This study examines how generative artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes creative identity in design education. Drawing on post-humanist and network-based theories, it frames AI as a cognitive collaborator in ideation and authorship. Mixed-methods data reveal student anxiety and stylistic confusion, contrasted with designers’ adaptive strategies. The AI–Cognition–Identity framework supports curricula that promote reflective, ethical, and epistemically informed AI-integrated pedagogy.
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