Abstract
This study examines how digital literacy and artificial intelligence (AI) utilization support sustainable human development through self-directed learning among university students. Using a quantitative explanatory design, the study involved a purposive sample of 100 university students in Denpasar, Bali, with data collected through a five-point Likert-scale questionnaire and analyzed using standardized path analysis and Sobel mediation tests. The findings show that digital literacy positively predicts self-directed learning (β = .576, p < .001), while AI utilization also has a positive effect (β = .198, p = .019). Self-directed learning strongly predicts sustainable human development (β = .778, p < .001), whereas the direct effects of digital literacy and AI utilization become nonsignificant after self-directed learning is included in the model. Both indirect effects are significant, and the model explains 71.5% of the variance in sustainable human development. Although the cross-sectional, single-city design limits causal and geographic generalization and the modest internal consistency warrants cautious interpretation, the findings demonstrate that digital capabilities contribute to sustainable human development primarily through learner agency, highlighting self-directed learning as the key mechanism linking digital literacy and AI utilization with student-level sustainable human development in Indonesian higher education.
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