Development and Validation of AI Acceptance Scale (AI-AS) for Learners in Higher Education

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) applications in educational activities is increasing day by day. This situation highlights the need for valid and reliable measurement tools to determine students' levels of acceptance of this technology. This study aims to develop a standard measurement tool to determine students' levels of acceptance of AI. To this end, the systematic scale development steps proposed by DeVellis and Thorpe (2021) were followed. Exploratory factor analysis conducted with 560 participant responses and confirmatory factor analysis conducted with 950 participant responses resulted in a 26-item, 5-factor structure. The factors included in the scale were listed as "usability", "ease of use", "intention and attitude", "facilitating conditions" and "trust and data privacy". The findings revealed that the scale had high internal consistency and exhibited satisfactory model fit indices. The results indicate that the scale is a valid and reliable measurement tool for determining students' levels of AI acceptance. The study offers practical implications for researchers and practitioners and highlights directions for future work on AI adoption in higher education environments.