Prevalence and patterns of generative artificial intelligence adoption among health sciences students in Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional study

Objective: The current study aimed to assess the rate of use of artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools among health sciences students for educational purposes, identifying the most used AI tools, assessing the associated factors, and well their attitude toward GenAI. Methods: From September to November 2024, a cross-sectional study among 300 health sciences students across Saudi Arabian universities evaluated GenAI usage rates, tool preferences, frequency of application across academic activities, driving forces, and obstacles. Results: With 278 out of 300 students, the GenAI adoption rate overall was very high at 92.7%. Mostly female students made up the sample (231/300, 77.0%), and Medicine was the most common field (198/300, 66.0). Learning (209/300, 69.7% frequent users) and studying (192/300, 64.0% frequent users), followed by research (159/300, 53.0%) and evaluations (160/300, 53.3%), were the most often used settings. Age (χ² = 40.21, p