Background <p>Generative artificial intelligence chatbots have become increasingly popular in the nursing education. Numerous academics have integrated them into their courses to assess the effects of artificial intelligence-supported teaching method. However, few researches have examined the impact of generative artificial intelligence chatbots in nursing education in conjunction with a particular teaching methodology. This study introduced a novel teaching method called “generative artificial intelligence chatbots + project task driven teaching” and investigated the potential effects of the teaching method on nursing undergraduates’ nursing research ability and nursing research self-efficacy.</p> Methods <p>The study was conducted among 108 nursing undergraduates at Ningxia Medical University who participated in the “generative artificial intelligence chatbots + project task driven teaching” in the Nursing Research Course from September to November 2023. Sociodemographic characteristics questionnaire, Nursing research capacity of self-evaluation questionnaire, Nursing research self-efficacy questionnaire, and Curriculum effectiveness evaluation form were used to collect data. The analysis included the descriptive statistics and the paired <i>t</i>-test. The demographic data was summarized using descriptive statistics, and the change in nursing research capacity and nursing research self-efficacy of nursing undergraduates before and after the Nursing Research Course was compared using the paired <i>t</i>-test. The significance level was set at <i>P</i> &lt; 0.05.</p> Results <p>Following the training, students’ nursing research capacity and nursing research self-efficacy significantly improved (<i>P</i> &lt; 0.05), with the exception of data processing capacity (<i>P</i> = 0.165). The curriculum effectiveness evaluation form showed that only a few students believed that the teaching mode was ineffective, which indicated that most students still had a favorable opinion of it.</p> Conclusions <p>Nursing undergraduates can better adapt to the “generative artificial intelligence chatbots + project task driven teaching”, and the teaching mode had also achieved positive results in nursing research courses, which has improved students’ nursing research ability and nursing research self-efficacy. This also provides a credible reference for using generative artificial intelligence chatbots in subsequent nursing education reform.</p>