Comparative Study of the Attitudes and Perceptions of University Students in Business Administration and Management and in Education toward Artificial Intelligence

• Published in: Education sciences 2023-06, Vol.13 (6), p.609
• Main Authors: Almaraz-López, Cristina, Almaraz-Menéndez, Fernando, López-Esteban, Carmen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Algorithms; Analysis; Artificial intelligence; Attitudes; business administration and management; Careers; College Students; Comparative Analysis; Computational linguistics; Education; Education parks; Educational technology; higher education; Language processing; Learning Processes; Machine learning; Medical students; Natural language interfaces; Perceptions; Public opinion; School facilities; Science; Spain; Statistical analysis; Teaching Methods; university; University students
• ISSN: 2227-7102; 2227-7102
• DOI: 10.3390/educsci13060609

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a disruptive technology that nowadays has countless applications in many day-to-day and professional domains. Higher education institutions need to adapt both to changes in their processes and to changes in curricula brought on by AI. Studying students’ attitudes toward AI can be useful for analyzing what changes in AI teaching need to be implemented. This article uses an electronic survey to study the attitudes of Spanish students in the fields of economics and business management and education. A learning experience was also implemented with a small subset of students as a hands-on introduction to AI, where students were prompted to reflect on their experiences as users of AI. The results show that students are aware of AI’s impact and are willing to further their education in AI, although their current knowledge is limited due to a lack of training. We believe that AI education should be expanded and improved, especially by presenting realistic use cases and the real limitations of the technology, so that students are able to use AI confidently and responsibly in their professional future.