Aesthetic Experience and Educational Value in Co-creating Art with Generative AI: Evidence from a Survey of Young Learners

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Hauptverfasser: Zhang, Chengyuan, Xu, Suzhe
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Zhang, Chengyuan
Xu, Suzhe
author_facet Zhang, Chengyuan
Xu, Suzhe
contents This study investigates the aesthetic experience and educational value of collaborative artmaking with generative artificial intelligence (AI) among young learners and art students. Based on a survey of 112 participants, we examine how human creators renegotiate their roles, how conventional notions of originality are challenged, how the creative process is transformed, and how aesthetic judgment is formed in human--AI co-creation. Empirically, participants generally view AI as a partner that stimulates ideation and expands creative boundaries rather than a passive tool, while simultaneously voicing concerns about stylistic homogenization and the erosion of traditional authorship. Theoretically, we synthesize Dewey's aesthetics of experience, Ihde's postphenomenology, and actor--network theory (ANT) into a single analytical framework to unpack the dynamics between human creators and AI as a non-human actant. Findings indicate (i) a fluid subjectivity in which creators shift across multiple stances (director, dialogic partner, discoverer); (ii) an iterative, dialogic workflow (intent--generate--select--refine) that centers critical interpretation; and (iii) an educational value shift from technical skill training toward higher-order competencies such as critical judgment, cross-modal ideation, and reflexivity. We argue that arts education should cultivate a \emph{critical co-creation} stance toward technology, guiding learners to collaborate with AI while preserving human distinctiveness in concept formation, judgment, and meaning-making.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_10576
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Aesthetic Experience and Educational Value in Co-creating Art with Generative AI: Evidence from a Survey of Young Learners
Zhang, Chengyuan
Xu, Suzhe
Computers and Society
Artificial Intelligence
This study investigates the aesthetic experience and educational value of collaborative artmaking with generative artificial intelligence (AI) among young learners and art students. Based on a survey of 112 participants, we examine how human creators renegotiate their roles, how conventional notions of originality are challenged, how the creative process is transformed, and how aesthetic judgment is formed in human--AI co-creation. Empirically, participants generally view AI as a partner that stimulates ideation and expands creative boundaries rather than a passive tool, while simultaneously voicing concerns about stylistic homogenization and the erosion of traditional authorship. Theoretically, we synthesize Dewey's aesthetics of experience, Ihde's postphenomenology, and actor--network theory (ANT) into a single analytical framework to unpack the dynamics between human creators and AI as a non-human actant. Findings indicate (i) a fluid subjectivity in which creators shift across multiple stances (director, dialogic partner, discoverer); (ii) an iterative, dialogic workflow (intent--generate--select--refine) that centers critical interpretation; and (iii) an educational value shift from technical skill training toward higher-order competencies such as critical judgment, cross-modal ideation, and reflexivity. We argue that arts education should cultivate a \emph{critical co-creation} stance toward technology, guiding learners to collaborate with AI while preserving human distinctiveness in concept formation, judgment, and meaning-making.
title Aesthetic Experience and Educational Value in Co-creating Art with Generative AI: Evidence from a Survey of Young Learners
topic Computers and Society
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.10576