EVALUATİON OF UNİVERSİTY STUDENTS' ARTİFİCİAL INTELLİGENCE LEARNİNG AND JOB REPLACEMENT ANXİETY: THE CASE OF AUTONOMOUS VEHİCLES AND SMART HOMES

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) offers practical solutions in many areas in business and social life with applications and innovations using machine learning and deep learning. Even though artificial intelligence contributes significantly to the global economy, the concerns of the anxiety of occupation change have been hotly debated recently. It is predicted that millions of people will need to find new jobs or improve their professional skills with the developments in artificial intelligence. This study evaluates university students' AI learning and job replacement concerns. In addition, it is explored how students perceive the effect of automation developed with artificial intelligence for smart homes and autonomous vehicles. The study group of the research consists of 280 students studying at a Turkish state University. The artificial intelligence anxiety scale developed by Wang and Wang (2019) and the scale that evaluates the perceived benefit and anxiety for smart home and autonomous vehicles compiled by Chen and Lee (2019) were used. Results were obtained using exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, independent sample t-test, and regression analysis. The study's findings illustrated that 70.7% of the participants are interested in AI. Even though 86.8% of the students stated that they did not take a course on AI, 83.9% stated they wanted to attend a course related to AI. AI learning and job replacement anxiety of the Management Information Systems students were significantly higher than those of other departments. It was also revealed that women have higher anxiety about autonomous vehicles and smart homes. It was concluded that the anxiety about AI learning is related to the anxiety about autonomous vehicles and smart homes.