Relación entre el uso de herramientas de inteligencia artificial y la confianza en el desarrollo de tareas académicas en jóvenes universitarios.

Abstract

This research centers on the relationship between the use of artificial intelligence tools, and the confidence students place in their academic tasks, focusing on young university students from private institutions in Guayaquil. Two factors gave rise to the research problem, the growing incorporation of these tools into higher education, on one hand, and the limited evidence on whether their frequent use strengthens academic confidence or, on the contrary, fosters dependence and a loss of autonomy. This led to the study's general objective, which was to analyze that relationship. To that end, exploratory and descriptive cross-sectional designs were selected, and since the study followed a mixed approach, 234 surveys were applied to students along with four open interviews with professors experienced in artificial intelligence. From this, it was determined that ChatGPT leads the list of such tools. Additionally, 80.77% considered that it facilitates tasks, 76.92% noted that it saves time, more than 74% reported academic confidence, and close to 80% said they verify information and maintain autonomy in their work. Professors, for their part, confirmed these benefits as a form of support, although not everything was favorable, given the risks of dependence, errors, and a decline in independent reasoning. The Chi-square test revealed a statistically significant relationship between the level of use and perceived confidence, which allowed the null hypothesis to be rejected and the alternative hypothesis to be validated. It was therefore concluded that strengthening the use of artificial intelligence and academic confidence must be accompanied by responsible guidance and support, in order to safeguard students' judgment and autonomy.