Generative AI (GenAI) has rapidly entered education, yet its user experience is often explained through adoption-oriented constructs such as usefulness, ease of use, and engagement. We argue that these constructs are no longer sufficient because systems such as ChatGPT do not merely support learning tasks but also participate in knowledge construction. Existing theories cannot explain why GenAI frequently produces experiences characterized by negotiated authority, redistributed cognition, and accountability tension. To address this gap, this paper develops the Human--AI Epistemic Partnership Theory (HAEPT), explaining the GenAI user experience as a form of epistemic partnership that features a dynamic negotiation of three interlocking contracts: epistemic, agency, and accountability. We argue that findings on trust, over-reliance, academic integrity, teacher caution, and relational interaction about GenAI can be reinterpreted as tensions within these contracts rather than as isolated issues. Instead of holding a single, stable view of GenAI, users adjust how they relate to it over time through calibration cycles. These repeated interactions account for why trust and skepticism often coexist and for how partnership modes describe recurrent configurations of human--AI collaboration across tasks. To demonstrate the usefulness of HAEPT, we applied it to analyze the UX of collaborative learning with AI speakers and AI-facilitated scientific argumentation, illustrating different contract configurations.

翻译：生成式人工智能（GenAI）已迅速进入教育领域，然而其用户体验常通过有用性、易用性和参与度等采纳导向的构念来解释。我们认为这些构念已不再充分，因为ChatGPT等系统不仅支持学习任务，还参与知识建构。现有理论无法解释为何GenAI频繁产生以协商权威、再分配认知和责任张力为特征的体验。为弥补这一不足，本文发展了人机认知伙伴关系理论（HAEPT），将GenAI用户体验解释为一种认知伙伴关系形式，其特点是三个相互关联契约的动态协商：认知契约、能动性契约和责任契约。我们认为，关于GenAI的信任、过度依赖、学术诚信、教师谨慎态度以及关系互动的发现，可被重新解释为这些契约内部的张力，而非孤立的问题。用户并非对GenAI持有单一、稳定的看法，而是通过校准循环随时间调整其与GenAI的关系。这些重复互动解释了为何信任与怀疑常常并存，以及伙伴关系模式如何描述跨任务的人机协作的重复配置。为展示HAEPT的实用性，我们将其应用于分析人工智能语音助手协作学习与人工智能促进科学论证的用户体验，阐释了不同的契约配置。