When AI Becomes a Coping Mechanism: Exploring Student Dependency on Virtual Assistants

This study investigates why students rely on Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools on the basis of personality, workload, and affect. Data were gathered through the distribution of a purposive sampling online questionnaire to 276 students and respondents from all Indonesian higher education institutions (HEI) in the country. Data was segregated at the bottom to retain at least 257 valid respondents from the total 276 questionnaires to fulfill the data primary system and the confidence level of data outputs. The responses were analyzed through PLS SEM and analyzed. Results showed that negative affective states related to studies were caused by neuroticism and impulse. The increased workload on studies was AI dependent. The increased conscience burning perfectionism on studies did not show any AI dependent strong hesitance. Self AI perfectionism was thought to emotionally cope with the self, which suggests the increased AI dependency. The study posits that the dependency on AI tools must be on account of a highly sophisticated framework/infrastructure built on complex factors.