Persist or Abandon? Exploring Chinese Users’ Continuance Intentions Toward AI Painting Tools

With the rapid development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology in the art field, AI painting tools (AIPT) have attracted a high interest in the creation of painting art. However, the factors affecting Chinese users’ continued or interrupted use of AIPTs have not been adequately studied. This study builds a new theoretical model based on the perspective of user experience, combining the Expectation Confirmation Model (ECM) and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), with the aim of deeply exploring the Chinese users’ continuance intention to use AIPT in the painting process. We collected data from 532 Chinese users that regarded AIPT as a production tool and performed data analysis and model testing using SPSS 27 and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with Smartpls 4. The results of the study showed a positive trend in the overall continuous intention to use AIPT. Among the 14 hypotheses proposed, 11 were validated and 3 were rejected. The emotion experience (EE) has the most significant effect on users’ continuance intention (CI), with users valuing the emotional involvement in the AIPT experience. This is followed by satisfaction (SAT), attitude (ATT), perceived usefulness (PU), and perceived trust (PT), while perceived intelligence (PI) and perceived novelty (PN) indirectly affect CI through the mediating variables of PT and SAT. The findings of this study not only contribute both theoretical insights into the continued use of AIPT in the painting process, and a comprehensive and robust discussion of the future direction of AIPT. Furthermore, it offers valuable technical solutions and practical guidance for AIPT developers, underscoring the importance of considering user experience and emotional needs when optimizing technology. It also improves the sustained usage of AIPT in painting creation and facilitates the co-creation of both human beings and AI, which provides essential information for the further commercialization of the AI painting art field.