<![CDATA[This study aims to examine the effectiveness of Artificial Intelligence (AI) integration through ChatGPT in enhancing students’ critical thinking skills in the Islamic Education subject of Akidah Akhlak at the junior secondary level. Employing a quantitative approach with a pretest–posttest experimental design, complemented by qualitative analysis of students’ written responses, the research utilized critical thinking tests and response analysis sheets as instruments. The findings reveal a significant improvement in students’ critical thinking abilities, indicated by an increase in mean scores from 62.1 in the pretest to 84.6 in the posttest. The Mann–Whitney U test yielded a significance value of 0.000 (p < 0.05), confirming the effectiveness of the AI-based intervention. Qualitative results further show substantial development across all indicators of critical thinking, including identifying relevant information, integrating religious evidence, analyzing social situations, constructing moral arguments, and engaging in reflective thinking. The study concludes that ChatGPT serves as an innovative and pedagogically effective learning tool in Akidah Akhlak, capable of enhancing cognitive engagement and fostering higher-order thinking skills. These findings contribute to the advancement of technology-assisted Islamic education and provide direction for future research on AI integration in religious learning contexts.]]>
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