Is AI Trust a Barrier or a Booster? A Posteriori Segmentation of Generative AI Entrepreneurship Intention Among Indonesian Youth

This study examines how trust in generative AI relates to digital entrepreneurship intention among Indonesian youth who have used ChatGPT. Indonesia is a theoretically important context because AI adoption is accelerating, yet effective-use gaps, uneven digital skills and evolving governance arrangements shape whether AI becomes entrepreneurial opportunity or a source of caution. Survey data from 549 respondents were analyzed using PLS-SEM and prediction-oriented segmentation in SmartPLS. In the pooled model, AI trust does not have a significant direct association with digital entrepreneurship intention. However, AI trust positively relates to AI skills and supports an indirect pathway to intention through capability development. Segmentation reveals two subgroups with opposing trust-to-intention and skills-to-intention dynamics, while the trust-to-skills link remains positive in both groups. These findings suggest that, in the Indonesian youth context, trust matters less as a universal trigger of entrepreneurial intention than as an enabler of learning and skill accumulation. The study extends Social Cognitive Theory by showing that the translation of AI-related capability into entrepreneurial intention is context-sensitive and heterogeneous in an emerging economy setting.