UTILIZATION OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TOOLS IN ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGES OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN ENUGU STATE, NIGERIA.

The study determined the utilization of artificial intelligence tools in addressing the challenges of Sustainable Development Goals in public universities in Enugu State, Nigeria. It was guided by two research questions and two null hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance. A descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The population comprised 4864 (2,944 males and 1920 females) academic staff in the three public universities in Enugu State. The sample size was 486 respondents which comprised (296 males and 190 females) academic staff. The sample size was determined using stratified proportionate random sampling. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire developed by the researcher titled “Utilization of Artificial Intelligence tools in addressing the challenges of Sustainable Development Goals Questionnaire (UAIACSDGQ)”. The instrument was subjected to validation by three specialists from Enugu State University of Science and Technology, two in Educational Management and one in Measurement and Evaluation. Reliability testing produced coefficients of 0.81 for cluster one and 0.80 for cluster two, with an overall reliability index of 0.82, confirming its consistency. Research questions were analyzed using mean and standard deviation, while the null hypotheses were tested with t-test statistics. The data indicates that the use of Google TensorFlow in addressing SDGs in Enugu State public universities remains low, with consistent perceptions across gender. The findings demonstrate that IBM Watson is generally underutilized in addressing Sustainable Development Goals in public universities in Enugu State. In line with the findings, it is recommended that university management organize regular training and workshops to build staff capacity in the effective use of AI tools such as Google TensorFlow and IBM Watson. Institutions should also invest in the necessary digital infrastructure to support the seamless integration of these technologies into teaching, research, and community development projects