Adopting AI chatbots in studio-based learning: exploring the interplay of technology readiness and academic burnout

In project-intensive, studio-based courses (e.g., Architecture, Interior Design), rigorous pedagogical demands often induce high student stress and workload. This conceptual paper proposes a theoretical framework linking student technology readiness and academic burnout to the adoption of AI chatbots in design education. Drawing on Parasuraman’s Technology Readiness Index (TRI) and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the framework posits that drivers (optimism, innovativeness) enhance trust and perceived usefulness, thereby facilitating chatbot adoption, while inhibitors (discomfort, insecurity) obstruct it. Concurrently, academic burnout (characterized by exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced efficacy) is theorized to exert a dual influence on technology uptake: severe burnout hinders engagement with new tools due to cognitive fatigue, whereas moderate burnout motivates students to seek AI chatbot assistance as a functional coping strategy to manage heavy workloads. By emphasizing the unique dynamics of creative design studios, this model highlights how these personal and environmental interactions are amplified. As a conceptual study, this paper provides explicit propositions to guide future empirical validation alongside practical pedagogical strategies such as structured AI training and support resources aimed at strategically integrating AI tools while protecting the students’ well-being.