Responsible GenAI Augmentation and Cognitive Agency in Higher Education

Responsible generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) integration in higher education requires attention to useful assistance and students’ continuing cognitive agency. We examined how learner capability, cognitive offloading and institutional support relate to intention to use a university GenAI learning service, alongside reported reduced independent thinking. A cross-sectional survey of 593 students at one Thai public university was analyzed using ordinal structural equation modeling with WLSMV estimation. AI self-efficacy was positively associated with information utilization, utilization with perceived work efficiency, and efficiency with service intention. The serial indirect association was positive, while adjusted direct self-efficacy associations with efficiency and intention were inconclusive. Offloading was positively associated with both efficiency and reduced independent thinking. Its positive indirect association with intention through efficiency coexisted with a negative adjusted direct association. Institutional support was positively associated with intention. The prespecified TRUST comparison and additional covariates, screening and complete-case checks, retained the main association pattern. However, replacing utilization with information analysis reduced the analogous serial association, and reversing the utilization–efficiency link gave better descriptive fit. The findings therefore concern concurrent perceptions and reported practices, without establishing serial ordering or causal mediation. Independent learning and actual service engagement remain essential criteria for assessing educational value.