Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) and Creative Thinking in University Music Education: A Qualitative Study of Creative Development Mechanisms, Musical Identity, and Ethical Governance

The rapid proliferation of GenAI in higher education has raised important questions about its implications for creative development, particularly in music education, where artistic expression and independent creative judgment are central to learning. This study examined how undergraduate music education students experienced GenAI in musical education, focusing on creative development mechanisms, musical identity development, and ethical governance. A phenomenological qualitative design was employed to explore the lived experiences of 23 purposively selected undergraduate students from two public universities in China. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and then analysed using thematic analysis. The findings identify three themes: GenAI as a double-edged mechanism of creative development, erosion and resilience of musical identity and evaluative agency, and ethical governance gaps in GenAI use in music education. The findings show GenAI expanded creative possibilities through experimentation, theoretical learning, and stylistic exploration, but extensive or poorly bounded use encouraged premature closure and reduced divergent exploration. Habitual use was also associated with uncertainty about aesthetic voice and musical identity, whereas students with stronger prior musical knowledge and metacognitive orientation maintained clearer boundaries between their own artistic judgments and AI-generated material. The study also reveals a governance vacuum that led students to develop uneven forms of individual and peer-based ethical self-regulation. These findings highlight the need for process-oriented assessment, transparent AI-use policies, structured AI literacy, and pedagogically informed governance that protects independent artistic judgment.