ChatGPT as a generative AI language model, has aroused a heated discussion on its application in the field of higher education. At present, universities around the world have different attitudes towards ChatGPT, which reflects the hidden worries about the application of ChatGPT in the field of higher education. These worries mainly involve weakening the subjectivity of students’ learning, threatening the cognition of university teachers’ identity and impacting on academic ethics. This anxiety stems in part from concerns about the impact of the new information technology revolution on the shape of education and the logic of materialization in higher education. Therefore, it is necessary to insist to the value criterion of people-oriented and rationally view the human-machine relationship in the era of artificial intelligence， and insist to the true nature of higher education and let the practice of higher education return to the goal of shaping students’ minds. At the same time, we should take the initiative to meet the challenges brought by ChatGPT and take defensive measures.