Art Innovation or Plagiarism? Chinese Students’ Attitudes Toward AI Painting Technology and Influencing Factors

The increasing integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in art, particularly AI painting technology, has captivated significant attention and sparked debate. However, little is understood about the attitudes of Chinese students toward this technology and the factors influencing their perspectives. This study employed a mixed-methods approach to comprehensively appraise Chinese students’ attitudes toward AI painting technology and the reasons behind these viewpoints. Data was collected from five universities and three high schools in China through questionnaire surveys and semi-structured interviews. Quantitative analysis demonstrated clear trends in students’ attitudes toward AI painting technology, with gender, educational level, and background in art and design identified as significant influencing factors. Specifically, students with higher levels of education demonstrated more favorable attitudes toward AI painting technology. This was evidenced by a strong positive correlation coefficient of 0.644 (p<0.01) between educational attainment and positive perceptions of this technology; whereas, a negative correlation with gender (coefficient of −0.263, p<0.01) indicated a difference in attitudes between male and female students, with males displaying more positive views. Specifically, background in art and design did not appear to significantly affect students’ attitudes, as presented by an insignificant correlation coefficient of −0.048 (p>0.05). In addition, regression analysis, with an R2 value of 0.419, suggests that these variables can account for 41.9% of the variance in student attitudes toward AI painting, emphasizing the significant effect of gender and education level on their perspectives. Qualitative findings further indicated that concerns about copyright ethics, job displacement anxieties, personal values and aesthetic viewpoints, and broader social and environmental implications all affected students’ attitudes toward AI painting technology. These findings offer valuable insights into the attitudes toward AI-generated technologies.