On the way to the AI era: The view of health sciences faculty department students on AI and technological unemployment

As artificial intelligence-supported technologies begin to develop rapidly in the health sector, as in other fields, the concern that the need for professionals will decrease has brought about concerns about unemployment. This study aims to determine the health department students' perspective on artificial intelligence and their anxiety about technological unemployment. Artificial intelligence is developing today mainly in information technologies, and it is expected that professions that are application-based and require personalized interventions will be less affected. For this reason, four departments that are thought to be least and most affected by artificial intelligence development were taken. In this direction, the sample size was determined to be at least n=196 (each group n=49) with an effect size of 0.30, a margin of error of 0.05, a confidence level of 0.95, and a representative power of 0.95 universe, and the study was completed with n=206 participants. 86.89% of the participants (n=179) were female, and the age range was between 18 and 38. It was determined that the students studying in the department of exercise and sports sciences had the highest technological unemployment anxiety with 35.41, while the students studying in the department of midwifery had the lowest technological unemployment anxiety with 29.64. As a result of the study, it can be concluded that increasing anxiety about technological unemployment affects readiness for artificial intelligence. It is thought that providing students with information on how artificial intelligence can affect their professions and how this technology can be used, as well as practical courses such as artificial intelligence command language and robotics, will help reduce the anxiety of technology-related unemployment.