Co-Creating With AI: How Communication Students Learn, Think, and Rely on Intelligent Systems

As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly integrated into higher education, particularly in creative disciplines, the role of AI turns into a co-creative partner. This study investigates the impact of AI-relevant training on media and communication students in Taiwan, focusing on the development of AI literacy, self-efficacy, higher-order thinking, creativity, and reliance. Drawing on a survey of 327 students who have received AI training, the study employs structural equation modelling to examine how critical thinking, problem-solving, and creative dispositions shape students’ AI literacy and behavioral reliance. The results reveal that AI literacy significantly enhances task-based self-efficacy (assistance), but not emotional comfort with AI. Critical thinking and creative self-efficacy positively influence AI literacy, while problem-solving and creative identity do not. Notably, only perceived assistance—not AI literacy or comfort—predicts AI reliance, suggesting that functional confidence, rather than affect or knowledge alone, drives behavioral use. These findings highlight the nuanced dynamics of human–AI interaction in creative education and propose a shift toward a co-creativity pedagogical model. The study contributes theoretically to the evolving definition of AI literacy and practically to the design of curriculum that fosters ethical, reflective, and productive AI use in the creative industries.