generative AI (GenAI) tools are largely a product of the Global North but have rapidly spread worldwide. This scoping review examines the current perceptions of Generative AI in higher education across the Global South by analysing 75 papers published between 2022-2025. Following the PRISMA-ScR methodology, the review categorised the findings into five main areas: GenAI acceptance and adoption, implications and challenges, academic integrity considerations, educational practices, and equity concerns. The analysis reveals that GenAI offers transformative possibilities for personalised learning, research support, and administrative efficiency in higher education across the Global South, but its implementation faces significant barriers, including infrastructure limitations, human capital deficiencies, ethical concerns, inadequate policy frameworks, and contextual challenges. Notably, equity considerations have received the least research attention despite their critical importance in inclusive education. This review also identified substantial gaps in the literature, including limited geographic representation, stakeholder imbalance, and insufficient exploration of long-term outcomes. The authors recommend that future research prioritise equity-centred approaches, methodological diversity, contextual specificity, implementation science, and interdisciplinary collaboration to better understand how Generative AI can enhance educational opportunities without reinforcing existing disparities across the diverse contexts of the Global South.