Scientific literacy remains a persistent challenge in Indonesian secondary education, where science performance in PISA 2022 stays far below the OECD average despite the inquiry orientation of the Kurikulum Merdeka. Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are rapidly entering science classrooms, yet recent evidence shows that access to AI does not guarantee deeper learning and may instead encourage cognitive offloading. This study develops and evaluates a moderated mediation framework in which AI-supported inquiry-based science learning (AI-IBSL) influences students’ scientific literacy through epistemic curiosity, with AI literacy conditioning both the direct and the indirect pathways. A PRISMA 2020-guided integrative review synthesized peer-reviewed studies published between 2021 and 2026, and the resulting propositions were formalized as a structural equation model with a replicable measurement and analysis plan for Indonesian schools. The synthesis shows convergent support for the links between AI-supported learning, curiosity, and science outcomes, and for curiosity as a mediating mechanism, whereas evidence for AI literacy as a moderator is suggestive and drawn largely from higher education. The framework distinguishes interest-type from deprivation-type curiosity and positions AI literacy as the condition separating epistemic amplification from passive dependence. Implications are offered for curriculum design, teacher development, and equitable AI provision in 3T regions.
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