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use of AI design tools by university art and design students in Pakistan and its effect on originality and creative skills

Source article: BALANCING CREATIVITY AND TECHNOLOGY: THE USE OF AI IN DESIGN EDUCATION

Artificial Intelligence is revolutionizing the creative process of design by improving the quality of work, operational efficiency, and overall productivity. However, AI integration into the art and design domain faces many challenges and concerns, including the ethical issues of originality, genuineness, and intellectual property, the risk of designers’ overdependence on AI, and declining creative skills. This study applied a cross-sectional descriptive design. Adopting a mixed-methods methodology, both quantit…

By the Truvace desk2 min read1 sourcePeer-reviewedTRV-2026-1208· cite & verify
BALANCING CREATIVITY AND TECHNOLOGY: THE USE OF AI IN DESIGN EDUCATION
"student_ipad_school - 078" by flickingerbrad is licensed under CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/.
Trace impact readingContested
P 69The P score combines the specificity and measured human impact of the grounded problem claim with the strength of this Trace’s cited sources.

Both sides are scored from claims and sources, not community votes.

G 69The G score combines the specificity and measured human impact of the grounded gain claim with the strength of this Trace’s cited sources.

In brief

A peer-reviewed study published October 16, 2025 surveyed 94 university-level art and design students across Pakistan about AI adoption. It found growing use of Midjourney, Adobe Firefly, and ChatGPT primarily for idea generation and style exploration, with 89.36% perceiving AI as enhancing originality and 79.79% viewing AI use in design education positively.

The findings matter because they quantify both enthusiasm and anxiety in a real classroom context, showing that perceived productivity gains coexist with worries about overdependence, declining critical thinking, and authenticity. Uncertainty remains about long-term skill development and how ethical-use policies and AI literacy interventions would change outcomes beyond this cross-sectional snapshot.

Main points

  1. Survey of 94 university-level art and design students across Pakistan using mixed-methods online questionnaire.
  2. Top tools reported: Midjourney 34.04%, Adobe Firefly 31.91%, ChatGPT 29.79%.
  3. Top uses: design idea generation 60.64%, exploring visual styles 45.74%, developing variations and regaining creative flow 29.79% each.
  4. 79.79% suggested positive AI usage in design education, while 47.87% emphasized preserving human creativity and 51.06% urged awareness of critical thinking and ethical use.

The gain

Among surveyed university design students in Pakistan, AI design tools were widely adopted for idea generation and were perceived by a large majority as enhancing originality and productivity.

The problem

In the same student sample, AI was also perceived as hindering originality, with concerns about over-reliance, declining critical thinking, and reduced authenticity and credibility.

The rundown

The study used a standardized online questionnaire to collect quantitative and qualitative data from 94 students, documenting specific tool adoption and task breakdowns including idea generation, visual style exploration, and variation development.

Results show a dual perception: strong endorsement of AI for enhancing originality and positive use in education alongside substantial concern about hindering originality, overdependence, and ethical issues of originality, genuineness, and intellectual property, leading authors to recommend policies for ethical use and AI literacy.

What this doesn’t fix

Findings are bounded by a cross-sectional survey of 94 students limited to university-level art and design programs in Pakistan, limiting generalizability and causal inference.

Sources

  1. Peer-reviewedKashf Journal of Multidisciplinary Research2025-10-16

The debate