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The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence has raised concerns about employment security and future career opportunities among university students. The present study examined the relationship between AI anxiety and unemployment anxiety and investigated the moderating role of emotional intelligence among university students in Bihar. A quantitative cross-sectional correlational research design was employed, and data were collected from 321 university students aged 18–25 years using the Artificial Intelligence Anxiety Scale, Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale, and HeWi's Unemployment Anxiety Scale. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation, independent-samples t-test, and Hayes' PROCESS macro (Model 1). The findings revealed that AI anxiety and unemployment anxiety were not significantly correlated at the bivariate level. However, moderation analysis showed that the overall regression model was statistically significant, F (3, 317) = 13.44, p < .001, explaining 11.3% of the variance in unemployment anxiety (R² = .113). The relationship between AI anxiety and unemployment anxiety became significant only after emotional intelligence and the interaction term were included in the model, indicating a significant moderating effect. Higher emotional intelligence weakened the positive association between AI anxiety and unemployment anxiety, suggesting its protective role. Compared to their male peers, female participants exhibited significantly elevated scores on AI anxiety. These findings highlight the importance of emotional intelligence as a psychological resource and underscore the need for emotional intelligence training and career guidance interventions to help students adapt to evolving technological and occupational environments.