Students’ Perceived Benefits of Artificial Intelligence for Critical Reading: Evidence from Indonesian Public Islamic Elementary Schools

Artificial intelligence (AI) is gaining increasing attention in elementary education, yet technological access alone may not determine whether students perceive AI as educationally valuable. This study examined students’ perceived benefits of AI for critical reading and the contributions of gender, digital-contextual conditions, AI readiness and learning support, and perceived technical barriers. A cross-sectional survey involving 857 fifth-grade students from 22 public Islamic elementary schools (Madrasah Ibtidaiyah Negeri) across three regions of Indonesia was conducted. Exploratory factor analysis using principal axis factoring with Direct Oblimin rotation identified three constructs: Perceived AI Benefits for Critical Reading, AI Readiness and Learning Support, and Perceived Technical Barriers to AI Use. Hierarchical multiple regression showed that the final model explained 37.1% of the variance in perceived AI benefits. Digital-contextual conditions contributed only 1.0% additional variance and did not significantly improve the model. Adding AI Readiness and Learning Support and Perceived Technical Barriers increased the explained variance by 35.5%. This increase was primarily associated with AI Readiness and Learning Support, the strongest predictor (? = .601, p < .001), whereas Perceived Technical Barriers was not independently significant. Gender and smartphone ownership showed small but significant associations. The findings suggest that when basic digital access is relatively widespread, students’ perceived educational benefits of AI are more closely associated with readiness and learning support than with infrastructure alone, thus highlighting the importance of developmentally appropriate, pedagogically guided AI integration in elementary education.