Abstract
<p>The rapid normalisation of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools among undergraduate art and design students has created a dual-edged transformation in creative higher education. While GenAI accelerates ideation, visualisation, and iterative refinement, emerging evidence from 2025–2026 indicates that overreliance risks diminishing critical thinking, homogenising original expression, and complicating intellectual property (IP) ownership and attribution (Thinking Skills and Creativity, 2026; Xianwen, 2026). In the Malaysian context, where art and design programmes at public and private universities are integrating these tools amid uneven policy development, students increasingly treat GenAI as a default collaborator rather than a constrained aid (Wong et al., 2025; Nik Harun et al., 2026). This article synthesises recent empirical and conceptual literature to examine these effects. Drawing on studies conducted between 2025 and 2026, it analyses how normalised AI use fosters cognitive offloading, aesthetic standardisation, and authorship ambiguities, with particular attention to culturally specific challenges around local visual languages and authenticity (Mustaffa Halabi et al., 2025; ResearchGate, 2025). The discussion advances a regulatory framework tailored to Malaysian undergraduate programmes, emphasising structured AI literacy that pairs technical competence with critical verification, process-oriented assessment that prioritises decision-making evidence, mandatory disclosure of prompts and transformations, and human-centred pedagogy that positions AI as subordinate to student authorship (Chen et al., 2025; Nik Harun et al., 2026). Recommendations include curriculum redesign, institutional guidelines aligned with national higher education priorities on integrity and employability, and explicit safeguards for cultural originality. The article concludes that balanced regulation can preserve the distinctive human capacities central to art and design education while preparing graduates for an AI-augmented professional landscape.</p>