A Study on AI Dependency

Purpose: This study investigates the adverse effects of excessive reliance on generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, on the development of critical 21st-century skills among university students. It explores the paradoxical relationship between AI dependency and the erosion of communication, creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, and social confidence, while also examining the emergent construct of alienation in AI-mediated learning environments.Methods: A sequential explanatory mixed-methods design was employed, combining a quantitative survey of 333 Bangladeshi business students analyzed via Structural Equation Modeling (SEM-PLS) with qualitative interviews of professors and students across the Indian Subcontinent. The study tested seven hypotheses linking Artificial Intelligence Dependency (AID) to skill degradation and alienation, grounded in Marx’s theory of alienation and Foucault’s panopticism.Results: Findings revealed statistically significant negative impacts of AID on all measured competencies (β = 0.433–0.568, *p*