The Influence of AI Tool Dependence on Students’ Perceived Preparedness and Confidence in Higher Education

Abstract

As AI tools are becoming more integrated in higher education, how these tools may impact students’ perceptions of their own independent writing and communication skills has been questioned. This study seeks to understand how reliance on AI writing tools in higher education influences students’ perceived preparedness and confidence in their independent writing and communication skills. Survey data was collected from 102 university students; after removing incomplete entries, 99 responses were included in the final analysis. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, Spearman correlations, and Mann-Whitney U tests. The tests reveal that greater AI reliance is associated with lower self-perception with respect to writing, and a reduced comfort in writing independently without the use of AI. However, respondents overall report high levels of perceived preparedness for tasks in the workforce and mainly believe that the removal of AI would not affect their academic performance. The disconnect suggests that the effect of AI use for writing and communication tasks on students’ confidence may be subtle and unrecognized by the students themselves. These results contribute to a growing body of literature on AI use in higher education and prompts the need of further research into how AI use shapes students’ self perceptions and skill development long-term.

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