Academic Discipline and AI Literacy Among UPM Students: An Investigation Involving Self-Directed Learning Readiness

Abstract

The growing integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in higher education has positioned AI literacy as an important competency across disciplines. This exploratory cross-sectional study examined whether AI literacy differed across three disciplinary groups at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and whether self-directed learning readiness (SDLR) was associated with AI literacy and could help explain faculty-level differences. A total of 312 students from the Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, Faculty of Educational Studies, and Faculty of Forestry and Environment participated through non-probability quota/purposive recruitment. One-way ANOVA and regression analyses showed significant faculty differences in AI literacy, whereas SDLR did not differ significantly across faculties. SDLR was positively associated with AI literacy and explained 13.4% of its variance. The available results did not provide evidence that SDLR accounted for the observed faculty differences; this mediation interpretation is treated cautiously because the archived analysis output did not contain the indirect-effect bootstrap estimate and confidence interval. The findings therefore establish associations between faculty membership, SDLR, and AI literacy rather than causal or structural mechanisms. They support further research on curriculum exposure, access to AI resources, prior training, and instructional practices across disciplinary contexts.