The Impact of Generative AI Dependence on University Students’ Creativity: The Mediating Role of Critical Thinking and the Moderating Role of Thinking Orientation

The rapid proliferation of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has raised concerns about its impact on creativity, yet mechanisms and boundary conditions remain underexplored. Using one survey and two experiments, we investigated how AI dependence affects university students’ creativity. Study 1 (cross-sectional) found AI dependence was negatively related to creativity, fully mediated by critical thinking. Study 2 (between-subjects experiment) experimentally demonstrated that high AI dependence was associated with lower creativity than low dependence, with critical thinking again mediating. Study 3 employed a 2 × 2 design with thinking orientation as a moderator in a first-stage moderated mediation model. Thinking orientation moderated the “AI dependence → critical thinking → creativity” pathway: the indirect effect was significant under an outcome-oriented condition but non-significant under a process-oriented condition; the index of moderated mediation was 0.22. These findings indicate that critical thinking is a central pathway through which AI dependence undermines creativity, and process-oriented thinking buffers this negative impact by safeguarding critical thinking. The study provides theoretical foundations and intervention directions for the judicious use of AI in education.