Generative AI Use and Critical Thinking among University Students

How students use artificial intelligence and what they learn from it cannot be ignored. According to how often people use AI tools, the groups were divided, and then descriptive statistics, Welch's ANOVA test and independent-sample t-tests were carried out to compare the critical-thinking scores of these groups. Based on the above description, the mean critical-thinking scores of the four groups using AI are relatively high. However, Welch's ANOVA showed that there were no significant differences among the four groups (F(3, 24.71) = 1.586, p = .218). The two groups were divided into regular and non-regular AI users; the mean critical-thinking scores of the regular-use group (50.06) and the non-regular-use group (45.42) were significantly higher for the regular-use group; t(100) = 2.948, p = .004, and Cohen's d = .750. Based on the above results, the impact of AI on students' critical thinking ability is not straightforward; it may vary according to how they use AI. AI can help students learn better by learning to think independently; however, if they rely on AI too much, they may not develop their own thinking skills. Given the small sample size, uneven distribution of groups, self-reported data, cross-sectional design, etc., only associations can be concluded from the results and not cause-and-effect relationships.