Artificial Intelligence-Assisted Creative Writing in Malay Literature Education: Students’ Perceptions and a Human-AI Collaborative Learning Model

Abstract

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in education has received considerable attention; however, its application in creative writing within Malay Literature remains underexplored, particularly regarding students’ perceptions of its role in preserving creativity, cultural values, and ethical authorship. This study investigates students’ perceptions of the strengths and challenges of AI-assisted creative writing and explores their suggestions for its responsible use. A qualitative descriptive approach was employed involving 21 undergraduate students from the Malay Literature Programme at Universiti Brunei Darussalam. Data were collected through open-ended online surveys and analysed using thematic analysis. The findings reveal that students perceive AI as a valuable tool for ideation, information accessibility, time efficiency, multimodal experimentation, and literary improvisation. A notable finding is that students positioned AI not as a replacement for human authorship but as a supporting tool that enhances creative processes through brainstorming, multimodal presentation, and self-reflective revision. At the same time, they expressed concerns regarding overdependence, plagiarism, copyright issues, loss of authenticity, and the erosion of aesthetic and cultural values in literary works. To address these concerns, students advocated a balanced approach in which AI functions as a facilitator of ideation, experimentation, analysis, and innovation while human creativity remains central to literary production. The study proposes a balanced human-AI literary learning model that supports advanced and progressive learning through innovative learning design while preserving originality, cultural meaning, and ethical responsibility. The findings contribute to the growing discourse on AI-assisted creative writing and provide practical guidance for educators and curriculum designers seeking to integrate AI responsibly into literature education.