Effect of artificial intelligence tool use on medical students' autonomous learning ability: the chain mediating role of general self-efficacy and critical thinking ability

Objective To explore the influence of artificial intelligence (AI) tool-assisted learning on medical students' autonomous learning ability, and the chain mediating role of general self-efficacy and critical thinking ability.

Methods General data questionnaire, self-efficacy scale, critical thinking ability scale and self-learning ability scale were used to investigate 3 010 freshmen, sophomores and juniors in 4 medical colleges in Anhui province.

Results Among the 3 010 medical students in this survey, 753 medical students (accounting for 25.02%) had never used AI tools to assist learning, 2 257 medical students (accounting for 74.98%) had used AI tools to assist learning. Compared with students who had not used AI-assisted learning, students who had used AI-assisted learning had higher scores on general self-efficacy, critical thinking and autonomous learning ability (P ＜ 0.01). Correlation analysis showed that the research variables AI tool-assisted learning, general self-efficacy, critical thinking ability and its dimensions, autonomous learning ability and its dimensions were significantly positively correlated (P ＜ 0.01). AI tool-assisted learning could not only directly affect the autonomous learning ability of medical students, but also indirectly affect the autonomous learning ability through three paths: first, the independent mediating effect of self-efficacy, second, the independent mediating effect of critical thinking ability, and third, the chain mediating effect of self-efficacy → critical thinking ability. The mediating effect accounted for 38.73% of the total effect value. The fitting index of the structural equation model was as follows: χ² = 159.111, χ²/df = 2.713, RMSEA = 0.044, GFI = 0.978, AGFI = 0.961, CFI = 0.981, NFI = 0.968, IFI = 0.973, indicating good fit of the model.

Conclusions AI tool-assisted learning in medical students can positively improve medical students' general self-efficacy, critical thinking ability and autonomous learning ability, and contribute to the achievement of training goals.