The rapid proliferation of generative artificial intelligence tools among university students today, while contributing to educational processes, also increases the risk of addiction. This study quantitatively investigated the relationship between digital competence levels and AI addiction among university students in a sample of 401 volunteer participants from Selçuk University and Necmettin Erbakan University. The findings showed that participants had high levels of digital competence and relatively low levels of AI addiction. Digital tool usage time, news consumption/digital information searching, digital empathy, digital media use, and digital content creation were found to have a positive and significant effect on AI addiction, while digital security had a negative and significant effect. The study also found that the perception of AI use played a partial mediating role in the effect of digital competence on AI addiction. This study is expected to provide an original contribution to the literature on the relationship between digital competence and AI addiction, as well as generating important data for future research.
Bal et al. (Mon,) studied this question.